I was quite disappointed to find out today from my recruiter,who is actually my employer that Vancouver has confirmed that they have stopped hiring IENs.I am currently in the process of completing my requirements but I have to cancel my SEC assesment on May this year.My initial application and exams plus interviews took place last february 2009.I have read some threads regarding SEC assessment in Canada,coz I was curious why SEC assessment has come as a new requirement.I had the feeling that it is just a perfect excuse to politely discourage new applicants to carry on with their application as you will have to spend money to do this and mainly because of the recession issue that the whole world is facing.Ofcourse, they have to prioritize their own nurses for the jobs,which is fair enough..I am not against SEC assessment but now, it gives me the impression of its real purpose.To those aspiring to come to Vancouver BC,specially those who have booked their SEC assessment date,you might as well ask your employer to confirm your job in case you have done well with your SEC requirement.I also have friends who applied to come to Alberta, who had completed their requirements,have got the job offer but then cancelled their jobs and did not give them any idea why it had happened.So it seems to be happening all over the states of Canada.I have read that a lot are aspiring nurses from the Philippines talking about financial constraints.Just sharing what my recruiter has told me,so please be aware.
Specializes in intensive care, recovery, anesthetics.
SEC goes for every foreign educated nurse who might lack competency. UK Nurses had to do it, I had to do it, so I don't see discrimination there. And I'm sorry to say but the Nurses from the Philippines who came over the last year or so were not at all equivalent to a canadian newgrad, and some are still not there....since it was quite a number that have been recruited, you have to assume something is lacking there. If SEC would pick that up? I don't know, would be interesting to know.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
I am new to these forums, so I will admit, I haven't read the hundreds of pages that come up when I do a "SEC" search on this site. If my questions/comments have be discussed to death, I'm sorry.
They have. That's why the site has a search capability.
1) My understanding re SEC for Philippine trained nurses is that a major factor that is looked at is total years of schooling. Here they have 6 yrs elementary, and 4 yrs high school before taking the 4 yr BSN degree. However, students start school at 8:00 am, and end at 5:00 pm, with a lunch break at noon. So if they were to go to school for 15 years, going 3 mornings a week, would this be better schooling than that in Canada as judged by the nursing council?
How can you compare years to hours? It's what is put into the hours that counts. My children went to school from 8am to 4pm with 30 minutes for lunch from mid-August to the end of June every year for 6 years of elementary, 3 years of junior high and 3 years of high school... a total of 12 years of pre-university education. The oldest one attended an International Baccalaureate program in high school and has gone on to obtain a PhD; she will soon have been attending school for 26 years.
Some comments on this :
I recently met a couple who moved back to PI from the US. They have 2 school aged children. I asked them if they were not worried about their children's education here. They said that it is much better here than what they would get back in the US.
My sister-in-law's children were born in Canada, but spent some time here and received several years of schooling here. When they returned to Canada, they were tested and found to be advanced compared to the local kids, so each of them was put ahead one grade.
You also can't compare the educational systems of the US with those of Canada. Having myself attended schools in both the US and Canada I can attest to the fact that I spent an entire school year reading novels hidden inside my text books because the content of my 11th grade classes in the US was identical to that of my 9th and 10 grade classes in Canada. I couldn't be advanced a grade because I had to have a certain number of credits to graduate. As for your sister-in-law's children, bully for them, I daresay that they received a lot of home-schooling while they lived in the Philippines.
2) My second point -
Some of the posts here emphasize that the SEC assessment is to ensure that IENs are equivalent to new Canadian graduates. Are you implying that all Canadian grads are automatically good nurses? If 100 new nurses from Vancouver Island, and 100 from Prince Edward Island, for example, were given the tests, would they be that much better than IENs? Before the SEC program was put in place, was it tested using Canadian grads?
The SEC competencies are identical to those required of newly graduated nurses in Canada, who are all required to write and pass the very same CRNE. Educational standards and provincially-accepted competencies (Alberta's are here: http://www.nurses.ab.ca/Carna-Admin/Uploads/Entry-to-Practice%20Competencies.pdf) are essentially standardized across the country, with the exception of Quebec, which has always marched to its own drummer. So yes, 100 new nurses from Vancouver Island and 100 new nurses from PEI would be very similar. Depending on where the IENs were educated and what curriculum their schools followed the Canadian nurses may very well BE much better than the IENs, or not. And since SEC arose from the Canadian standards for newly-graduated registered nurses, it indeed was "tested" on Canadians. For more insight into the standards to which all RNs in BC are held you can read them here: https://www.crnbc.ca/Standards/Pages/Default.aspx If you're really interested you can read very similar information at any of the provincial Colleges of Nursing web sites.
I don't have a problem with the SEC process being used, but if it isn't used for all nurses seeking registration, isn't that discrimination? If it is such a good indicator of nursing competency, why not make it a requirement.
I think you DO have a problem with the SEC process. It is used for all nurses seeking registration, based on the nurse's individual educational preparation as compared to that received in the province. Graduates from Canadian nursing schools are assessed to have the competencies required by the province to practice nursing in a Canadian nursing environment in the same way that nurses from Indian nursing schools are assessed to have to competencies required to practice nursing in an Indian nursing environment. Apples and oranges.
I am new to these forums, so I will admit, I haven't read the hundreds of pages that come up when I do a "SEC" search on this site. If my questions/comments have be discussed to death, I'm sorry.
1) My understanding re SEC for Philippine trained nurses is that a major factor that is looked at is total years of schooling. Here they have 6 yrs elementary, and 4 yrs high school before taking the 4 yr BSN degree. However, students start school at 8:00 am, and end at 5:00 pm, with a lunch break at noon. So if they were to go to school for 15 years, going 3 mornings a week, would this be better schooling than that in Canada as judged by the nursing council?
Some comments on this :
I recently met a couple who moved back to PI from the US. They have 2 school aged children. I asked them if they were not worried about their children's education here. They said that it is much better here than what they would get back in the US.
My sister-in-law's children were born in Canada, but spent some time here and received several years of schooling here. When they returned to Canada, they were tested and found to be advanced compared to the local kids, so each of them was put ahead one grade.
2) My second point -
Some of the posts here emphasize that the SEC assessment is to ensure that IENs are equivalent to new Canadian graduates. Are you implying that all Canadian grads are automatically good nurses? If 100 new nurses from Vancouver Island, and 100 from Prince Edward Island, for example, were given the tests, would they be that much better than IENs? Before the SEC program was put in place, was it tested using Canadian grads?
I don't have a problem with the SEC process being used, but if it isn't used for all nurses seeking registration, isn't that discrimination? If it is such a good indicator of nursing competency, why not make it a requirement.
I am assuming the Canadian Nursing education has similar qualities to the US system. To graduate from school you must have certain skills and this process is monitored by the accreditation bodies which audit the schools to ensure these standards are upheld.
If one has good clinical skills I would assume this check would be a simple procedure why all the fuss, if one is unsafe to practice, why would I want to put a patient at risk?
i have given my sec asessment in feb,2010...................does any body know how much time does crnbc take to release results???..............please help me and also about the courses which we may get after sec..............??
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
The timeline, as with everything else, will depend on workload. If Kwantlen has a lot of SEC assessment documents to prepare, it will take longer than if they don't. If CRNBC is very busy with one aspect of their mandate of another, or if they have a lot of assessments to process, it will take longer. You will be informed of your results by mail; how long does it take for a letter from Vancouver to reach you? Unfortunately nothing moves quickly with Colleges of Registered Nursing.
The information you're looking for about the courses is dependent on what areas your SEC determined are weak, and just how weak they are. CRNBC's fact sheet about SEC says:
Where do I get supplementary education?
CRNBC can provide you with information about coursework available in B.C. Supplementary education can range from a one-day workshop to course work that takes a year or longer to complete. You may be able to access some of the supplementary education online.
Information about course availability, schedules and costs should be obtained directly from the educational institution.
You are aware, are you not, that CRNBC does not enroll you in any supplementary courses, nor do they pay any of the associated costs, and that the courses must be obtained through a Canadian institution? Also in some circumstances it might be necessary to start your nursing education over from the beginning.
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
Hello Guys,
I did my SEC in April 2010 in BC. Does anybody know how long does it take for CRNE to release the results.
Really appreciate your response.
Check out threads on CRNE in the Canadian forum, takes approx 6 weeks for the colleges to post results but doing SEC doesn't mean you have done CRNE, they are 2 different things unless you meant to say CRNBC
Check out threads on CRNE in the Canadian forum, takes approx 6 weeks for the colleges to post results but doing SEC doesn't mean you have done CRNE, they are 2 different things unless you meant to say CRNBC
Thank you so much,
Yes i meant CRNBC.
Should I start contacting CRNBC after 6 weeks if there is no news or I can start doing earlier?
Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
As Jan has said can take a while, you could after 6 weeks email and see if they can give you a time frame but a lot will depend on how busy they are with applications etc
SEC results can take up to several months to find their way to you. Please be patient.
Thank you.
Does it differ if I live in BC or abroad? The assessors in Kwantleen mentioned that I have to start contacting the CRNBC after 5-6 weeks. Does anybody can share their experiences with getting their results (those who live in BC)? I am really getting worried...
Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
So far the others who have done the SEC have been saying their results took months. Plural. So I think you might email after 6 weeks, as Fiona59 suggests, then not bombard them with requests because that just slows things down terribly.
.I am not against SEC assessment but now, it gives me the impression of its real purpose.To those aspiring to come to Vancouver BC,specially those who have booked their SEC assessment date,you might as well ask your employer to confirm your job in case you have done well with your SEC requirement.I also have friends who applied to come to Alberta, who had completed their requirements,have got the job offer but then cancelled their jobs and did not give them any idea why it had happened.So it seems to be happening all over the states of Canada.I have read that a lot are aspiring nurses from the Philippines talking about financial constraints.Just sharing what my recruiter has told me,so please be aware.
5cats
613 Posts
SEC goes for every foreign educated nurse who might lack competency. UK Nurses had to do it, I had to do it, so I don't see discrimination there. And I'm sorry to say but the Nurses from the Philippines who came over the last year or so were not at all equivalent to a canadian newgrad, and some are still not there....since it was quite a number that have been recruited, you have to assume something is lacking there. If SEC would pick that up? I don't know, would be interesting to know.
5cats