The province of B.C. took steps to make it easier for international trained nurses to enter the health care system to meet the increasing demand for nurses in the province.
Together with the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (BCCNM), the Nursing Community Assessment Service (NCAS) and Health Match BC (HMBC), the Province is supporting IENs who want to work in B.C. by:
consolidating the provincially based assessment processes for internationally educated nurses candidates;
offering approximately $9 million in bursaries to help with assessment fees, which is expected to benefit approximately 1,500 IENs in the first year; and
creating new nurse navigator positions to help IENs navigate the assessment and licensing process.
The province will support internationally educated nurses by offsetting the costs of assessment that are required for them to obtain licensure in the province through the form of bursaries. These steps are in response to the shortage of nurses and doctors in B.C. that are contributing to an overly taxed health care system that was further overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.