Exam results prompt nursing refresher course
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | 7:55 AM AT
CBC News
The province of P.E.I. is offering further training to 75 licensed practical nurses who wrote an exam last month as part of their certification to administer medication.
'The province just finally stood up and listened to these professionals.'— Shelley Ward, UPSE
Health officials will not say how many of the LPNs failed the course, but say the results convinced them the nurses needed a refresher course on anatomy, physiology and math.
The LPNs had asked for this refresher before writing the exam, saying that for some of them it had been decades since they studied the material, but were turned down.
The exam was designed to make sure the nurses have a good command of how the body works and how to add and multiply fractions.
Rosemary White, manager of health studies at Holland College, told CBC News Tuesday that not everyone passed the exam, but the exact number of those who failed was "very sensitive."
White said the province is now giving the LPNs time to take a four-day refresher course before moving on to their final weeks of training.
"I think the province just finally stood up and listened to these professionals," said Shelley Ward, president of the Union of Public Sector Employees, which represents the LPNs.
"For a program to be successful you certainly have need to ensure the curriculum is the proper curriculum for people to succeed."
This first class of 75 LPNs was supposed to graduate and return to work, able to administer medication, by the end of December. The refresher course will delay the start of this new work by a little over a month.
