Question about CNO

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I am an international educated nurse and I recently immigrated in Toronto with permanent residence status.

I have a bachelor degree (4 years) in general nursing from a public university and I had been working as a RN in Europe for almost 10 years in the field of mental health (no work experience in general nursing.)

I am going to assess my nursing studies through CNO very soon but I have a question regarding the work experience. Is it likely that CNO will find gaps in my work experience since I don't have any work experience in general nursing?

I am sure that my bachelor degree will be equivalent to a Canadian one but I am not sure about my work experience. If anyone knows or be in a similiral situation I would appreciate a reply.

1 Votes

It isn't CNO that assesses your education, it's NNAS. After NNAS assesses your education you receive an advisory report stating whether or not your education is comparable to a Canadian entry to practice education. Many IENs who have 4 year degrees have been found 'not' comparable to Canadian education. Your work experience will be assessed for proof of recent RN work experience it doesn't matter if it was in mental health as long as it was in a RN capacity. If CNO requires you to complete a competency assessment supplement, you can use exmples from you work experience to complete it.

Thank a lot for the info! I wrote that my Bachelor Degree is equivalent to a Canadian because it has already been assessed from WES but I guess that NNAS sets it's own standards.

NNAS does have it's own standards, your education may be deemed comparable, somewhat comparable or not comparable to RN. Have you already applied to NNAS? If so, did you apply to be assessed for both RN and PN?

Hi Dishes,Warm Greetings.I am a new member in this and am not sure if this is the right place to ask my doubts. I will be so kindful if you could help me clarify somethings.Am a Masters degree holder in Nursing and presently working in Dubai as a school nurse RN since last 4 years. Now I have started my processing for Express Entry.So my friend told me to start NNAS procedures also now as it takes time. As I have no friends there i started browsing for info's and i came to this excellent info group, where i could see that you are giving prompt response to those who seek help.You are doing a great thing and i appreciate your kindness.* My first doubt is, will my experience as a school nurse being an RN will be acceptable while job searching or not in Canada ? I know this is the last step, but wanna know if this experience is considered there or not ?* 2nd is that when i gone through NNAS applicant handbook, in the Employment Form - they are asking from all the employers we have worked for in the past 5 years. So if we have only 4 years experience.How we will deal with that ?* 3rd is Nursing Education form that should be send by the college officials. I told you that am an MSN, so is it mandatory for me to send my forms to the College where i learned Masters also other than BSc for NNAS evaluation. To be frank, the college from which i got PG seems to be less supportive for all of us who will delay all our things and demands more and more money from the students every time and they will also ask to come from DUBai to them personally for the attestations and all.so, is it fine if i do the forms completions and attestations for NNAS only from our Graduated Institution?* And next is about Language Proficiency - Is it mandatory to do the IELTS Academic?I read the other criteria's where they had mentioned IELTS is exempted if the primary language where you live & work is English & nursing education program language of instruction for theory and practical was in English. And if we can show the evidence of safe practice within the last 2 yrs of working as a nurse,where services were provided in English or French and where the primary language of the practice setting and clients was English or French.May i know what it exactly means? Will it be helpful for me as am brought up in an English Medium School, studied in the college where medium of language was English and working in an International Baccalaureate School in Dubai.OMG .... atleast i just threw up my half of the doubts in writing at least. Don't misunderstand me for a long post. I have no one else to ask these. That's why.Thanks for your understanding.Good day.See you.Hi Dishes,Warm Greetings.I am a new member in this and am not sure if this is the right place to ask my doubts. I will be so kindful if you could help me clarify somethings.Am a Masters degree holder in Nursing and presently working in Dubai as a school nurse RN since last 4 years. Now I have started my processing for Express Entry.So my friend told me to start NNAS procedures also now as it takes time. As I have no friends there i started browsing for info's and i came to this excellent info group, where i could see that you are giving prompt response to those who seek help.You are doing a great thing and i appreciate your kindness.* My first doubt is, will my experience as a school nurse being an RN will be acceptable while job searching or not in Canada ? I know this is the last step, but wanna know if this experience is considered there or not ?* 2nd is that when i gone through NNAS applicant handbook, in the Employment Form - they are asking from all the employers we have worked for in the past 5 years. So if we have only 4 years experience.How we will deal with that ?* 3rd is Nursing Education form that should be send by the college officials. I told you that am an MSN, so is it mandatory for me to send my forms to the College where i learned Masters also other than BSc for NNAS evaluation. To be frank, the college from which i got PG seems to be less supportive for all of us who will delay all our things and demands more and more money from the students every time and they will also ask to come from DUBai to them personally for the attestations and all.so, is it fine if i do the forms completions and attestations for NNAS only from our Graduated Institution?* And next is about Language Proficiency - Is it mandatory to do the IELTS Academic?I read the other criteria's where they had mentioned IELTS is exempted if the primary language where you live & work is English & nursing education program language of instruction for theory and practical was in English. And if we can show the evidence of safe practice within the last 2 yrs of working as a nurse,where services were provided in English or French and where the primary language of the practice setting and clients was English or French.May i know what it exactly means? Will it be helpful for me as am brought up in an English Medium School, studied in the college where medium of language was English and working in an International Baccalaureate School in Dubai.OMG .... atleast i just threw up my half of the doubts in writing at least. Don't misunderstand me for a long post. I have no one else to ask these. That's why.Thanks for your understanding.Good day.See you.

@ seethal rose,

1. Nurses who are employed as school nurses make up less than one percent of all the nurses employed in Ontario. Where I am, public school nursing positions were cut in the 1990's due to budget constraints. Currently there are liason public health nurses, liason nursing positions usually require a masters degree and public health experience (you can look up the role on toronto public health). There may be job opportunities for school nurses through private boarding schools in Canada, look up private schools and check their school websites for career opportunities.

2. If you have worked four out of the past five years, just list the employers you have worked for during the four years.

3. NNAS needs to assess your BScN/BSN degree to see if it is comparable to a Canadian entry to practice nursing education. I don't know if it will make any difference if you have your masters degree assessed at the same time. Ask yourself, if you don't have it assessed and your education is found not comparable, will you wonder if including the masters degree education in your assessment would have made a difference? If you would always wonder, than for your own peace of mind, include it.

4. Re: IELTs or proof of English, the proof of language route may be more problematic than doing the IELTs. English is the primary language that you are using in your workplace as a school nurse, but is it the primary or secondary language of the clients? Also, I think you should find out what you need to do in order to show proof of English.

I haven't applied to NNAS yet but I am going to do it next month. I will apply to be assessed as a RN. I am trying to find some info on the net or some personal experiences here in order to find out if Bachelor degrees in nursing from European public universities are equivalent in Ontario but unfortunately I haven't find much information yet.

Thanks a lot for your replies.

@panos, the centre for internationally educated nurses (care4nurses org) may have members who obtained their bachelor degrees in European public universities, you can read IEN success stories on care4nurses.

Hi,

I had a USA BScN degree and 8 years of PACU experience when I submitted my RN registration application to the CNO. I received an evaluation paper after 16 month of "waiting period" stating that my USA BScN is not equivalent with Canadian BScN. I had to go through 2year full-time bridging program at one of the universities here in Toronto. This was my personal experience. Good luck with the CNO! Be patient as the CNO case evaluators are very rude and absolutely non-professionals. I've never seen such a sloppy organization in my life....

Anyone who graduated from CEU who had applied RN/LPN on NNAS? - what AR did you receive for both? Thanks

OMG!! That's appalling. I however fall in the same category. I am waiting for CNO to issue me a report, so that I will know what next to do. Where did you do the bridging program?

how long does cno take to evaluate your nnas application

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