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Potential Nurses & Nursing Students
Scholarships Many hospitals have scholarship and/or loan programs for future nurses. Watch this site for descriptions of financial aid offered by ICNR member organizations. RN Refresher Courses Sponsors of Approved Illinois Current Nursing Practical Update Courses 2
Licensed Practical Nurse
The Chicago Bilingual Nurse Consortium (CBNC) The Chicago Bilingual Nurse Consortium (CBNC), a 501(c)(3) non-for profit organization, serves and supports internationally educated nurses (IENs), living in Chicago and surrounding communities, whose professional skills are untapped because of language, and national and state regulatory system requirements. These nurses represent an underutilized resource for culturally and linguistically competent nursing care. The goals of the CBNC are to: "Our Mission is to increase the number of internationally educated nurses for practice as bilingual, bicultural nurses in metropolitan Chicago and surrounding communities through advocacy, education, and supportive services" (Approved by the CBNC Board, May 2006). CBNC serves IENs who are legal residents or U.S. citizens, and not licensed in Illinois. While the consortium serves IENs from all countries, the majority of our nurses are Hispanic, from Mexico, Central and South America. These nurses are frequently under employed; their education and previous practice in nursing is not recognized. Integration of these nurses into the local workforce will help to address the shortage of bilingual, bicultural RNs in Illinois as well as address the needs of our growing global patient population for culturally sensitive, quality healthcare. Our candidates have experience in nursing that is unique to their own country. However, they need specialized assistance, programs and support throughout the process of becoming licensed RNs in Illinois. This process can take between 18 and 36 months to complete. CBNC offers programs and services to facilitate IEN’s adaptation to nursing, health care systems, and the culture of the U.S and to assist them in the preparation for the RN licensure examination (NCLEX-RN). It is one of the few such centers in the U.S and the only centralized resource for IENs in Illinois. In the past four years, the consortium has worked with nurses from sixteen or more different countries, advised over 200 IENs and offered educational programs to update nursing practice for three groups of IEN candidates with total enrollment of 51. Twenty (20) of the candidates who were advised by CBNC or completed all or parts of the programs are now practicing RNs in Chicago, with pass rate of 87% on the national licensure exam, NCLEX-RN. The pass rate for IENs is usually less than 50%. Nine of the 51 were classified as secondary nurses by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) and seven of these nurses are enrolled in a LPN program. Eight or more of the 51 candidates are in progress of completing the TOEFL requirement or obtaining their papers from their home country and are slowly progressing toward the licensure exam. The staff of CBNC is currently offering a NCLEX Preparation Course to IENs at Alexian Brothers Medical Center (ABMC) and is following the progress of other candidates who are working on English competence, documentation, or personal issues in preparation for Illinois licensure. Over the next three years, a primary goal of CBNC is to establish a Comprehensive Service Center and expand current services and programs to provide information, advocacy, support services and education. While open to all IENs, our primary focus for the next three years will be Hispanic nurses due to the large growing Hispanic population in Chicago and the low representation of Hispanic nurses in our healthcare workforce. (Hispanic nurses comprise only 2% of the total U.S. nursing population and have the lowest representation of any minority group in nursing). However, the Center will continue to assist all IENs to navigate state, national and international systems in order to become RNs in the state of Illinois. It will also coordinate resources, efforts and assistance among professional organizations, governmental offices and healthcare agencies in order to address the barriers and challenges these nurses face as they seek to enter the healthcare workforce. This project has been funded by grants from the Chicago Community Trust, The Arthur Foundation (formerly the MacNeal Health Foundation) and the Polk Bros Foundation. For Further Information |
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