preparing to take the ARNAP-has anyone out there taken this assessment

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I am a Canadian citizen who went to nursing school in the U.S.A. In order to get a license in Alberta, Canada I must take an assessment called the ARNAP (Alberta Registered Nurses Assessment Program). I am looking for advice on what to study, what the exam was like and to connect to anyone who has recently taken this assessment.

Thanks Jolene

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Did you read the ARNAP Participant Guide? The ARNAP is a competency test created by Touchstone Institute, it's the same competency exam that is used in in Ontario, but in Ontario it is called the IENCAP.

There is multiple choice exam with 97 questions and an OSCE with 12 stations.

To prepare you should review the Entry-to-practice competencies thoroughly

Review the Standards of Practice

Review the Canadian Nurses Association Code of Ethics

Practice Physical Assessment skills and history taking

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Thank you, I will do that!

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Review CARNA's

Professional resources case studies: accountability & responsibility, confidentiality, consent, duty to provide care, infection prevention & control, nurse client relationships

10 videos on What nursing is like in Canada topics include: Discharge Teaching, Culturally Sensitive Issues, Inter-professional Team, Communicating, Patient Refusal of Care, Total Assessment, Code, Advocating for Patient Rights, Reporting Errors.

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When are you scheduled to do the ARNAP? How many hours a week are you studying?

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I haven't set a date yet, I just mailed in my paper saying I want to take the exam rather than the bridging course.

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I haven't set a date yet, I just mailed in my paper saying I want to take the exam rather than the bridging course.

I see, I guess you won't be doing the ARNAP that is scheduled for June 17/17?

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What school did you obtain your nursing degree?

I am also US educated and took IENCAP. If it helps any, I'll say that while you should definitely study and prepare, relax a little--our US education more than prepared us for IENCAP. I felt the content of the exam itself was fair. I didn't find anything in the Canadian curriculum that was over and above or beyond my US education.

Are you wanting to nurse in Alberta for certain, or do you want to nurse in Canada in general but chose Alberta to start with? I am asking because BC seems to be the most lenient right now. And Ontario is becoming so, where many with US educations now are being able to provide nursing work experience/job descriptions to prove their entry to practice competencies, and so you might be directed to do that instead of the $1900 ARNAP. I wasn't lucky enough to be able to skip IENCAP by providing my job description etc because I applied before Sept 2016 when they made changes allowing job descriptions instead of IENCAP, but lately there have been quite a few who have been deemed comparable through job description and have not been required to do IENCAP.

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I went to Northern Maine Community College. I have an ADN. I chose Alberta because that is where I am from and have recently moved back here. My family is here. Thank you for your thoughts and comments, I really appreciate it.

Jolene

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Absolutely not!! I don't feel even close to being ready. I'm very nervous about this exam. The lady I spoke with on the phone made it sound very difficult. She said there was a chance I would be deemed inknowledgable which would mean I would have to start from the beginning and go back to nursing school which I can't afford.

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When did you graduate with the ADN? Did you work as a RN in the US prior to moving back?

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I graduated May 2015 and I worked for 15 months on a medical-surgical-telemetry unit in Maine.

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