Please, need specifics to be RN in Montreal!

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 30, 2008

You've asked some intersting questions, but I don't know that there are many members who would be able to answer them. I don't have much knowledge of what Quebec wants or doesn't want (other than the fluency in French thing) so am not of any help. I lived in the Montreal area for three years in the mid-80's but wasn't a nurse in those days and didn't work at all. No French, you see. (It was a LONG three years for me.)

My daughter is living in Montreal and working in a health care related field (genetics); she has dealings with several hospitals in the area, the ones that have maternity units. She is fluently bilingual so she's not having the same issues I did... I can't talk to her until the weekend, but I will call and ask her for her thoughts. I know the Jewish General has a good reputation. She'll have some insight into how they treat their staff. In the absence of any other replies, that may be the best we can offer.

shurchik · Feb 8, 2008

Me, again. Wow, over a 100 views and 1 reply!

Thanks, janfrn! I checked out some of your other posts on this forum - you've been a lifesaver for many! If you don't mind, I'd like to take you up on your offer and converse via pm about whatever info you've dug up on Jewish General and others. :bow: Thank you!!!

For those, who've viewed this post hoping to get some answers (just like me, ha-ha), I can provide a little update on my progress.

OIIQ has finally replied to my numerous e-mails - boy, are they slow! Kinda gives me an idea of what to expect with them in the near future... :icon_roll

They didn't answer all of my questions, but said they're gonna send me an application packet. Let's hope that packet will cover the rest of my questions about credentials check.

So far, my general understanding is that the application packet has a form that the applicant has to send to his nursing school (and high school, and all other schools you ever went to), and the schools have to mail your transcripts back to OIIQ directly. Once they have all your transcripts, they check your education against Quebec requirements and issue a report. That report lets you know whether or not you need to take some more classes/clinicals before you can sit for the licensure exam.

Regardless of whether you need to get some more classes or not, there's one course you have to take - that's Integration of Nursing Knowledge in Quebec. It can take a few weeks or several months - OIIQ's committee determines that based on your education and work experience.

Once you complete this course, you become CPN (Candidate for the Profession of Nursing) and can begin work under RN supervision (I was told the pay for CPN in Quebec is around $22/hour) until OIIQ lets you take the licensure exam.

The exam is given in September and March, and, unlike the NCLEX in US, you don't get to choose your exam date. You have to take it when OIIQ tells you or you lose your CPN status. However, if you take the exam and fail, you can continue working as CPN and you get 3 more tries within 2 years to pass the exam. The exam is given in French everywhere in Quebec except Montreal, where you have a choice between French and English. I've already bought and received OIIQ's preparation guide for the exam in English (took 5 weeks to get here). The material itself looks very similar to NCLEX exam. In fact, I was told that many Canadian nursing candidates use US NCLEX prep guides to study for the Quebec exam. However, the form is different. There's a theory part, which you take on the first day of the exam, and it's all short answer questions (the exam's not computerized, and it takes 6-8 weeks to get your results). The second day of the exam is the practice part, where you have an actor playing a patient and an observer who present you with a real-life medical situation and grade your reaction. It's not nearly as scary as it sounds, and the OIIQ's prep guide gives you a pretty good idea how to approach the practical part of the exam.

Most of what I said above can be found on OIIQ's website, and I guess I'll keep you posted of my progress as I move along.

For myself, I'm still unclear about:

1) whether I'll be exempt from OIIQ's French exam. The website says that with my 4 years of college-level French I will be, but OIIQ hasn't confirmed it. It appears they don't want to give any definite answers till they receive all my transcripts. Bureaucrats, but what can you do? :bugeyes:

2) how will OIIQ deal with the transcript from my nursing school in Russia. I mean, they gonna get it in Russian language - who and at what point will translate it for them? I'll keep bugging OIIQ with this question - maybe they'll finally break.

3) How much of my education and work experience will OIIQ take into account? My guess is I won't get an answer till I go through their entire application process and they issue their report. Seeing how "fast" they are, I don't expect to receive that report anytime earlier than 6 months.

Doesn't look like this thread is gonna be of much more use. But I still hope to get some info on English-speaking hospitals in Montreal - I'll start a new thread for that. Good luck to me.

Thanks, everybody. :yeah:

suzanne4, RN · Feb 13, 2008

They are going to evaluate your clinical and theory hours that you had in school in Russia and then make a determination. But be aware that they are usually requiring equivalent to the BSN for licensure there and more than likely you will still need to complete their language exam. And their requirements are stricter than they are in the US for licensure.

As for experience, they put more into what you have done during school, unless you have significant experience as an RN. I would wait until you get their evaluation and to see if you are approved to sit for their licensing exam before you move there, it will be much easier for you to do.

Best of luck to you. Do you already have a visa that will permit you to live and work there?

Natalie09 · Sep 22, 2009

Hi Shurchik

Im in your same position i guess but just a little more of the way through! I have been in Quebec for 8 months and applied to the Nurses board of Quebec when i first arrived...and im still waiting. I received my Bachelor of Nursing in Australia and have had 15 months of surgical experience. The hardest part from getting all the required information from my university, nurses board of Australia and the hospital i previously worked at. The paperwork has to be comleted perfectly or they do not accept it which i found out the hard way. My paperwork was accepted in August and is now waiting to be reviewed by the nurses board committee who meets monthly.

So far it has been very frustrating not to mention expensive.. I havent been able to get any information to when the board will review my application so it could be 1 month it could be 6 months, they say they are not aware which applications are reviewed when. So for now i just have to wait.

Im interested to where you purchased your exam prep guide as i need to buy one and also i dont yet speak fluent french either but i did contact the Human Resources of the Mc Gill university. The person i spoke to was very nice and made it clear there would be no problems getting a job but of course she said you need to wait until you are excepted by the nurses board of Quebec before you can go any further. Good Luck i hope the application process is quicker for you than it has been for me.

shurchik · Feb 19, 2010

Natalie09,

Sorry, if this reply is too late! But you can purchase The Quebec Exam prep guide directly from the OIIQ. It cost me $25 + shipping. It's available in both French and English, just let them know which one you need.

jessca88 · Mar 29, 2010

i do have the same situation as yours. i am a graduate of nursing in the Philippines and a nursing licensure exam board passer and currently located at montreal. may i know what did u do to have those apllication packet that the OIIQ sent you. coz' im really confused right now. i dunno where to start.

thank you so much.:)

nicole0214 · Apr 23, 2010

same here jess, i'm from the philippines too.. you're lucky you're here in montreal coz you can always drop by at the OIIQ's office.. you can google their address so you can pick up you're application packet personally.. it will take weeks if you ask them to mail it to you.. if at this moment you already got your packet, send them out immediately to your school, previous employer, etc.. have someone back home follow these up coz if they don't, it will really take that long to be completed.. afterwhich, all you have to do is wait.. :)

my papers were submitted to the OIIQ last month of january and forwarded it to the MICC for my evaluation.. i kept calling both OIIQ and MICC after a month and a half to check on my status.. it was only this week that they sent me the results of my evaluation.. 4 years of nursing back home is equivalent to a DEC here in quebec.. if i'm right, that's also considered as a GPL (graduate pending license).. as for the next steps, that's what i'm about to know tomorrow, or next week.. that depends on how fast the OIIQ determines it.. i might as well concentrate on my french first while waiting for my "verdict".. je ne parle pas francais (I don't speak French).. sheesh..

i jusst hope you're subscribed to this thread.. :)

miasat · Apr 30, 2010

hi nicole and jess. im in montreal too, and it took me around 4-5 months to get the final verdict from the oiiq. submitted all the requirements sometime in january, hand delivered all the documents to the office (yes, quite an advanage if you live in the area), and voila, they released the decision late march. i'm to do a 40-day professional integration training. had to apply on my own, bottomline is that i had to find a hospital who would accept me as trainee. see, i got no hospital experience, fresh graduate from a phils. nursing school. but i did pass the local board there in 2008. i applied in the mcgill network of hospitals here, but no-can-do, not without the french, and not without the experience.

so, holler if you got any questions, because im learning things as i go along.

nicole0214 · May 4, 2010

wow, sorry for not reading the TOS, mods.. but you could have removed the french line as well, not only the line with my native tongue.. :sniff: (sorry, it just went right through me..)

hi Mia..

so glad you made it through the waiting period.. i'm still waiting for mine.. i called them a week ago and said that i should be expecting a letter from the "committee".. is it the same with you? how long did it take to reach you? i really hope i would be placed in the same situation as yours--having a 40 day integration program.. but it was years ago that i graduated ('06).. :)

an acquaintance of mine in st. mary's had been telling me to apply there.. she said i wouldn't have to worry about french because i'll be learning as i'll work there.. but how could i not worry if my license depends on that.. :) so, good luck then.. update me soon on how your work goes.. i hope all goes well for all of us.. oh, and what part of montreal are you from?

Fiona59 · May 4, 2010

French is an official language of Canada. I wouldn't claim to be bilingual, but after four years of it in high school and one year at the college level (and many, many Canadian nurses have more than that), so basic French statements are not beyond our comprehension.

The mods remove stuff in other languages because they aren't the official language of the board and most readers don't have a basic knowledge of Spanish, German, Tagalog, etc.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · May 4, 2010

I left the French in and translated it for those who don't know any French... for the reasons Fiona59 has pointed out and because it is connected to the topic at hand. Nurses in Quebec, where Montreal is, have to pass a very difficult French exam in order to maintain their registration.