SEC assessment ? A JOKE !!

5cats · Jan 6, 2009

SEC is not a joke and has nothing to do with experience but with your nursing education.

Each Nurse is assesed individually according to the transcripts that are sent in. So even when you've been to the same nursing school but had different clinicals for instance, that can make a huge difference.

5cats

Fiona59 · Jan 6, 2009

It can depend on the province that is doing the practice permit issue.

If your education doesn't meet Canadian requirements, what is the problem with upgrading to meet the requirements if you desire to live here?

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 6, 2009

Alberta is the only province that requires the SEC. The provincial licensing body, CARNA, does not view their responsibility to the people living in their province as a joke. Anything but, in fact. All applicants for licensure in Alberta are held to the same standard as graduates from nursing education programs in Alberta. Nurses from Australia, the UK, Scotland, Ireland, New Zealand and India are all being held to the same SEC process as Filipino nurses are. Other provinces are not as rigorous in their requirements; BC and Saskatchewan are actually fairly lax. That is how two people who were educated in the same school who graduated in different years can have such a different experience.

5cats · Jan 6, 2009

My experience with Saskatchewan is that they are anything but lax, Jan. :)

5cats

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 7, 2009

Comments on other threads suggest that Alberta is the toughest province on IENs. There have been several remarks about Alberta requiring the SEC while people from the same school, same class with the same amount of experience are not held up at all in Saskatchewan. Many grumbles about this subject in fact. "Why is my batchmate already working as an RN in Saskatchewan while I have to do the SEC and it's going to take me six months" sort of thing.

RN_Canada · Jan 7, 2009

BC is also using the SEC.

This has just been started under a special the IEN project and it is being implemented at the university where I teach.

It was implemented because many IEN's were entering the workforce (fully licensed) without being able to actually do the job competently. In some cases it was a lack of skills (physical assessment skills, medications, technology) and in many cases it was a lack of critical thinking skills and familiarity with the role of the RN in Canadian hospitals.

Some IEN's who are already working are being sent for SEC in order to assess their learning needs. Once that is known then the employer has to invest the time and money to get them up to speed since they are already hired.

Now that the project is up and running nurses needing registration in BC who received their education in another country are being sent for the further assessment depending on:

-their basic education and what that included

-the number of years they have not been practicing...this is a big factor. Many IEN's have a large gap since they last practiced and some have not practiced at all since graduation in their country of origin.

My judgment about the SEC in terms of its value is pending but the motive is pure ie public protection.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 7, 2009

Thank you for that information RN Canada. I wondered when the other shoe would drop. The safety of the public cannot be compromised in the name of making the "numbers" look good.

5cats · Jan 7, 2009

Comments on other threads suggest that Alberta is the toughest province on IENs. There have been several remarks about Alberta requiring the SEC while people from the same school, same class with the same amount of experience are not held up at all in Saskatchewan. Many grumbles about this subject in fact. "Why is my batchmate already working as an RN in Saskatchewan while I have to do the SEC and it's going to take me six months" sort of thing.

I know from my own experience that they assess quite thoroughly and several nurses have to take the SEC (including me only one subject though), they are using the Alberta SEC and so I'm not so sure, if those remarks are true.

They might be more flexible though in offering courses prior to the SEC if you ask them.

5cats

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 8, 2009

This would be a relatively new development for Saskatchewan, similar to that of BC, then. As in over the last month or so. I know that Saskatchewan has had some difficulty with some of their IENs and have had to release some of them. Perhaps that is why they're now using Alberta's SEC model, which itself I think was developed as a result of other assessment methods being inadequate.

RN_Canada · Jan 8, 2009

I know that Saskatchewan has had some difficulty with some of their IENs and have had to release some of them.

I am so sorry to hear that. When my colleagues in IEN education were at the IEN education conference in Saskatchewan last May, we were appalled that Saskhealth though they could just place these 300 new hires into lines and everything would be just fine with just a little longer orientation.

Adapting to the Canadian health care system is so much more complicated for an IEN than just having "orientation".

It must be terrible for the nurses that were let go.... how disappointing for them and of course Saskatchewan has lost some nurses who could have been a great asset to the system if they had taken the necessary steps and time to help them integrate.

And I cannot imagine the chaos in the workplace if there were some nurses there trying to do the job properly and just not able to make it..................that can be hard on everyone.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jan 8, 2009

I am so sorry to hear that. When my colleagues in IEN education were at the IEN education conference in Saskatchewan last May, we were appalled that Saskhealth though they could just place these 300 new hires into lines and everything would be just fine with just a little longer orientation.
Adapting to the Canadian health care system is so much more complicated for an IEN than just having "orientation".
It must be terrible for the nurses that were let go.... how disappointing for them and of course Saskatchewan has lost some nurses who could have been a great asset to the system if they had taken the necessary steps and time to help them integrate.
And I cannot imagine the chaos in the workplace if there were some nurses there trying to do the job properly and just not able to make it..................that can be hard on everyone.

I think that's the point that needs to be made. When you look at differences in nursing education then add in the complexity of care in North American acute care hospitals, the technological explosion in treatment and care, the level of nurse autonomy expected and THEN overlie all that with a language barrier, what did they think would happen? This procedural failure affects everyone concerned. It's demoralizing for the nurses who weren't able to make the grade, it creates a prejudice toward others from the same group, it makes Saskhealth look exceedingly stupid and it makes the workload on the wards worse. Quick fixes never work. I feel very bad for the nurses whose contracts were nullified; they were acting in good faith and were betrayed on several levels, only to be left holding the bag so to speak. It's wrong.