Preparation for OIIQ exam

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I need some advice from you, guys, who have had their expirience with OIIQ exam in Quebec. I've just came to Canada, to Quebec, and I have to do my OIIQ exam (I'm BA RN ICU nurse). I was told that there are some books for preparation for the exam in French, but none of my friends doesn't know about English books (they came to Quebec with the licence from Ontario). Unfortunately, I don't know French yet. So, please, tell me about how you prepare for this exam. Where can I find the examples of the questions?

Re. RN test in Quebec I think people are talking about "hands on" test. In the US, RN test is strictly written because we already had all clinicial experience from nursing program..

My quetion #1) So, to work in Quebec as RN, it is possible that I can take the RN test in English but it is required for me to re-take the same RN exam in French in 4 years???

My question #2) Pls describe further "hands on" test. It is quite new to me. We are required to do "venipucture" or "IM" for example????

THANK YOU very much for your kind help !!!!!!!

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

#1) Not exactly. You can take the OIIQ registration exam in English. The French exam is not a nursing exam, but a French language proficiency exam. You have to demonstrate fluency in oral and written communication and comprehension of the French language. It's a difficult exam. French medical terminology is complex, and not intuitive at all.

#2) I can't answer that one, but I expect it would be more like an OSCE (observed structured clinical exam) Objective structured clinical examination - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It would then be similar to the SEC/clinical competence assessment that other provinces require of internationally-educated nurses.

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This website Allnurses.com is just wonderful. I got my answers back to my question in less than 10 minutes.

Thank you very much, JanFrn

If you don't mind I have one more question...

I just downloaded PDF file re. Equivalency from OIIQ website blow... and it says

http://www.oiiq.org/infirmieres/diplomes/brochure_en.pdf

in the document, "fill out the enclosed forms and attach the required documents"... But I cannot find anywhre in the PDF file or on the OIIF website for that matter, the enclosed forms and a list of required documents... I am a little bit lost...

THANK YOU very much for your kind help ML25

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Those forms will come from OIIQ in their applcation package. They don't have downloadable forms like some other Colleges do. So you have to contact them for an application. Honestly I'd rather poke my own eyes out with Popsicle sticks than go through the registration process and the Examen de l'office quebecoise de la langue francaise in Quebec.

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Dear JanFran, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your prompt reply...

However, can you elaborate a little bit further on "I'd rather poke my own eyes out with Popsicle sticks than go through the registration process"..

I think i got scared off especially when I consider working and learning the ropes of process requirements in Montreal as RN...

It seems as if it is painfully time-consuming and too much red-tapes BUT it is doable..

Right??? Because I have read a lot of posts from foreign RNs working in Quebec?????

THANK YOU SO MUCH....ML25

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

It's a purely a personal bias. I've lived in Quebec before, three times in my life. As a Canadian-born, unilingual Anglophone the disdainful treatment I received from the "natives" was unpleasant, to say the least. The last time we lived there I was a young mom of three kids under 5 and I was really lonely. I didn't even qualify to bag groceries at the IGA because I didn't speak enough French. The Quebec government offered free Franch language instruction, but only for immigrants, not for Canadians who didn't speak it. Even after we moved into a community where there were lots of people like me, I still had issues with the way I was treated in public. Everything in Quebec is "special" to reflect the Francophone Distinct Society. Signs in and on stores cannot have apostrophes because they're not used in French. Road signs are totally in French, which caused a huge fatal collision and explosion in a downtown highway tunnel because the sign said "Reculez" (back up) but didn't include any pictograms and the driver didn't know what that meant. Store personnel would approach me and ask, "Peux-je vous aider?" (May I help you?) and when I replied in English the sneer on the person's face was awful. This was not in a small town in the back of beyond either, it was in the Montreal Urban Community. We could not send our children to English school because neither of us had been educated for most of our elementary school years in English IN QUEBEC! To say that I hated it is an understatement. I haven't been back in 24 years, even though my in-laws and eldest daughter live there.

It's not just the language thing. Nursing education in Quebec is deifferent from anywhere else in the country and they have their own exam. In any other province, if you've written the CRNE, you're done. But not in Quebec. You have to pass their exam... but the rest of Canada accepts the OIIQ exam on par with the CRNE. And nurses in Quebec have the heaviest workloads for the smallest pay packet. Not my cup of tea.

I am going back to Quebec this fall to visit my daughter, but I'll be staying no more than a few days.

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Dear JanFrn, Thank you so much for your kind msg... It was very valuable to me... THANKS ML25

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Don't let my bitterness throw you off. just because I won't do it doesn't mean it can't be done. I made sure my children are fluently bilingual so they can feel comfortable there and it worked, because as I say, my eldest lives in Montreal and works at Children's... not as a nurse but as a geneticist.

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Hi! I'm freaking out about taking the oiiq exam. I am a graduate nurse from the states and about to take the nclex next tuesday. My family is moving to montreal this summer and i would like to work there.

PLEASE, if anyone has any updated information about the oiiq's exam i would greatly appreciate it. Also, does anyone know for sure if the CRNE is recognized by quebec? maybe it is a good option to take the crne instead and have it transferred.

also, if anyone is an american nurse who is now working in montreal, i would love to talk with you about your experience.

thank

ally

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Hi everyone, I really need your help, what should I do to request from the OIIQ the application for recognition for equivalence? can anybody tell me to what email to send my inquiry of request (for application kit) . and how do I write my letter intending my request? I a newbie here, I hope someone could help me out here.

Thank you guys! more power.

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Hi everyone, I really need your help, what should I do to request from the OIIQ the application for recognition for equivalence? can anybody tell me to what email to send my inquiry of request (for application kit) . and how do I write my letter intending my request? I a newbie here, I hope someone could help me out here.

Thank you guys! more power.

Just please indicate these information in your letter of request:

1) your intention of writing this letter

2) where and when you graduated?

3) when you took and passed the board exam?

4) any relevant work experience

5) your plans in the next few years in Quebec

6) complete mailing address and contact numbers

this is the content of the letter that you should mail to OIIQ as what i have known so far..

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