Nurses association sues language commissioner over nursing exam report

The New Brunswick Nurses Association is asking the Court of Queen's Bench to dismiss the findings offormer commissioner of official languages Katherine d'Entremonton the licensing exam nursing graduates have to take to enter the profession.

In a notice of complaint, the association says the investigation conducted by d'Entremont's office was neither complete nor impartial.

The reportincludesinaccuracies, the complaint says, and the commissioner's office violated the Official Languages Act by not giving the associationan opportunity to respond to allegations about the licensing exam.

The association added that the language commissioner'sfindings and recommendations were flawed or unreasonable because they were based on an erroneous or unreasonable interpretation of the Official Languages Act.

D'Entremont's office investigated because graduates of the University of Moncton nursing program were not doing well on the national exam.

After the NCLEX-RNaccreditationexam was introduced in 2015, the school's success rate went from high to one of the worst in the country. More than half of the graduates were failing.

The nursing association, which regulates the profession in New Brunswick,did not respond to a request for an interview on Friday.

Asked for a comment while he was campaigning for re-election, Liberal Leader Brian Gallant would not comment because the case is before the courts but said in French that his earlier comments still stand.

Considerable gap

In May, the premier asked the nurses association to take steps to ensure the exam wasfair to both francophones and anglophones.Benot Bourque, the minister of heath, announced in June that a working committee would try to find a solution.

While the exam is developed in the United States, it is edited and translated by Canadians in Canada.

As a result of its investigation, d'Entremont'soffice concluded there was aconsiderable gap between English and French in the preparation resources for the NCLEX-RN exam.

According to the language commissioner, English-speaking students have access to a wider range of materials, such as higher-quality exam simulations.

Translation weak

The language office alsoconcluded that the translation of certain questions for the French version of the exam left something to be desired, particularly because the questions were handled by people who were not always certified translators.

The commissioner noted in her report that first-time success rates for University ofMoncton graduates dropped from 91 per cent in 2014 to 32 per centin 2015.

The success rate for University of New Brunswick graduates on the first attempt in 2015 was 58 per centhigher.

A year later, the success rate for University ofMoncton graduates at the first attempt was 39 per cent compared with 71 per cent for UNBgraduates. It was 40 per cent in 2017.

In May, the Socitdel'AcadieduNouveau-Brunswick and the student federal at U of M said they would suethe nurses association.

Apan-Canadian committee is also working on the creation of a bilingual end-of-study examfor nursing students. This alternative examination could be offered as early as 2020, across Canada.

D'Entremont retired as commissioner in July.