Hamilton nurses soon to write an all-American exam

Nursing professors in Ontario are raising concerns about changes coming to the final registration exam for the nursing profession.

Ontario is moving to an all-American exam by 2015.

Catherine Tompkins, director of the School Of Nursing at McMaster University, says the new test will be available online, replacing the current written exam from the Canadian Nurses Association. The online exam will make sure students get their results back sooner, she said.

But the change is raising red flags from among in the Canadian medical community, who say the exam doesn't take into account the way nurses in Ontario are taught, or in some instances what they are taught.

According to Tompkins there are a few problems with the exam. She says the American exam has a very different purpose than the Canadian one.

The Canadian test measured competency for nursing practices and asked broad questions, she said, whereas the American exam is a practice-based exam and the purpose is to test the graduates on the skills and knowledge that they would need six months out in practice. (Hear Tompkins' full interview with Wei Chen, the host of CBC Radio's Ontario Morning, in the Listen link at the top of this story.)