International nurse program prepped ahead of Philippines recruitment

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This article was published 09/02/2023 (941 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A plan to allow unlicensed international nurses to work in Manitoba while completing their registration is being finalized, and could be in place in time for the arrival of new recruits from the Philippines.

The Manitoba Nurses Union is negotiating a memorandum of understanding with health-care employers on behalf of the internationals who will work under the program and be represented by the union in the coming weeks, MNU president Darlene Jackson said Thursday.

Jackson said she believes the intention is to have the program up and running soon, so it’s an option available to newly recruited nurses. Later this month, provincial officials are heading to the Philippines on a recruiting trip, expecting to attract hundreds of potential nurses to Manitoba.

Internationally educated nurses who want to pick up shifts while they’re still going through the process of becoming licensed in Manitoba will have to first complete an assessment and re-entry course.

The idea is they can get to work faster, in a safe way for the health-care system, Jackson said. “So we know that their skills are adequate and they have some experience, and you know they feel comfortable and supported going into the system.”

Jennifer Breton, executive director of the College of Licensed Practical Nurses of Manitoba, said the program framework has been in place for a few months, and roughly six international nurses have enrolled so far.

The program has been tailor-made for international nurses, Breton said, adding she hopes many, including any new recruits, will apply. They’ll be paid to work in the public health-care system while completing their LPN education, like an apprenticeship.

Breton said the scope of practice for licensed practical nurses is broader in Manitoba than in any other province.

“It is unique to Canada,” she said. “So an internationally educated nurse who wants to be an LPN, nothing will support them better than going through this process.”

The program was announced last year, and is similar to another that puts nursing students to work under supervision. Third- and fourth-year undergraduate nursing students are eligible. The union is negotiating to ensure the unlicensed international nurses are treated fairly under the program, Jackson said.

“My understanding is that this will be very helpful to those nurses who are coming from the Philippines. I also hope that this will really be beneficial to internationally educated nurses who are already in Canada and are working their way through the college process.”

Manitoba had a reputation of requiring a more stringent application process for international nurses than some other provinces, which prompted some to relocate and get licensed elsewhere in Canada, advocates said.

One such person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, moved to Kenora, Ont., for four months so she could get her Ontario papers as a licensed practical nurse.

She was a registered nurse in India, and had heard Ontario’s clinical competency assessment would recognize more of her existing experience. She was found eligible based on Ontario’s assessment to take her Canadian nursing exam.

After passing, she worked 1,000 hours in personal care home before returning home and applying to transfer her licence to Manitoba. Those minimum-hour requirements have since been waived in Manitoba.

“I don’t regret that… It’s worth working there, getting experience, but still, I’m glad that other nurses, they don’t have to go through that, they don’t have to leave their kids,” the nurse said, adding she personally knows at least 10 nurses who’ve temporarily moved away from Manitoba for the same reason.

There are cultural differences for international nurses that could be addressed with a mandatory cultural competency course, she suggested, but added the fundamentals of nursing are the same. The current registration process is too lengthy and too expensive, she said.

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“You feel like you’re not being valued. You spend a lot of money back home for all that education but it’s not being acknowledged. You feel like you have to start from zero again.”

Over the past year, Manitoba has been pushing regulators to ease certain requirements on foreign-trained nurses that were seen as a barrier to licensing.

In July, Health Minister Audrey Gordon issued two compliance orders to the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba that meant the college had to stop requiring clinical competency assessments for nurses who were already licensed elsewhere in Canada.

Previously, nurses who’d failed the assessments in Manitoba were required to do another assessment, even after they were already licensed in another province. The minister’s order followed a Filipina nurse’s successful appeal to the Council of the College of Registered Nurses, arguing the college was violating domestic trade agreements.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Katie May
Multimedia producer

Katie May is a multimedia producer for the Free Press.

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