Nursing exam that failed hundreds is unreliable and lacks validity, report finds
CBC
An investigation by Quebec's commissioner of professions has concluded that there were major problems with the licensing exam for nurses last September that saw over half of nursing students fail.
In the latest report released on Wednesday, André Gariépy, who oversees access to professional orders in Quebec, found issues with the validity and reliability of the exam.
"The reliability level of the questions in the exam is pretty minimal, and for a high-stakes exam like this one, it should be much higher," he said
The report also concluded that the passing grade had been raised without justification.
Gariépy said if the order had maintained the previous mark, more than 500 nursing students who failed would have passed.
"The justification for adding that markup [is] simply not there, not sufficient," he said, adding that a recalculation could allow the nursing students who "technically failed" the exam to obtain their licences.
"With the recalculation, if they succeeded, then issue the permit and that's it. Let's have them work in the health system. We need them," he said.
The report calls for immediate modifications to the exam and an investigation into the training of nursing students.
The province's nurses order, known by its French acronym the OIIQ, said in a news release that it would take "a few days" to analyze the findings before offering a response.
Just 45.4 per cent of nursing students passed the September 2022 licensing exam, compared to a pass rate of between 63 and 96 per cent in previous sittings, according to an earlier report by the commissioner's office. For those who took the test for the first time, the failure rate was 48.6 per cent — the highest rate recorded in four years.
In January, Gariépy said either the exam was "flawed" or the nursing students had not been adequately prepared by their program to pass it.
He recommended the OIIQ postpone the next exam — scheduled for March — but the order went ahead with it anyway.
The OIIQ said it is fully aware that the nursing students who took the March exam may raise questions about their test results following the commissioner's report.
Political reactions came quickly from the National Assembly in Quebec City, where work is underway to pass Bill 15 into law — a bill which aims to overhaul the health-care system to make it more efficient.
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