NNAS- Canadian citizens with US education/licensure

[nicu_gal]

If there are any other Canadian RNs out there who went to school in the US and have been licensed in the US, I would like to hear your NNAS experiences. Have you received a "non-comparable" report? If so, have you been able to obtain provincial licensure in spite of being labeled "non-comparable?'" Are you currently living/working in Canada as a RN? How long did it take for you to receive your advisory report? What was your total cost (admin/mailing fees/cost to have licenses verified, etc)?

Nursing leaders in Canada needs to know how their "streamlined" process is actually impacting Canadian nurses who are trying to practice in our home country. NNAS states on their website that the organization "strives for transparency, timeliness and harmonization across its member jurisdictions while applying rigorous standards for assessing qualifications"- however these "standards" are not disclosed to applicants. This organization receives funding from the provinces and the federal government, and yet there is zero transparency for applicants regarding the assessment process. Applicants blindly throw their money (in US dollars) at this agency before having access to the required forms, and even then have NO idea what the criteria is. How objective can this be?

Furthermore, both US and Canadian nurses are credentialed with the NCLEX now, so shouldn't there be a pathway for RNs who have passed the NCLEX in the US?

This process MUST be improved and I would like to start by compiling the experiences of other nurses to take to leaders in nursing in Canada.

Thank you in advance for your time!

[RN_Pro]

I think NNAS should be required to be transparent and publish annual statistical reports on their website, at minimum the reports should indicate;

the number of applicants in each category practical nurses, registered nurses or psychiatric nurses

the number of applicants by jurisdiction where they obtained their initial education

the advisory report results including the number of comparable, number of somewhat comparable, number of not comparable by jurisdiction where initially educated

Interestingly, as a side note, the new CNO 2016 Membership Report does not indicate how many new RN's there were for 2016. In the past they reported on new RN's based on where they got their nursing education and divided them into three categories: new members with nursing education from within Canada, International (excluding US) nursing education and US nursing education. So there is no way to know how many IEN's were able to get licensed in Ontario in 2016.

Coupled with the absence of applicant stats from the NNAS process, there isn't much data out there for those considering beginning the process to access to help make their decisions.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

@RN-Pro, CNO creates two different statistical reports; the Membership Statistics Report is available first and the New Members in the General Class Report is available second. The New Members report 2016 may become available in late winter/early spring 2017 (I cannot remember what month it is usually available for the public).

[RN_Pro]

Cool thanks @dishes. I'll keep my eye out for it when it comes. Really interested in seeing stats. I wonder if it's too late to request the inclusion of some of the things mentioned in this thread?

[dishes, BSN, RN]

The CNO Nursing Registration Exams report for 2016 shows that 175 IEN RN exam writers made their first attempt in 2016. Based on the year that NNAS was implemented (2014) and the year they wrote the NCLEX, it is probable that these IENs were assessed by NNAS

The 2016 statistical report for New Members in General Class isn't available yet, hopefully it will be out this spring. It's the statistical report that gives the new RN members who were educated internationally by their countries of education and should show the number of US educated IENs who became licensed in 2016.

[RN_Pro]

Thanks so much for the update @dishes!

I wonder how many of them were assessed by NNAS and how many were already in the system from before. To get through the NNAS assessment which seems to be taking IENs up to a year, and then to complete the IENCAP (about 6 months for getting a date and writing it) or additional education, receive permission from CNO to write NCLEX and then write it, I'm not sure how many of the 175 IENs would have made it through this process if they did begin with NNAS. But some of them, I'm sure. It would be very interesting to know this breakdown though! If I can't figure it out from the New Members Report when it comes out, maybe I will ask CNO about how many IENs who began with NNAS are now licensed. I'd love to have US-educated separated from other countries for a better idea. Doubt they will give it to me though!

I'm looking forward to that New Members Report!!!

[dishes, BSN, RN]

@RN_Pro while you are waiting for the 2016 New Members report you can also look at the statistics on the Fair Registration Practice Report under

d) Jurisdiction where applicants obtained their initial registration

e) Jurisdication where applicants who became registered members obtained their initial education

123 US educated applicants in 2016

78 US educated became fully registered in 2016

79 US educated applicants in 2015

68 US educated became registered in 2015

[dishes, BSN, RN]

I believe the US educated nurses who became fully registered in Ontario in 2016 were assessed by NNAS because as of December 2016 NNAS had been utilized by IENs for 28 months.

The average length of a NNAS assessment was 102 business days (according to NNAS annual report for 2014-15)

There are NNAS assessments that can take up to 12 months (according to NNAS FAQ), however even if you add 12 months of NNAS assessment and another 12 months for a US educated applicant to complete and obtain the IENCAP results, the applicants would still be under the 28 months.

[RN_Pro]

Yes, I see, so this would reflect the applicants who were not required to go back to school and were able to complete the OSCE or whatever was needed. I will be interested in the next report!

[nicu_gal]

Just checking in...I'm happy to report that as of last week I am now registered with CRNBC (yay!). For any other US-IENs who may happen to read this, I started my NNAS application in June 2016, it went "under review" in November 2016, and my Advisory Report was completed March 2017 (yes, it was 17 weeks later!). My Advisory Report remarks were all "comparable" or "somewhat comparable." As a side note, I am a second degree nurse and completed an accelerated BSN. I worked in a speciality nursing area for eight years and while I was concerned that would be a problem when I applied to the province, my BC licensure was complete within 2 weeks of applying and I did not have to complete any equivalency testing.

Thanks dishes and RN Pro for the continued info over the last few months. I'll be starting my master's at UVic in the fall so I'm definitely still exploring IEN registration as a possible thesis. I am relieved to have my license but I still have many questions about how NNAS is functioning. For those of you in Ontario, have you heard any more stats following their October conference? If I hadn't been in the midst of a cross country move at the time I would have gone just out of curiosity! I had such a bizarre experience with NNAS from start to finish and can't help but wonder if this is the exception or the norm?

[dishes, BSN, RN]

Thanks for the update NICU_gal and congratulations on becoming licensed in BC! It sounds like you had a relatively smooth experience but that you recognize that the process needs to be more transparent. I agree, I also think applicants need a better understanding of what the average Canadian curricula contains and how the IENs curricula is being assessed for equivalency to Canadian curricula and the entry-to-practice competencies.

It may help, if before applying to NNAS, applicants look at a couple of Canadian university's nursing programs and review the course outlines, course descriptions, course learning outcomes, the competencies, evaluation criteria, nursing student handbook, preceptor guide, student policy and procedure guide, philosophy of the program and expected outcomes of the nursing program. Once they have reviewed this information, they will realize that the curricula and related information amount to hundreds of pages. Next they should write a letter to their university asking them to provide all of this information to NNAS. Applicants should give the university a flash drive and ask them to download everything onto it with their name and NNAS number.

Once the applicant receives notification from NNAS that their information has been received, the applicant should double check that the content contains the hundreds of pages of information. The more information that NNAS receives, the better their chances of receiving a favourable advisory report.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

For those of you in Ontario, have you heard any more stats following their October conference? I had such a bizarre experience with NNAS from start to finish and can't help but wonder if this is the exception or the norm?

The statistics in NNAS' annual report for 2014-15 showed 'they received 4,027 applications, the average processing time was 102 days and 89% strongly agreed or agreed that their overall NNAS experience had been positive'. I cannot see NNAS's annual report for the 2015-16 time period, I am not sure if they did one. The time period for NNAS's annual reports is from April to March 31st, hopefully they will publish an annual report for the April 2016- March 31 2017 time period.

Regarding the NNAS conference if you look on NNAS's website at the top grey banner under events, you will see they placed links to the conference presentations. One of the presentations entitled 'IEN speaker' is about an applicant's licensing experience but it is mostly pictures and not much text.

[RN_Pro]

...I'm happy to report that as of last week I am now registered with CRNBC (yay!). ... My Advisory Report remarks were all "comparable" or "somewhat comparable." As a side note, I am a second degree nurse and completed an accelerated BSN. I worked in a speciality nursing area for eight years and while I was concerned that would be a problem when I applied to the province, my BC licensure was complete within 2 weeks of applying and I did not have to complete any equivalency testing...Thanks dishes and RN Pro for the continued info over the last few months. I'll be starting my master's at UVic in the fall so I'm definitely still exploring IEN registration as a possible thesis. I am relieved to have my license but I still have many questions about how NNAS is functioning. ...

Congratulations! Such great news! It's great to hear that some people are finally getting through, and getting some "comparable" sections on their report as well! What school did you obtain your nursing education?

I really, really hope you pursue the IEN process, particularly the new NNAS assessment process, for a master's thesis. There is so much to explore, and I think qualitative experiences of IEN's together with a thorough analysis of the process and what exactly it means for "others" attempting to be registered in Canada. Actually, for a master's thesis it might even be enough to focus on US-educated IENs! Please do get in touch with me if you need participants for any interviews for your thesis in the future. IENs need advocacy on this issue and that is one very tangible, professional and legitimate way of going about it.

I thought of attending the conference too for the same reason, but decided that if I have to hear them say that they have determined NNAS to be a valid assessment tool all the while licensing bodies are re-assessing applicants in the background after the NNAS assessment, I might actually get ill.