March 16, 2025 - Toronto-based not-for-profit Integrated Filipino Canadian Nurses Association (IFCNA) recently inked a memorandum of agreement with the Philippines’ Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC) in Quezon City to provide a clinical enhancement program allowing Filipino nurses based in Canada the opportunity to receive training as recognized by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO).
In January, IFCNA president Mark Gravoso and founding chair Austine Gaqui paid a courtesy call at the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto to share the association’s partnership program with the QMMC which runs from January 2025 to January 2026.
The first group of Filipino nurses hold their certificate of training with Quirino Memorial Medical Center staff upon completion of the clinical enhancement program. Photo by Mark Gravoso.
The clinical enhancement program aims to provide Filipino IENs (internationally educated nurses), who have not practised for more than five years, with quality clinical exposure to meet the requirements for licensure in the province of Ontario. A number of IFCNA members themselves have previously trained at QMMC to fulfill the Evidence of Nursing Practice required for Canadian licensure and are now gainfully employed as registered nurses in the province.
At the end of the structured supervised practice, nurses who successfully complete the program with satisfactory performance will receive a certificate of training, which can be used as supporting evidence for nursing licensure and safe practice requirements in Canada. The certificate may be submitted to the CNO as part of its requirement to provide evidence of nursing practice for IENs.
IFCNA president Gravoso tells CFNet that IENs are given options to fulfill Canada’s registered nurse designation requirements, “one of which is to update their nursing practice in their home country, provided they hold an active nursing license there.” He added that those who will avail of the program can take advantage of the supervised training program at the QMMC. “This program offers a more organized and comprehensive approach compared to other facilities that may not offer a structured framework.” The program runs from a minimum of 10 days to a month depending on the individual’s needs.
Gravoso stresses that the program is not a recruitment process but rather a structured program to assist Filipino IENs in meeting the necessary requirements to become a registered nurse in Canada.
To date, three Filipino nurses have completed the program, two of whom have successfully met the CNO requirements and are designated registered nurses by the CNO while one is currently in the final stages of acquiring registered nurse status. As of March 10, almost 50 nurses are set to avail of the program.
To apply for the clinical enhancement program, contact the IFCNA through its Facebook account or email
About the Author
Rachel Ramos-Reid started writing for magazines and newspapers when she was still a junior at the University of the Philippines’ Communication degree program majoring in Journalism. She continued to write in a public relations/corporate communications capacity in various private and government offices until moving out of the country in 1997 to work as Programme Officer for the arts and culture branch of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO-SPAFA) in Bangkok, Thailand. At the end of her term, Rachel found herself immigrating to Canada in the year 2000 and again searching for new beginnings.
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