Pilot program gives hope to nurses with international credentials

The first cohort graduates of the new pilot program. Photo: Supplied.

Dawid Karczewski had given up all hope of practising as a Registered Nurse in Alberta. 

Despite all his education and degrees, he spent the last five years working odd jobs after moving to Canada with his husband. 

Like many internationally educated professionals, Karczewski’s education and training—a nursing degree and diploma from the U.K. and a doctor of medicine from Romania—did not transfer directly. “I was a family physician in my country and before that, a trained nurse,” says Karczewski, but until he was licensed in Alberta he could not practise nursing or medicine here. 

But all this changed two years ago when Karczewski met Tracey Stephen, Executive Director of the Nursing Simulation Centre for the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Nursing. From her, he learned about the U of A Workshop for Internationally Educated Nurses, a new pilot program that would help him bridge his skills and finally become a Registered Nurse in Alberta.

“There are hundreds of people waiting to become Registered Nurses. I feel like I won the lottery with this program,” says Karczewski, who is the program's first proud graduate and now working as a Registered Nurse at an RN-led walk-in clinic in Calgary.

“The day I got told I could apply into this program, I did. I paid the tuition fee and I went home and started crying. I was finally getting somewhere. I could finally have a life again. It gave me a sense of worth. The fact that it was at the U of A made me happier and I felt even luckier.”

Stephen, in collaboration with the College of Registered Nurses of Alberta (CRNA), spearheaded the workshop; her main driver for launching the program was to help as many people like Karczewski as she could.

“Every day I meet someone who is in the same boat as Dawid, and I keep telling them not to give up,” says Stephen, adding she has yet to meet anyone who has become a Registered Nurse in less than four years.

“There are a lot of internationally educated nurses who have given up. But now there is hope. We would like to help as many as we can.”

The program takes 12 weeks from start to finish and is broken down into three workshops that are completed over a 10-month period depending on clinical placements. There is a one-week online learning portion, followed by two weeks in the Nursing Simulation Centre. The program concludes with a six-to-nine-week preceptor placement in a clinical setting. 

The program has had 21 IENs participate with several who are now Registered Nurses — Karczewski being one of them — and many almost completed.  Stephen says the program is set up to support 60 to 75  Internationally educated nurses each year. 

“Eight months ago, we had 21 internationally educated nurse learners who could not work in Alberta or Canada. Many are now registered,” says Stephen, who noted this would not have been possible without the support from faculty and staff within the Faculty of Nursing.

“It’s so inspiring to see them persevere. Their dedication to become Registered Nurses despite the challenges is so admirable.” 

Please note: Entry into this workshop is determined by the College of Registered Nurses in Alberta (CRNA). You can find more information on this process through the CRNA website located at Internationally Educated Applicants. Although the Faculty of Nursing does not offer a special program for globally educated nurses, you can apply for consideration for admission to either our 4-year BScN-Collaborative Program or our 2-year BScN-After Degree Program, through Admissions & Programs. 

For more information regarding Internationally Educated Nurses (IEN), please contact CRNA: