NNAS experience?

RN_Pro · Oct 9, 2016

Thanks for the pricing info dishes! Much appreciated. I just noticed that it is on the website, I missed it, oops.

I see that you are an RN from Toronto, but may I ask your affiliation? Just wondering if you have any affiliation with CNO, Council of Universities, CARE for Nurses, or other Teaching/Nursing/IEN organization?

Thanks again for the info!

dishes, BSN, RN · Oct 9, 2016

Thanks for the pricing info dishes! Much appreciated. I just noticed that it is on the website, I missed it, oops.
I see that you are an RN from Toronto, but may I ask your affiliation? Just wondering if you have any affiliation with CNO, Council of Universities, CARE for Nurses, or other Teaching/Nursing/IEN organization?
Thanks again for the info!

I do not have any affiliation with any of those organizations, I am a staff nurse, my job is to provide patient care. I have an interest in IENs because I have always enjoyed working with IEN colleagues and could not imagine my career without them. In 2005, when CNO moved from diploma to baccalaureate education as entry to practice, I started meeting unlicensed IENs who were working as caregivers and they talked about the difficulties they were experiencing becoming licensed in Ontario. It concerns me that IENs are migrating to Canada with unrealistic expectations of their chances of becoming licensed as RNs, experiencing delays in becoming licensed or in some cases never becoming licensed. I think greater transparency about the licensing process is very important so that IENs can make informed decisions pre-migration.

RN_Pro · Oct 10, 2016

@dishes I agree with you 100%. Especially the PRE-migration part. People leave their homes and families with hopes of being nurses here and spend a lot of money on something that often does not work out in the end. I was feeling bad for myself, as when I began my nursing education, the NNAS process did not exist and graduates from New York State were being accepted by CNO. But when I finished my degree four years later, this new process completely blocks me, unless I basically, in the end, re-do a degree I already have. I do feel sorry for myself, but I feel even worse for those who have immigration hurdles (I have Canadian citizenship), language barriers (english is my first language), haven't passed NCLEX-RN (I've completed this hurdle) and generally less knowledge of how things work in a different country. What I have heard and seen so far is RN's coming and hoping to be RN's but in the end spending every cent they have to take courses, exams, etc and come out at best an RPN. Nothing wrong with RPN work but it's not what they intended to do or are trained to do. Increasing transparency about the process would help them to have all the information beforehand, to decide for themselves if it's what they want to attempt or not. Glad to hear you like working with IENs. If I am ever able to get licensed in my own country, I'll be an IEN contributing positively to the Canadian healthcare system too!

Tabss · Oct 10, 2016

I also expect the same but unless nothing comes on CNO website we can't be sure

Tabss · Oct 11, 2016

For the pre-migration difficulty, I always inform on every forum to future aspirant IENs who wanna start career on Canada that do not move from your current workplace until you are done with NNAS, followed by CNO or nursing authorities of respective provinces.

Do keep 2 years for your all paper work & required exams to get registered as RN or RPN. Never forget or underscore the importance of 3 years safe practice requirment.

I started my registration process in Nov 2015. Got NNAS report in mid Jul 2016. Got reply from CNO in Aug 16 to take IENCAP or which is called OSCE exam. Aplied for that to Touchstone Institute and still waiting for exam date as of now. Probably it's booked til Feb 2017. Next exam dates are not announce yet , but expected to be in May 2017. Then will take 2 months to give result.Then next step is NCLEX.

Thus if all goes well, I expect to get licence in early 2018.Such a lazy,inefficient albeit expensive procedure

RN_Pro · Oct 12, 2016

I checked with the program coordinator and she said yes, these courses are accredited by CNO. So if you pass the "ethical practice" course, you will be considered to have met that CNO requirement.

Please note that I did not confirm this with CNO and Tabss is right, there is nothing about this on the CNO website along with the other IEN info. So if I were to apply to take these courses I would certainly call the CNO to double check, since I can't afford to take anymore courses with uncertainty about where they will get me. So, I would recommend anyone taking the courses check with CNO first. Never hurts to double check, right?

Also, IENCAP must be completed before one can apply to take these competency courses.

RN_Pro · Oct 12, 2016

I should also note that the 10% who have competency gaps in exclusively those four areas are the lucky ones. The other 90% have competency gaps which require them to complete far more education before they could be eligible to become a Registered Nurse in Ontario.

RN_Pro · Oct 12, 2016

Very good advice Tabss. Especially since this NNAS process, people need to know how difficult it is. If they look at the stats on how many IENs became registered with CNO after NNAS was implemented, they will see how difficult it is now.

Touchstone said they will decide the next exam dates at their next board meeting. However, they would not say when their next board meeting is. Normally, a Board of Directors funded with public dollars must disclose this information, but they do not. Like Dishes said, we will have to register immediately when we get the email that a new exam date is available.

Please just be prepared Tabss, that depending on where you were educated, even after completing the IENCAP the CNO may require you to take more courses to complete the educational requirement before you can write NCLEX-RN.

Tabss · Oct 12, 2016

That's a great news indeed. ..If...

consortium course is approved by CNO and if we fail in any four of these competencies then we have to take course and proceed towards license assuming you have NCLEX already .

Some good news alteast :)

Tabss · Oct 12, 2016

Dear CDN_US_educated_RN,

I don't get you...

You mean even after passing OSCE exam/IENCAP and NCLEX I still can be referred back to university to complete "deficiency " by CNO?

RN_Pro · Oct 13, 2016

Hi Tabss,

Canadian nursing education or equivalent is treated as a separate requirement from passing NCLEX-RN.

I think (but of course it's always best to check with CNO) that after the NNAS assessment and IENCAP, the paperwork goes to CNO and they review both to determine whether there is enough there to be equivalent to a Canadian nursing education.

From CNO website: "How is the IENCAP used as part of the College's evaluation?

Along with considering the competency gaps previously identified in the evaluation of your initial and/or additional nursing education, the College considers your results on both the MCQ and OSCE components of the IENCAP, to determine whether you have demonstrated that you possess equivalent nursing knowledge, skill and judgment in each of the required competency domains."........."You will be required to complete additional education to address the remaining competency gaps as identified in the evaluation of your nursing education and the Touchstone results."

From this is understood (and maybe I am wrong!) that it is the NNAS assessment results PLUS the IENCAP results that determine whether or not you are eligible to write NCLEX-RN or to become licensed. Since all of our NNAS assessments say "non-comparable" then I believe we will still have competency gaps.

I guess my question for CNO would be: Is the IENCAP designed to account for a Canadian nursing education equivalent entirely? Like if one has non-comparable on NNAS but gets 100% in IENCAP, is IENCAP considered proof of Cdn equivalent or does NNAS results cast a shadow over positive IENCAP results?

Tabss · Oct 13, 2016

Thank you very much..

I have exactly copy pasted this question to CNO..Lets see what they reply