An assistant nurse at the CHSLD Sainte-Dorothée in Laval, who has been practicing her profession for almost 15 years, has been completely denied the opportunity to return to the CEGEP to obtain the nursing diploma.
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Stéphanie Dufort would like to provide additional support to the health network. “I feel like I can do more and contribute more,” she said in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
For this reason, the 40-year-old practical nurse decided to apply for a CEGEP nursing program.
However, Stéphanie had a very unpleasant surprise when she was refused entry due to “lack of space”. Unhappy with the answer, she looked for a better answer.
“I was told about my high school grades, going back 20 years… I was told that the quality of my record was not good enough at 19 due to youthful mistakes,” she explains.
She wrote a letter to CEGEP explaining her educational journey 20 years ago. Despite these steps, she received a second rejection based on the status of her file.
“I feel like someone is judging me. We just adopted what I did 20 years ago. “It’s like everything I’ve sent up to date has no value anymore,” the assistant nurse adds.
While there is a dire shortage of staff in the healthcare system, Stéphanie finds their refusal to be “demoralizing” and “humiliating.”
Despite everything, she doesn’t want to give up. She even wants to send her diploma to the same institution after receiving it.
“The way to evaluate professionals with experience needs to be reconsidered. It’s the famous reviews of the past, the R ratings that count, it’s no longer the experience. There must be an opening to make the bridge lighter,” concludes Stéphanie.
***Watch the full interview above***