Sure. The process, as I understand it, is that there is a national portal, and they apply to that national assessment centre. All the data goes to this group in the United States that evaluates and assesses their credentials and their knowledge. I think that process takes about a year. Following their assessment, they identify what they consider to be gaps in their education or competencies. Then it goes to the provincial jurisdictions, and they take bridging courses to make up what's missing. Then, I believe, depending on the jurisdiction, they may have some OSCEs, based on the entry-to-practice competencies. It's quite a long, involved process.
There is one area I do see that could speed things up. While that first step in the process of assessing the credentials is happening, there are bridging programs. There have been some initiatives, but I think we need more of those initiatives and perhaps a more standardized, one-year program across the country for internationally educated nurses so that they can be moving along with the process. When they get the results from that initial assessment, they would have completed the bridging programs.