NANB Responds to Grossly Inaccurate Information
FREDERICTON, Friday February 3, 2017 – As the regulatory body for
registered nurses and nurse practitioners in New Brunswick, the only officially
bilingual province in the country, the Nurses Association of New Brunswick
(NANB) feels it is our obligation to provide the public factual information in
regards to the national entry-to-practice exam, correcting what has been
reported in recent days by members of the Canadian Nursing Student’s
Association (CNSA).
This media campaign is being led by CNSA and invoked in fear from nurse
leaders who continue to fuel the fire on a group of students who have not seen,
or written the exam. The campaign contains unsupported claims of
‘Americanized’ content, poor translation, and student performance not being
relevant to success- a statement which contradicts NANB’s 10-year
comparison.
“Media campaigns such as the recent one implemented by CNSA create a
destructive wave of misinformation,” says Laurie Janes, Executive Director of
NANB. “Adding to the confusion and anxiety for nursing students, this sort of
emotional and inaccurate approach is disappointing and clearly indicates a
need to liaise with CNSA representatives to ensure they are informed by the
facts.”
What NANB knows to be true is that New Brunswick nurse graduates
experienced the lowest pass rates in Canada when the national entry-topractice exam was introduced in 2015, and that trend continues today. We
have also seen rapid rise in success among second exam attempts, as well as
significant improvements with some nursing programs across the province.
Recognizing success rates of francophone nurse graduates continue to be
dismal, the NANB along with the provincial government, and the exam provider authorized a third-party translation review, whereby the results concluded the translation of the exam was satisfactory.
NANB members passed a resolution at the 2016 Annual General Meeting
calling for a Taskforce to be established with an objective to work together for
improved exam results. This Taskforce has met regularly since December
2016 and is comprised of nurse leaders from both New Brunswick universities,
provincial government, health authorities, the New Brunswick Nurses Union,
NANB and recent nurse graduates who have successfully written and passed
the national entry-to-practice exam. In addition to collaborating constructively,
facilitating an approach to incorporate best practices and to move forward
ensuring New Brunswick nurse graduates are prepared and succeed, this
group of nurse leaders are committed to improving exam pass rates on the
first writing experience.
NANB is reaching out to leaders of CNSA and New Brunswick nursing
students to discuss information cited in this campaign.
Click here for the original press release.