Licensing plan for international nurses still in development

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This article was published 09/02/2023 (940 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A plan to get unlicensed, internationally educated nurses working under supervision in Manitoba’s health-care system is underway, but hasn’t launched yet.

Three months after announcing changes designed to remove unnecessary barriers for internationally educated nurses, a regulatory body governing nursing registration in Manitoba has received seven applications from international nurses and says it’s too early to determine the impact of the changes.

The College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba approved 27 applications from international nurses in 2022 and still has 39 applications in progress. Of those, seven came in after the college slightly loosened some English-language testing requirements and stopped requiring proof of immigration status as the first step in the application process. Those and other changes to the application process were announced in November in an attempt to reduce red tape for nurses from other countries whose qualifications aren’t fully recognized here.

Further changes to streamline, and potentially expedite, registration and licensing exams for international nurses are expected to be announced in the near future, said the college’s spokesman Martin Lussier.

There are currently 12 nurses enrolled in Red River College’s re-entry program to upgrade their education.

The red tape is disheartening and difficult to get through, said one Winnipeg resident who was a registered nurse with intensive-care training in another country and spoke on the condition of anonymity because she is still going through the application process to become a licensed practical nurse. English is her first language, but her qualifications aren’t transferable in Manitoba.

She said being unable to work in her profession here causes “emotional turmoil” that is often ignored among newcomer nurses.

“I really think that they should think about what it is they’re doing to educated professionals that are coming into Canada,” she said.

The college, and all nursing regulators in the country, are looking for different ways to measure English proficiency other than the existing language tests, Lussier said.

“The college recognizes that significant health workforce challenges continue to affect not only nurses and health practitioners, but all who receive care in Manitoba. The college is working to find solutions that reduce the amount of time internationally educated applicants spend in the process while making certain the public’s expectations of safe nursing care continue to be met,” he stated.

He encouraged international nurses to start their application process as soon as possible through Canada’s National Nursing Assessment Service in order to benefit from provincial funding for their assessment and education.

Manitoba announced that funding in 2021, pledging to provide up to $23,000 per international nurse to combat the provincial nursing shortage.

Shared Health announced last summer it was working with regulators to allow international nurses to work under supervision while they are still completing their licensing process, which is already an option for third- and fourth-year undergraduate nursing students in Manitoba, but hasn’t yet been expanded to international nurses.

Shared Health is working on implementing the program, which could involve international registered-nurse and licensed-practical nurse applicants.

The student supervision program “has been received positively and is felt to be a good option for (internationally educated nurses) and former registered nurses to utilize their skills in a clinical environment in a safe way,” a Shared Health spokesperson stated.

Nurses trained in other countries are being steered toward becoming LPNs in Manitoba through a Student International Education Nurse program run by the College of Licensed Practical Nurses. The college didn’t respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com

Katie May
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Katie May is a multimedia producer for the Free Press.

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