Airborne_Dan

Ive sent off my transcripts to CRNBC and other docs (along with £358) to have my credential reviewed. I trained as an Adult Diploma Nurse - Project 2000.
I have:
Maternity theory: 75 hrs, clinical practice: 52.5
Children in hospital theory: 90 hrs, clinical practice: 52.5
This is on my transcript. I'm waiting to be told I need to do a SEC assessment.

My question is: Are there any online or other learning/preparatory resources I can access to aid me in the SEC assessment?

Does anyone here have similar hours on their transcript who have gone through this process for Canada, particularly BC. Any help very appreciated and thanks for reading!

AD

snowhugs

I undertook the SEC for CRNBC, and found it straight forward , it really is nothing to study for as you already have a fair bit of experience.

I failed though , as they do a "role play" thing at the end.. this is very difficult and unless you have worked in Canada already you will probably fail. I feel this test is designed to make you fail , so they can put you through a 4 day course to bring you up to " Canadian standards"

I do not mean to sound negative , but do not stress too much.... I ended up sitting the exam(CRNE) in Ontario and passed , never having passed SEC.

sdo1982

Its a total con!
The wife has to sit it, 11months wait from when we booked it.
BC Health pay a third party, ie Kwatlan to insulate themselves from any problems that might occur due to internationally trained nurses.
However Kwatlan has a conflict of interest as they are the assessors and the training providers, so they benefit financially if they fail you.
The language used in the random, infrequent and downright rude emails they send would not be appropriate when speaking to delinquent teenagers, let alone trained healthcare professionals, who have in most cases, been responsible for peoples lives.

As for the assessment itself, my wife has been talking to people who have taken it, everyone says the same as snowhugs, its not the knowledge difference, its the terminology that people fall over on.

Airborne_Dan

Thanks for your replies guys. I can live with doing a 4 day workshop or something to that effect. I just don't want to be told I need to do a 6 week placement over here or even worse, a years conversion course or something. I sent my application off to them about 6 weeks ago which they received, so hopefully should hear something back around October time.

sdo1982

CRNBC are very good, they should get back to you quickly, its just when you get passed over to do the SEC assessment is where the fun starts! They say they will get back to you with the next available date, and dont contact them. You have to contact them, badger them every week, then contact the CRNBC to jolly things along, its silly!

As for the results, we are aware of a nurse with 10+ years experience being told she has to study for about a year and a half, then do placement hours.
Newly qualified nurses having to study online only...
We are just taking a view, if Canada dont want my wife working as a nurse, there are plenty of jobs just over the boarder, and its a much simpler process!

Airborne_Dan

Is your wife going through the process herself?

snowhugs

To be honest I too thought nothing of a 4 day course, even though I have 25 years experience as a nurse.

However..... I flew out there at considerable cost as the exam takes 2 days that was a minimum of 5 days in a hotel ( Had agreat time , as did my wallet!!). Then a result of "please take 4 day course for medical and surgical updates"... seriously I am a senior sister, ENP in AE and I need an update in surgery and medicine ????!!!!! but then... I accept all that , things are different over there... comes the provisional cost... over £4000 for 4 days!!!

I think not.

rebecca1986

Hi!

Just thought I would share my experiences.
I trained post Project 2000, so am paediatric trained. I was originally enrolled for adults and spent the first year doing that, before deciding I'd have enough and wanted to go into paeds! So my transcript had a year's general theory, 720 hrs in adults, 980 hrs in paeds and 460 hrs in maternity/NICU - can't quite remember the theory for the last two years, sorry.
Had been qualified for 5 years, took the SEC and failed...
Anyway, I'm required to take a year long conversion course because being paeds trained isn't what they want, they want RGN's.
And there I was hoping that having a good amount of hours in each sector would mean I wouldn't have to sit the SEC! Honestly, it's all a money making scheme.
As far as I know there's nothing you can do to study for the SEC. I did find the exam questions were pretty much like CRNE, if you can get hold of a CRNE prep guide that might be useful.
Apart from that, be wary of the role play and good luck!

Airborne_Dan

Well I've finally heard back from CBRNC. They tell me I need to do a 2 day SEC assessment for General Nursing. What surprises me is that there is no mention of having to do Mental Health, Paeds or Obstetrics even though my course covered them subjects much more briefly. My next step is to book this SEC assessment. I'm afraid this leads to more questions.

1. Do I need a visa to do this assessment (ie study visa or TWP).

2. Does anyone know if I am likely to be assessed on paeds/obstetrics or mental health, even though the email only stated General?

3.Would it be worth me buying the CRNE prep guide to help me swot up for this assessment.

Any help with this one would be much appreciated!

sdo1982

Hi, the wife is in the same boat, but 3 days, general and maternal... no mental health, despite her never doing any!

As for Visas, IIRC you are ok on a visitors visa, Former Lancastrian would be the best to ask.

She has been using an online CRNE prep website, the prep guide, and some scenarios that the uni send out after she was booked in.

As for the rest, ill be able to tell you in a month after she has taken it.

Airborne_Dan

Well good luck to her sdo, if you could post on here (or PM if you prefer) that would be great. It does make you wonder where their logic is at when they decide who needs to do what.

sparksman

hello,
i have done the sec also got told after the 2 day sec i needed a 4 day course in canada for pyshomotor skills an online course in adult med/surg and a nursing in canada online course. they also wanted me to do 250 hours non paid clinical placement which i appealed against and won as i am a senior sister in A&E a felt that was taking the p**s a little!
i now have my temp nursing licence have a job and will be heading out in about 8 weeks after 2 years of updating courses and trips out to canada.
its all abit of a pain but will be worth it i hope. better working conditions and pay!
if you need any questions answered just ask
hope that helps

jodie x

Airborne_Dan

Ok Sparksman, thanks!

corktowinnipeg

Hello All!, anyone doing the SEC assessment in BC in January 2013?. Please kindly get in touch!. Cheers.

Davedarkly

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, but found some of the stories interesting and wanted to share a little bit about our immigration process.

My wife and I are currently jumping through the various hoops that both the CRNBC and the Canadian High Commission put up ahead of our move in 2013. My wife is a registered nurse here in the UK with nearly 20 years experience, and she has specialised training in the areas of Haemotology and Oncology. She's been offered a job at VGH and we've successfully obtained an LMO (Labour market opinion). However, completing the CRNBC application is proving frustratingly less straight forward for us. My wife flew to Vancouver to take her SEC in October, and has been informed that she needs to complete 5 courses, 4 of which have to be undertaken before they will even allow her provisional licensing. We're committed to the move so have enrolled her on the 2 online courses in January and the two workshops in March. She is currently taking the nursing in Canada course, which will be completed by 14th December. We have put the cost of this on our credit cards, because our savings are set aside for one way flights (for 7 of us) and one months rent. We've been told by the assessor that the courses are important because they will be delivering information that will ultimately come up in the CRNE and that it's in my wifes interest not to beging work without it. We don't have a problem with this at all because obviously failure of the CRNE would have more significant implications for us in the long run.

The only problem is the knock on effect the CRNBC process is having on our visa application. My wife had undergone her medical successfully, but then came a request for a letter from CRNBC confirming our eligibility for provisional registration, with a warning that if it wasn't recieved within 30 days our visa applicaiton would be cancelled. We don't get official confirmation of this until after she's completed the final workshop on 22nd March. If the visa application is cancelled, then we may well lose the £700 we've invested (mine and my wife's open visa's and four study permits for our kids). This would obviously mean paying out again nearer the time. My wife's job at VGH starts on 1st April, and according to CRNBC registration will be processed within days of the final course being completed. If we haven't got our visa's by then however, it would also mean that my wife has to fly back to England and wait before we can move together. We are really hoping that the Visa department are reasonable and show some understanding regarding our situation, however, communication with them is like getting blood from a stone. In fact the only way is through a webform, which states that they may respond by e-mail at some point within 28 days, but may not.

Anyway, I hope someone out there finds this interesting and encouraging. If nothing else, consider SEC as the beginning of your journey to becoming CRNBC registered, rather than the final hurdle, which is the trap we probably fell into. It's a little bit catch 22, because the more specialised your training, the easier it appears to be to get a job and an LMO, but the more general your nursing training, the better equipped you are for CRNBC, but that doesn't necessarily mean that a hospital will be able to justify employing you ahead of a Canadian!

keep posting your stories!