Sleepless in Quebec

Published

Hi.... An American here who just graduated from a direct entry Masters program in Quebec. The next "board" exam for Quebec is in Mid-September.

Due to the fact that Quebec has to keep hammering home how DIFFERENT they are, the test here in Quebec is WAY different from the NCLEX or the CNE (Canadian Nurses Exam). In its effort to be DIFFERENT (did I mention that Quebec emphasizes that they want to be DIFFERENT from the rest of North America?), the Quebec test is a TWO DAY ordeal.

The first day consists of 100 short answer questions (not multiple choice) and the second day is a series of live simulated clinical scenarios (13 to 15 or so) where you walk into a room and there is a patient, a "grader", a set of instructions, and the medical tools you will need. You have 10 minutes to show the grader that you know what to do in this situation that has just been sprung on you.

(During the student initiated and executed Career Week, we had last year's students come to tell us about their first year of "real life", including their experience with the test. One of them said she had imagined that the live simulation part would be the worst experience of her life ... but then she clarified it ... she said it was far more horrible than anything she could have ever imagined.)

Anyway, as I said, I have just graduated from a direct entry Masters program and ... this program could barely be bothered with teaching us about clinical things.

"YOU ARE NOT IN AN UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL ANYMORE," they would regularly tell us in a very condescending tone.

"DON'T EXPECT US TO SERVE IT TO YOU ON A SILVER PLATTER. AT THE MASTER'S LEVEL, IT IS EXPECTED THAT YOU WILL DETERMINE ON YOUR OWN WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW AND THEN GO AND LEARN IT."

Well ... that might be fine for a normal Master's level program, but it doesn't work for a direct entry program. In order to know what you don't know, you have to have some background in the field. Can you believe that for our ENTIRE third (final) year, we had NO clinical exposure to patients in any setting whatsoever??? NONE! Instead, we read articles from professonal journals and gave presentations and discussed the related clinical implications....

I feel SO BAD for how the B.A. and pre-B.A. trained nurses must feel when a direct entry Master's clown traipses in and gets paid more than they do. Granted, I have been trained in Advanced Practice Nursing and in Nursing Theory and Nursing Research ... but still, as I frequently complained, "The Advanced Practice Nursing training is almost meaningless without the BASIC PRACTICE training."

So... why this rant? The BIG TEST is coming up and I am lucky if I know a Foley from a Swan-Ganz. They are not going to test me on Patricia Benner's theory of Clinical judgment and How expert nurses use intuition.

So here I am preparing, looking at this STACK of basic nursing books. All stacked together, I cannot imagine how many thousands of pages. What am I supposed to do??

I want to work in psychiatry. Right now, I have a job as a "pre-nurse" in a hospital's psych ward. I have a natural gift in that area. (I'm over 50 and have some of the wisdom of age....) But I am SO bowled over by the thought of that exam. I find myself doing all sorts of avoidance behavior regarding studying. (Take this email, for example.)

Well .. what I really want to ask is ... both of Quebec's tests are scenario based .. and, come to find out, I seem to learn best with scenario-based learning. I learn best by example ... which explains why I had to hang on for dear life in the "go learn it on your own" mentality of my program. I NEED CONTEXT!!!!

So... do any of you know of scenario based prep resources - either on the net or in print? To its credit, the Quebec Order of Nurses publishes a very helpful scenario based prep-book ... but ... there are only so many scenarios (with the "right" answers) that they can put in one book. I have also found that Mosby's Canadian prep book has an accompanying scenarios book which will be helpful (again, with the right answers.)

Seems like there must be other such resources available? Yes? Anyone? Someone? :eek:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CCU.

Congrats for your success and ... guts! I am a late bloomer too! Did you do your exams? How did you prepare? Unfortunately, no-one answered you on this tread, I wish someone did, I have all the same question, thinking myself of coming back in Qc from the US. (Prob in 2 years).

I never worked there as a RN so I have a lot to do to get in. I am primarily French, learned nursing in US ans English too. I don't even know the abbreviations, the translation of CHF in French for ex.... I have a lot to do!

Any advice, for prep books in Fr, hints for the exams?

Thanks you so much!

Marie

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The Saunder's Comprehensive Review will give you the basics. Think of your exam the same way that I teach preparation of the NCLEX exam, it is common sense with the ABCs thrown in.

What would you do in a certain situation using the information that you learned in school. Not any difference from what you would do if you were working.

And some of the medical schools are starting to go with this approach as well, including a segment on the licensing exam for physicians. It is including an actor posing as a patient with a certain disease.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hmm when i studied for NCLEX-RN i did focus pretty much on KAplan's basics and Kaplan's course book and i also did a lot of cd practice tests from kaplan, mosby, and saunders but personally i think Kaplan best suited me:P

Somehow it depends upon the person himself i mean like if ur confident enough to study this certain book from a certain author then it would most definitely help u. As we nurses are aware the brain is very powerful so it also helps if u've set ur mind on one book telling urself that "this book is the book for me":) This really worked for me my computer shut off at 75 when i took mine. Good luck on yours and God bless

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion