Helping foreign-trained nurses credentialed

Helping foreign-trained nurses credentialed

Induction of officers last June 27, 2022. From left to right: Ferdi Zantua, Edgar Trinidad, Tess M. Bañaga-Ala, Lucy Reyes, Consul General Zaldy Patron, Glaze De Lara Idul, Leonida T. Relleve, Ivonnie Joy Abes, Mila Prout. Photo from PCNA Facebook Page

By Lea Luciano
The Philippine Reporter

On June 27, 2022, The Philippine Consulate General in Calgary welcomed the formation of the Philippine Canadian Nurses Association (PCNA) with the induction of its executive officers.

The Philippine Canadian Nurses Association (PCNA) is a non-profit professional organization that was formed under the recommendation of the Consul General, and whose primary purpose is to advance the credentialing of Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) in Canada.

Filipino IENs go through a long and tedious process of getting their educational credentials assessed to practice their profession in Canada.

“Our executive team is composed of diverse Filipino nurses who have been trained in the Philippines and working in different sectors [and] different [municipalities] in Alberta,” said Lucy Reyes, President of PCNA and the only Canadian to receive the 2021 Most Influential Filipina Woman in the World award in the Innovator and Thought Leader category at the Filipina Women’s Network.

PCNA’s vision is to advance the credentialing process that is the Bridge to Canadian Nursing (BCN) Program of which Reyes was a committee member in Alberta back in 2006.

In 2018, there were 36,189 IENs licensed to practice in Canada. That number represents 8.5% of Canada’s regulated nursing supply. Among the IENs, the Philippines remains to be the top supplier of nurses around the globe in the last 10 years.

Reyes explained that credentialing for IENs is a five-step process that includes an application that starts from the provincial jurisdiction regulatory body and then goes to the National Nursing Assessment Services (NNAS) for authentication of documents from the application. NNAS requires credentials from the applicant’s educational institution and they send them to the authentication services in the United States. Once everything is approved, the application is sent back to the provincial regulatory body, and they give recommendations on what Bridge to Canadian Nursing Program the applicant needs to take.

“With the entire process being done on an individual by individual basis, after more than 10 years of this process in its existence, it’s about time that somebody needs to review it to benefit not only the recipients but the system as a whole,” said Reyes.

Reyes noted the numerous fees an applicant has to pay such as application fees, registration fees, and IELTS exams.
PCNA’s vision is to enhance and strengthen the image of Filipino-Canadian nurses through education, mentoring, and networking.

“We are the subject matter experts,” said Reyes. “Most of us have been IENs, and we have experienced the process, the journey of IENs”

The next step for PCNA is to liaise with the Alberta Association of Nurses, a nursing association that advocates for all nursing professions and provides services and resources to help members achieve professional excellence.

“We advocate for the streamlining of the credentialing process for the IENs in Canada and collaborate with intergovernmental agencies and other professional bodies in advancing our advocacy roles,” said Reyes.”

“It will also help other internationally educated nurses around the world and the next advantage to this is, if this goes well, other internationally educated professionals can use this template as a way of being recognized by the country of Canada.”