NAC program overview
A significant community of foreign-trained physicians have immigrated – or are planning to immigrate – to Canada. Many of these international medical graduates (IMGs) find that the path to obtaining a medical licence in Canada is challenging to navigate. Each province and territory, for example, has developed its own system for assessing IMG medical knowledge and clinical skills.
NAC History
Given the challenges many IMGs face when seeking to practise medicine in Canada, a Canadian Task Force on Licensure of International Medical Graduates was convened to examine the issue at length. Its 2004 report contained several recommendations including one to create a national assessment consortium with the mandate to:
- Develop a standardized performance competency assessment process for IMGs – including common screening criteria and tools for assessment of applicants
- Develop a mechanism to address assessment that could be implemented locally or regionally.
The National Assessment Collaboration, or NAC, was established to carry out this recommendation. Comprised of a number of federal, provincial, assessment and educational stakeholders, the NAC aims to streamline the evaluation process through which an IMG must navigate to obtain a licence to practise medicine in Canada.
Current and future goals
The NAC’s ultimate objective is to develop a streamlined, integrated assessment continuum to be made available to IMGs across the country. Through such a system, an IMG’s path to licensure would be the same, regardless of the jurisdiction in which he or she is being assessed.
In addition, the NAC’s short-term focus is to offer a national clinical examination that will avoid the duplication of assessments already performed by provincial IMG assessment programs. This work will also provide a tool through which residency program directors can accurately gauge a candidate’s clinical competency.
NAC and the MCC
The NAC falls under the permanent governance responsibility of the Medical Council of Canada, and the NAC’s administrative body, the NAC Central Coordinating Committee or NAC3, reports to the MCC’s Council. The NAC3 will oversee the development of a national, standardized set of assessments that can be delivered through the provincial IMG assessment programs.
The NAC3 is currently preparing the NAC Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) – an examination that can be used to assist Canadian medical school clinical program directors looking to select IMG applicants for their individual programs. This NAC OSCE examination will be managed centrally by the MCC, but will be administered by existing regional IMG assessment centres or through MCC’s testing network.
The IMG assessment continuum
While the development and delivery of the NAC OSCE examination is the current focus of the NAC, the examination represents only one step in the IMG assessment continuum. The NAC’s ultimate objective is to develop a streamlined, integrated assessment continuum that would be made available to IMGs across the country.
Based on initial examination results, including results on the NAC OSCE, candidates would be identified to compete for additional training through postgraduate training or other bridging education programs.
Learn more about NAC stakeholders, organizations and programs for IMGs and general information for international medical graduates.
You can also review information updates on the NAC through the MCC’s newsletter, the Echo.
