Development of the CPNRE

The CPNRE is the end result of many test development activities that occur throughout a two-year period. Practical nurse educators, clinicians and administrators from across Canada create and evaluate exam questions with assistance from Canada’s Testing Company’s Test Consultants, who ensure that the CPNRE meets industry-accepted standards for licensing exams.

The process used to develop the CPNRE is referred to as a criterion-referenced (C-R) approach. With the C-R approach, the CPNRE is developed to measure an explicitly defined content domain, which consists of the competencies expected of practical nurses beginning to practise. Every five years, a thorough review and updating of these competencies results in a new set of competencies which forms the basis of the CPNRE.

You can find a complete list of the CPNRE competencies in the Canadian Practical Nurse Registration Examination Blueprint document.