While the exam pass rate for the 8 tests taken between September 2018 and March 2022 varied between 71% and 96%, this rate dropped to 51.4% in September 2022, causing controversy in the media. Luc Mathieu, President of the Order, justified the failure of one of two candidates by saying that “the students were not sufficiently prepared for the exam”, blaming the pandemic and the large number of courses to be taken.
This statement from last year is no longer sufficient to justify the low pass rate of 53.3% for the exam in March 2023, since all courses took place in attendance! The last two candidate cohorts cannot be much lower than the previous eight cohorts.
We have to look elsewhere to understand how we went from a pass rate of 82.2%, the average of the 8 benchmark exams, to a pass rate of 52.3%, the average of the last 2 exams. Autumn is spectacular and challenges many!
exam design
To explain these abnormal results in the last two exams, after some thought, it is imperative that we look at the exam design. In addition, Me André Gariépy, Commissioner for Admissions to Professions, revealed that the September 2022 exam had flaws, questioning the quality of certain questions and increasing the pass score to 55% without sufficient justification.
Against the backdrop of a major shortage of nurses, Health Minister Christian Dubé, using a great deal of common sense, declared that Quebec could not afford to lose hundreds of nurses. Which unfortunately will happen. Many of those candidates who fail the OIIQ exam a third time, or fail twice in a row, leave the profession, are discouraged, or drop out of college. This is despite the fact that they have very good nursing training, many of which have already been acquired while working in the healthcare sector and are recognized by their peers and the patients cared for by those nurses.
Would these people be any less good than those who got 55% and 56%? There is a great concern that these candidates will give up their dream job or take the exam in another province and stay there.
discouragement
We couldn’t do any better to scare off a whole part of a generation of motivated candidates who have already proven their competence and their seriousness in the healthcare network. We can understand their need today. And also our discouragement, the citizens who need a lot more caregivers.
What to do in the face of this incomprehensible situation? The hope lies in the hands of the Admissions Officer for Professions, Me André Gariépy, and his team, who will have to analyze the questions for the March 2023 exam. And if, as with the previous exam, deficiencies are found, the questions considered problematic must be subtracted and proceed to another assessment, even reverting to the old pass mark. We would achieve a similar success rate as in the past.
In Quebec, our healthcare system doesn’t have the luxury of missing out on all those potential nurses who are voicing their desire to quit the profession in the media!
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Ravaz
Michael BERTHELOT And Elizabeth Ravaz
withdrawn from class
Saint Michel des Saints