Assessment of Internationally-Educated Midwives

In 2003, Canadian midwifery regulators committed to working together to develop a national strategy for assessing internationally-educated midwives who wish to work in Canada. Regulators agreed that a comprehensive national approach to competency assessment could maximize the limited resources of current provincial regulators, support provinces that are not yet regulated in moving toward regulating midwifery, and facilitate the entry-to-practice of internationally-educated midwives. In 2006, the National Midwifery Assessment Strategy was approved. To be able to fully implement this strategy, various projects have taken place, are underway, or are planned for by the CMRC. These are described below.

 

Midwifery Bridging Project 2006 - 2012

The Multi-jurisdictional Midwifery Bridging Program (MMBP) is an innovative and collaborative project that has been developed and piloted between 2006 and 2012 by CMRC and a consortium of university partners. This program is designed to assess, orient and bridge internationally-educated midwives who wish to practice midwifery in participating Canadian provinces and territories. Its intention is to ensure that participants are able to stay in their home communities as much as possible while they learn about Canadian midwifery, fill any discrete competency gaps identified by Canadian regulators, and gain midwifery experience in a Canadian setting.

The Research Phase of the MMBP took place in 2006-07 and was funded by a financial contribution from Health Canada via the Western and Northern Health Human Resources Planning Forum, and by members of the CMRC. Research included:

• Needs Assessment – an analysis of data from previous assessments of IEMs to determine the gaps in knowledge or skills that must be addressed in a bridging program.
• Environmental Scan – a scan of courses or workshops that already exist that address these gaps to determine if any of these can be used by and/or adapted for the midwifery bridging program.
• Best Practices Review – a study of reports and findings related to promising practices in professional bridging programs in Canada and overseas.

The Final Report summarizes the findings and details a workplan for the Implementation Phase of this project.

Pilot One of the MMBP took place between 2007-2010 and was funded by a financial contribution from Health Canada via the Western and Northern Health Human Resources Planning Forum, by members of the MMBP educational consortium, and by members of the CMRC. In addition to the creation of administrative and governance structures, this phase involved the development and implementation of the assessment and admission process including an online application, increasing the capacity of the International Midwifery Credentials Database and training midwifery assessors in all participating provinces. In addition, educational curriculum was developed, student supports were put into place, and a comprehensive educational program was delivered including pre-requisites (e.g. Orientation to Canadian Healthcare), distance education, in-person training and assessment, and a community clinical placement. Finally, ongoing evaluation was carried out by staff and partners, and both formative and summative evaluations were completed by an external evaluator. Nine internationally educated midwives from a variety of countries participated in Pilot One. More information is available in the Final Evaluative Report.

Pilot Two of the MMBP began in April 2010 and is currently underway. It is funded by the Government of Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program, by members of the MMBP educational consortium, and by members of the CMRC. During this project, feedback from evaluations has enabled improvements to the program design and implementation. As well, partners have worked with external consultants to develop a sustainability plan to be able to offer the program on an ongoing basis. Eighteen internationally educated midwives from a variety of countries have participated in Pilot Two.

For more information about MMBP, please see www.midwiferybridging.ca.

 

Midwifery Assessment Tools Project: 2006-07

Funding from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada's Foreign Credential Recognition branch supported the continued development of two critical assessment tools in 2006/07: the Canadian Midwifery Registration Examination and the International Midwifery Credentials Database. Both tools are being used by regulators across Canada in their assessment of internationally-educated midwives. More information is available in the project’s Final Report.

 

National Midwifery Assessment Strategy Project: 2003-06

The National Midwifery Assessment Strategy (NAS) project was a three year project of the Canadian Midwifery Regulators Consortium that used a participatory action research framework to create a national strategy for fairly and effectively assessing internationally-educated midwives. It was funded by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and the members of the CMRC.

The Developmental Phase confirmed the need for the NAS project and resulted in a comprehensive Research Plan. Phase One involved a variety of research methods and resulted in the Phase One Report, as well as the following more detailed reports:

   Report on Focus Groups with Internationally-Educated Midwives

   Report on Focus Group with Midwifery Supervisors

   Report on the Results of an International Survey of Health Regulators

Phases Two and Three involved continued research and the development of assessment tools, according to priorities identified in Phase One. These included the Canadian Midwifery Registration Examination, the International Midwifery Credentials Database, the conceptualization of a multi-jurisdictional midwifery bridging program, and this website designed to provide information to internationally-educated applicants.

Phase Three also included an external project evaluation. The Final Project Report summarizes the NAS project.

 

  Last Revised 28 August 2011