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Provisional


Provisional registration may be granted to eligible applicants who want to work while meeting their outstanding registration requirements​. If you are granted provisional registration you will be assigned specific conditions you must meet to be eligible for practising registration. When these conditions are met, your provisional registration is automatically converted to practising registration.

If you are not planning to practice nursing before gaining full registration, you do not need provisional registration.​

How to apply 

There is no separate application for provisional registration. You will be asked if you want to be considered for provisional registration when you complete your application for practising registered psychiatric nurse registration.

What you need to know​

Eligibility
To qualify for registered psychiatric nurse (provisional) registration, an applicant must have applied to take, or be awaiting the results of, the nurse practitioner examinations and have met all the other requirements for practising registration.
Responsibilities and privileges
Provisional registrants must satisfy BCCNM's Professional Standards​, Scope of Practice Standards and Practice Standards and all conditions placed on their registration.
Use of title
Individuals with provisional registration may call themselves a “registered psychiatric nurse (provisional)" or "RPN (provisional)." Check the Use of Title pra​ctice standard ​for more information.
Possible conditions on practi​​ce​
  • That you must write and pass the written entry-to-practice registration examination.
  • Provisional registrants may be supervised by a registered psychiatric nurse, a registered nurse or a nurse practitioner registered with BCCNM. This requirement only applies to provisional registrants who have a condition on their registration that requires their practice to be monitored/supervised.​​
Registration renewal​
Converting to practising registration​
Upon meeting all assigned conditions, your registration will automatically be converted to practising registration.​​​

Provisional registration and RPNCE

If you pass
We will notify you of your exam results and any outstanding requirements for registration. If you have met all requirements and have provisional registration, your registration will automatically be converted to practising RPN registration. This can be verified online using the nurse verification​ tool instantly.
If you fail once
You can continue working on provisional RPN registration after one exam fail, so long as the 12-month provisional RPN registration expiry date has not passed. It is your responsibility to inform all your current or prospective employers of your unsuccessful exam result and updated provisional registration conditions.

After applying to write the RPNCE for a second time, you must provide employer contact information to BCCNM before we will register you to write the exam again.

If you do not currently hold provisional RPN registration or if you intend to add additional employers to your provisional registration and you have failed the exam one time, please contact BCCNM registration at register@bccnm.ca​​ to confirm the next steps. Check the BCCNM website to see if any changes have been made regarding provisional registration.
If you fail twice
If you fail the RPNCE a second time, you are no longer eligible for provisional RPN registration and will not be considered for registration until you pass the exam. 

Your provisional RPN registration will expire when you receive notice of your second failure; details will be included in your results letter. We will contact your employer(s) to inform them of the fact your registration has expired. Your exam result will not be disclosed. ​​
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