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IEN Journey

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Sunghwan Park edited this page Mar 15, 2023 · 3 revisions

Collaborators

  • IEN - Internationally Educated Nurses

    • RN - Registered Nurse
    • LPN - Licensed Practical Nurse
    • HCA - Health Care Assistant

  • NNAS - The National Nursing Assessment Service exists to start Internationally Educated Nurses on their journey to nursing practice in Canada.

  • BCCNM - British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives. As a health regulator, our legal obligation is to protect the public through the regulation of five distinct professions— licensed practical nurses, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, and midwives. Regulation allows BCCNM to set standards for nurses and midwives. These standards ensure the public receives safe, competent, and ethical care.

  • NCAS - Nursing Community Assessment Service. We help British Columbia (BC), and Maritime Canada nurse regulators decide if potential healthcare applicants are ready to practice.

  • HEABC - The Health Employers Association of British Columbia (HEABC) coordinates the human resource and labour relations interests of more than 211 publicly funded health care employers in British Columbia. HEABC represents non-profit, denominational and proprietary health employers, as well as the province’s six health authorities.

  • HMBC - Health Match BC is a free health professional recruitment service funded by the Government of British Columbia, Canada and is a division of HEABC Recruitment Solutions, which includes Locums for Rural BC, Practice Ready Assessment BC, and the BC Care Aide and Community Health Worker Registry.

  • Health Authorities

    • PHSA - The Provincial Health Services Authority oversees the coordination and delivery of provincial programs and highly specialized healthcare services. Highly specialized services include resource-intensive services, such as heart surgery, transplants and cancer treatment, which cannot be delivered in every community.

    • Regional health authorities

      The five regional health authorities govern, plan and deliver healthcare services within their geographic areas.

      • FHA - Fraser Health Authority
      • IHA - Interior Health Authority
      • NHA - Northern Health Authority
      • VIHA - Vancouver Island Health Authority
      • VCHA - Vancouver Coastal Health Authority

    • FNHA - First Nations Health Authority

Journey

Stages

License/Registration -> Recruitment -> Immigration

Old License/Registration Process

NNAS -> BCCNM -> NCAS -> BCCNM -> LICENSE/REGISTRATION

NNAS

  • Applicants apply to NNAS to start their journey to land in BC as an IEN
  • NNAS collects and reviews documents
  • NNAS issues advisory report

BCCNM

  • Direct applicants to NCAS for the entry-level competencies
  • Refer applicants to additional education if there are competency gaps
  • Issue provincial licenses and make registration decisions
  • Refer applicants to HAs(consult with HMBC)

NCAS

  • Assess English language proficiency and education credentials.
  • Assess competency through CBA, SLA, and Oral assessment.

New License/Registration Process

January 31, 2023

NCAS -> BCCNM -> LICENSE/REGISTRATION

  • NCAS is now the first stop for IENs who want to practise nursing in B.C.
  • NCAS assesses English language proficiency, education credentials and nursing competence at one time before BCCNM assesses an application.
  • NNAS reports are still accepted but are not required.
  • In addition to NNAS, four agencies have been added to the list of credential evaluation agencies.
    • WES - The Canadian branch of World Education Service
    • CES - Comparative Education Service
    • ICAS - International Credential Assessment Service
    • ICES - International Credential Evaluation Service

Refer to reference 1 and 2

What to be changed

  • NNAS milestones could come before or after BCCNM.
  • NNAS is optional, and its duration needs to be removed.
  • NCAS should be the first milestone.
    • Currently the first NCAS milestone is Referred to NCAS. The milestone may change to Applied to NCAS.
  • IEN-815

Acronyms

  • ATS - Applicant Tracking System
  • CBA - Computer-Based Assessment
  • EOI - Expression of Interest
  • NCLEX - National Council Licensure Examination. NCLEX-RN. NCLEX-PN
  • REx-PN - Regulatory Exam - Practical Nurse. Jan 2022
  • ROS - Return of Service - All international medical graduates who complete their medical residency in BC are required to do a Return of service for two years in underserved areas of British Columbia
  • SLA - Simulation Lab Assessment

References

  1. New registration process for internationally educated nurses is live!
  2. New registration process will remove delays and lower costs for internationally educated nurses
  3. 7-Step Guide how to become a Registered Nurse in British Columbia Canada as an Internationally Educated Nurses.
  4. Practical Nurses in Canada will take ReX instead of NCLEX-PN!
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