Nurse Ready

Nurse Ready is a Canadian language and communication app for IENs. Version 1 includes Task 1: Role Knowledge, where users must de-escalate a situation to perform duties.

Nurse Ready is a new way for internationally educated nurses (IENs) to learn about communicative strategies for the Canadian healthcare setting. Through authentic scenarios, this task-based self-assessment targets professional language and communication skills to offer insights into how communication impacts the client-centred experience in Canada. Designed in response to COVID-19, the app focuses on communication skills for high-stakes situations, such as managing challenging interactions during an infectious disease outbreak.

The app includes a pre-and-post assessment feature that leverages artificial intelligence for diagnosis and provides customized feedback on communication competencies that are aligned with the requirements of nursing practice in Canada.

Users can expect:

• A scenario-based experience set in a healthcare facility during an infectious disease outbreak

• A pre-and-post assessment function that compares users’ areas of strengths and areas for improvement

• Task-based assessment items aligned to language and communication competencies

• Customized feedback provides a rationale for correct and incorrect responses.

• Score reports

• An offboarding survey to allow users to self-reflect on their areas of improvement and to collect information on the user experience

Nurse Ready was developed with input from Canadian nursing professionals and IENs working in nursing and long-term care communities, as well as language assessment professionals. The app was developed by Touchstone Institute, with funding from the Government of Canada’s Foreign Credentials Recognition Program.