Regional Examination for Nurse Registration, Commonwealth Caribbean

In 1990, a Regional Examination for Nurse Registration was approved by the Conference of Ministers Responsible for Health in the Commonwealth Caribbean. The examination allows for standardization and improvement of nursing education, as well as reciprocity and ease-of-movement for Registered Nurses among the countries of the region. A Planning Committee and a Blueprint Committee were established to develop the examination process. Committee membership included the Principal/Chief Nursing Officers, Nurse Tutors, and General Nursing Council representatives of each country, as well as educators from the two universities of the region. The accepted model, based on mutually agreed competencies for the Registered Nurse to practice in the region, forms the basis for the elaboration of the blueprint and the administrative manuals. The treatment of test items, assembling and conducting the examinations, which consist of four papers, as well as scoring the examination results, and notifying students of the results, are the responsibility of each General Nursing Council. The 13 General Nursing Councils with responsibility for Schools of Nursing meet annually as a regional committee to prepare the examinations, using a different country for each meeting; countries are rotated alphabetically. There is no permanent site for the administration of the examination. Membership to the regional committee, known as the Regional General Nursing Councils (RGNCs), is for 3 years. This staggering of membership allows for continuity.