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Practice Ready Ontario
Hiring More Health Care Workers is one of the key pillars of the provincial government’s Your Health: A Plan for Connected and Convenient Care which focuses on providing Ontarians with a better health care experience by connecting patients to more convenient options closer to home while reducing wait times for key services across the province and growing the health care workforce for years to come.
Ensuring that internationally trained physicians are part of the solution, the Ministry of Health and Touchstone Institute have partnered to develop Practice Ready Ontario, with support from Ontario Health, the College of Physicians and Surgeons Ontario, the Ontario Medical Association, and the Medical Council of Canada. Practice Ready Ontario aligns with the Medical Council of Canada’s National Assessment Collaborative pan-Canadian standards for practice ready assessments. The program was formally initiated in March 2023 for a 2-year pilot phase funded by the Government of Ontario. The program streamlines the licensure process for internationally trained physicians and will provide up to an extra 50 family physicians in its first cohort alone.
With this initiative, Touchstone Institute is leveraging its existing expertise in the assessment and orientation of internationally educated health professionals. Practice-ready assessments programs are a proven health human resources solution, already in operation in seven other Canadian provinces. Ontario is the eighth province to enact the program. The program builds on evidence-informed nationally recognized requirements established for practice-ready assessments in education and postgraduate training that ensure applicants’ credentials are equivalent to Canadian medical education standards. The multi-partner implementation team is assessing new ways to evolve licensure pathways that are effective in protecting the public and increasing access to qualified physicians.
Once applicants have been selected through a three-phased approach, they will receive an orientation to the provincial healthcare system and take part in a 12-week clinical field assessment under supervision of an Ontario-licensed family physician. Following a successful clinical field assessment, candidates sign three-year return-of-service agreements with the Ministry of Health to practice in an area of high need. Areas of high need are identified by a Rurality Index of Ontario (RIO) score of 40 and above.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Health provided 20 recommendations to reform Canada’s health workforce in its March 2023 report “Addressing Canada’s Health Workforce Crisis.” We are proactively responding to Recommendation 3 for the expansion of pathways to licensure for international physicians who have already completed their residency and who practiced abroad, through initiatives such as practice ready assessment programs.
Nurse Ready
The vision for the Nurse Ready Project was to develop an innovative, online nursing language and communication self-assessment tool for internationally educated nurses. The outcome of its use is increased critical language and communication skills to support success in examinations and employment in the Canadian nursing sector. Communication is a fundamental skill for successful workplace integration, and the communicator is one of the nine professional roles of a nurse in Canada. Clear, effective communication is crucial for nurses responding to situations of stress or conflict, and for ensuring safe patient care.
Over the course of the project, the vision for an online self-assessment evolved into the development of a more contemporary and accessible digital tool – an application (app) supported by artificial intelligence (AI) using a natural language processor.
Nurse Ready is an innovation in professional nursing communication, initiated through Employment and Social Development Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program funding for programs that contribute to the integration of skilled newcomers in their field or related field of study.
With this initiative, Touchstone Institute is leveraging its existing expertise in the assessment and orientation of internationally educated health professionals. Practice-ready assessments programs are a proven health human resources solution, already in operation in seven other Canadian provinces. Ontario is the eighth province to enact the program. The program builds on evidence-informed nationally recognized requirements established for practice-ready assessments in education and postgraduate training that ensure applicants’ credentials are equivalent to Canadian medical education standards. The multi-partner implementation team is assessing new ways to evolve licensure pathways that are effective in protecting the public and increasing access to qualified physicians.
Once applicants have been selected through a three-phased approach, they will receive an orientation to the provincial healthcare system and take part in a 12-week clinical field assessment under supervision of an Ontario-licensed family physician. Following a successful clinical field assessment, candidates sign three-year return-of-service agreements with the Ministry of Health to practice in an area of high need. Areas of high need are identified by a Rurality Index of Ontario (RIO) score of 40 and above.
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Health provided 20 recommendations to reform Canada’s health workforce in its March 2023 report “Addressing Canada’s Health Workforce Crisis.” We are proactively responding to Recommendation 3 for the expansion of pathways to licensure for international physicians who have already completed their residency and who practiced abroad, through initiatives such as practice ready assessment programs.
Registered Nurses Canadian Competency Assessment Program (RNCCAP)
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Health provided 20 recommendations in their report Addressing Canada’s Health Workforce Crisis. Recommendation 7 directs the Government of Canada to work with the provinces, territories, and professional regulatory bodies to establish pan-Canadian licensure for health professionals.
In line with this important shift to a pan-Canadian approach, Touchstone Institute developed the Registered Nurses of Canada Competency Assessment Program (RNCCAP), a revised version of the original Internationally Educated Nurses Competency Assessment (IENCAP) and Alberta Registered Nurses Assessment Program (ARNAP) competency equivalence exams designed to assess candidates seeking nurse registration within their respective provinces. This administration model is reflective of the strategic direction of the RNCCAP to offer a solution for nursing assessment that can be adopted by provinces across Canada to identify an Internationally Educated Nurse’s education equivalency to a Canadian nursing recent graduate.
The exam has been redesigned to a new blueprint that aligns with the most recent national RN competency document. The new blueprint does not include a written component, which will streamline the administration of future exams. It is planned for the Ontario and Alberta nursing exams to be administered simultaneously to maximize efficiencies in content use and exam preparation.
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