DurationThe CBA is a three-hour, proctored, computer-based assessment. You can take the assessment at one of more than a hundred testing centres in 60 countries in the world. AssessmentThe CBA seeks to assess your knowledge of the skills and competencies required to enter practice in the health practitioner role you desire. The assessment is made up of gradually unfolding cases that take you through the step by step process of clinical thinking and decision making. ResultsThere is no pass or fail. Rather, the assessment is aimed at identifying strengths and gaps. Your results will not be sent to you until you have completed the Simulation Lab Assessment. | DurationThe SLA is a three- to six-hour assessment. The SLA must be taken in person at a nursing simulation lab in Vancouver, BC., and there are no exceptions to this rule. At the lab, you will be taken to four different stations. Each station will focus on one clinical scenario. Some stations will have a mannequin, while others may use a specially-trained actor acting in the role of a patient. MannequinsThe mannequins are programmed to simulate various health conditions appropriate to your nursing role. The simulation environment will contain the necessary healthcare equipment to support appropriate patient care within the scope of your role. Standardized patientsOur actors are called standardized patients, and are going to be used in all the stations, even if you don’t see them. Sometimes they will play the role of the patient, and sometimes they will be the voice behind the mannequin, speaking to you in real time, as you care for your patient. An assessor will be present in the room with you, and will observe your interactions during each scenario. Like the CBA, the SLA offers you the opportunity to demonstrate your abilities. It seeks to assess the extent to which you can demonstrate the skills and competencies required to enter practice in the health practitioner role you desire. Specifically, the simulations allow you to demonstrate your ability to conduct patient assessments, perform nursing interventions, communicate effectively with patients, and make clinical decisions in a safe environment.
ResultsThere is no pass or fail. Rather, the assessment is aimed at identifying strengths and gaps. Your results will not be sent to you until you have completed the Computer-based Assessment. | DurationThe Oral Assessment takes place at the same time as the SLA and in the same place. In fact, after each simulation, you will complete a clinical decision-making oral as sessment with the assessor. That oral assessment comprises three questions and takes about 10 minutes. In the oral assessment, the assessor asks you structured questions designed to measure your critical thinking and clinical judgement, as well as the thought processes that influenced your actions during the simulation scenarios. ResultsThe results of the OA are not reported separately. They will be folded into the SLA results, which will be blended with the results of the CBA to give applicants a single results report |
Results of the NCAS assessment will help inform the nursing regulators and the registry about your competencies. They use this information, along with other information they have received from you, to make decisions about registration. NCAS will send a report both to the regulator or registry you have chosen, as well as to you. NCAS does not send a results report for each assessment. Rather, NCAS sends only the final report that blends the results of all three assessments. That's because each assessment evaluates distinct, as well as some overlapping competencies, and each evaluates them in different ways. Only by blending the report do we get a true picture of the applicant's competencies. |
