The NCLEX-RN as an Entry-to-Practice Exam in New Brunswick: The Rocky Road Story of Francophone Candidates to the Nursing Profession.

This article describes the experience of adopting the NCLEX-RN as an entry-to-practice exam among francophone baccalaureate nursing students in New Brunswick, Canada. The journey between 2012 and now has been difficult, and nursing leadership was necessary to inform key stakeholders regarding the inequities faced by francophone nursing students and to bring about change. Here is a description of the arduous work done by a group of concerned nurses (active and retired) to advocate for the rights of francophone nursing students.

Enhancing cultural competence: trans-atlantic experiences of European and Canadian nursing students.

This paper describes the enhancement of cultural competence through trans-Atlantic rural community experiences of European and Canadian nursing students using critical incident technique (CIT) as the students' reflective writing method. The data generated from 48 students' recordings about 134 critical incidents over a 2-year project were analysed by qualitative content analysis. Five main learning categories were identified as: cross-cultural ethical issues; cultural and social differences; health-care inequalities; population health concerns; and personal and professional awareness. Four emergent cultural perspectives for the health sector that became apparent from the reflections were: health promotion realm; sensitivity to social and cultural aspects of people's lives; channels between the health sector and society; cultural language and stories of local people. CIT was successfully used to foster European and Canadian undergraduate students' cultural reflections resulting in considerations and suggestions for future endeavours to enhance cultural competence in nursing education.