The NCLEX is UNCANADIAN.... CNA fear mongering...

First watch this video  by the President of the CNA and then read my rebuttal:



I have been mulling over writing this since I found the CNA's stance on using an American company to write computer exams for Canadian Nurses.

I did a little bit of online research and have come to the conclusion that Americans and the NCLEX aren't the monsters the CNA would like you to believe, and it gets me to wondering what the CNA's agenda is.

By now, if you have been reading my blog, you have probably noticed that I am not American, although I do have family members that are,  and that I don't always agree with the American Way. 

Much like most Canadians, I would never give up our Canadian Medical system for what exists south of the border - even though there is much to be fixed.

However.

What bothers me is this: why is the CNA so dead set against using the American exams as a basis for the Canadian Registration exams?  Why are they seeking to re-invent the wheel for the sake of nationalism?  There are exams that exist that are entirely adequate for our needs.

It isn't as if the NCLEX questions were put together by a bunch of monkeys in the back room somewhere, although that is what the CNA seems to suggest by their objections.  These are well thought out questions by expert RN specialists in their fields - questions that have been tried and tested before being placed in the NCLEX exam.  I can guarantee we won't be clicking on any multiple choice questions that involve HMOs or delivering-care-for-those-without-insurance-plans or any other Americanisms.

I have written both the Canadian and the American RN exams and I can tell you that I found very little difference between the two in content.   Basic nursing ethics and practice are the same both sides of the border.  I know.  I have worked in both countries along side American nurses, and the quality of nurses are equal to Canadian nurses.


If Judith Shamian - the CNA president and the person in the video above - is so concerned about the Canadian content being  the golden rule of nursing in this country, why did she get both of her Masters and Doctorate degrees south of the border?  By her reasoning, the exams she wrote and the course content in the aquisition of her degrees are not up to Canadian standards and she should redo both at our own Canadian Universities.

I noticed in her Youtube rants that she flogs "child abuse laws of reporting"  as an area of compromise in the exam questions.    FACT:  48 states have specific laws that demand health care workers (RNs included!) report any child abuse/neglect and the other states have laws that demand EVERYONE has a duty to report.  I think this pretty much covers child abuse....so I don't understand where Judith or the CNA was going with this "difference".  There really isn't any.

Judith also announces that using the American NCLEX will open the doors to the mass exodus of Canadian nurses heading south of the border and she deduces that this is the clandestine reason that Americans want Canada to use their exams....so they can "steal" Canadian nurses when the nursing shortage appears.  

News flash!  If a nurse wants to travel and work elsewhere....she/he will go despite the hoops that have to be jumped.  I was one of those nurses.  


I can also reassure the CNA that it's not something as simple as "writing the same exam" that allows nurses to skip south of the border to work.   There are other hoops to jump that have been put in place in the past few years by Homeland Security.....never mind that there has to actually be a "need" for nurses.    

At present, there are hardly enough jobs for American RNs - new grads as well as seasoned nurses - due to the downturn of the US economy.  USA Recruiters are glaringly absent at Canadian job fairs these days.   My American cousin who lives in the USA has been looking for an RN job since last spring when she completed the RN refresher program. 

We might even want a few American nurses.  Guess what?  Free Trade -  NAFTA -  works both ways.  American nurses are welcome to write our exams and come and work here in Canada if there is a need.   Oh - but wait a minute! Lets put NCLEX in place and it will be easy !!! Ahhh!  But there are other qualifications, similar to what the USA has in place for us.  It isn't as easy as you would think! 

Judith brings up the Patriot Act and tries to scare Canadian nurses into thinking there is information we would give up as a result when we write these exams.   Believe me when I say that we have more to fear from what we post on Facebook - another American company that exists under the laws of the Patriot Act - than the meagre information the NCLEX collects.

Fact:  Most of the information we give up to write exams is already on the Internet - Public domain - open to the world.   Check the RN registry in any province or state.  Check out  online phonebooks.  Check out the BC court system data base.    I use all of these to vet my potential tenants and believe me - between these sources and LinkdIn, Facebook, Myspace and Google.....I can find anything on anyone.   More than people think.

I believe that any American exam can be tweaked to reflect Canadian content.  We wouldn't be giving up the right to do that by using an American exam.   If we are purchasing a product, we would retain the right to inject Canadianisms into it much like what BC has done with certain systems that are already in place in our Medical system - Healthlink - originally an American program purchased by the province of B.C. and modified to fit Canadian standards.

I know the CRNBC has dropped its affiliation with the CNA in the past year because of it's politics and lobbying, and with that disassociation, the CRNBC took with it any monetary contributions from it's members.   It has left the CNA flapping in the breeze in B.C. not knowing what to do. 

After paying approximately $1600 per year (2% straight time earnings) in Union dues and $473.76 for my professional license with the CRNBC for the year,   I am reluctant to contribute anything extra to the CNA.

Perhaps the CNA is looking to put in dibs for exam creation and maintenance? Is this a "make work" project for them in the face of their perceived irrelevance?   I am all for a united Canadian Nursing association  - but this makes me wonder about the way they conduct business and whether I want them to represent me.


If they are to present a reason not to re-invent the wheel, then give me better excuses than the fear mongering I see in their posted videos.  Give me a reason why CNA hasn't already come up with their own exam while Americans have been doing computer testing for the last 10 years. Where have they been all this time?   Show me that re-doing that which already exists isn't going to cost me a lot more money.

American Nurses are not our enemy.    After all, aren't we all sisters and brothers in a common goal?

Yes, we have our cultural differences, but the basics of nursing is the same - ask Amanda Trujillo as she fights the system for doing what any nurse should and would do either here in Canada or the USA.

The system might be different - but our knowledge base and the essence of what we stand for as nurses remain the same.

 "Nursing encompasses autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, sick or well and in all settings. Nursing includes the promotion of health, prevention of illness, and the care of ill, disabled and dying people. Advocacy, promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in shaping health policy and in patient and health systems management, and education are also key nursing roles."