Alternatives needed for nursing students unable to pass boards

Administration senatorial candidate Cynthia Villar was lambasted for saying Filipino nursing students do not need to complete their BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) degree, but alternative career and academic options may be necessary given the low passing rate in the nursing boards.

 

Apologizing for offending Filipino nurses with her controversial comments, Villar claimed she has been advocating for "a ladderized system of curriculum that would give academic credits and the appropriate skills certificates for nursing students who due to financial constraints were unable to complete their nursing degree and pass the board examinations." 

 

Over the past decade, the passing rate for the Nurse Licensure Examination, given twice a year, has mostly remained below 50 percent, based on a table posted on the website of staffing provider Abba Personnel Services. 

In December 2012, the passing rate was 34.45, higher than December 2011's passing rate of 33.92 percent. However, the number was still lower than December 2010’s 35.25 percent, which the Commission on Higher  Education (CHED) said was the lowest in history.  

Villar was lambasted on social media for apparently belittling Filipino nurses in one of her answers during a senatorial debate on GMA News TV's "Pagsubok ng mga Kandidato."

 

"‘Yung pagre-resign po ni [Fr. Rolando V. De la Rosa] is a personal quarrel with the owner of the school. Medyo personal po iyon. Pero 'yung amin po, 'yung sinasabi po namin sa kanila na actually hindi naman kailangan ang nurse ay matapos ng BSN kasi itong ating mga nurses ay gusto lang nila maging room nurse, o sa Amerika o sa other countries, ay mag-aalaga lang sila. Hindi naman kailangan na ganoon sila kagaling," Villar said in response to Professor Winnie Monsod's question on whether the number of nurses employed abroad declined because they were not qualified, and why the Technical Education Committee resigned after seven months in office. “What I was trying to say during that media forum was that nursing students affected by a CHED closure order several years ago deserved concrete and better career and academic options other than just an abrupt closure of the institutions that they were currently enrolled in,” Villar said in a statement issued Monday.  

Due to the declining quality and oversupply of nurses, CHED in 2004 declared a moratorium on the opening of new nursing schools. Despite Memorandum Order No. 27 freezing the opening of new programs, more than 120 schools began offering nursing courses in the three years following the moratorium.

 

During that time, Villar was part of a legislative oversight committee that "had to intervene" to make sure that the welfare and rights of nursing students, their parents, and teachers were given "sufficient thought and consideration" by CHED and the school owners, Villar said in her statement.

 

According to a 2009 VERA Files report, CHED officials revealed that it allowed more schools to open, exempting certain schools through a verbal agreement, which was not made public by CHED. 

 

Political and business pressures prevented CHED from effectively regulating nursing schools, the report said. CHED'S four-year application system for the recognition of nursing schools was questioned by some  lawmakers, who saw the denial of permits as "abuses" and "injustice" against nursing schools. 

 

"One congressman from Central Visayas argued that this was unfair to the school owners who had already  invested money in the enterprise," the report said.

 

But the Philippines is producing nurses way beyond its needs—up to 100,000 every year, while there are only about 36,000 official positions for nurses in the country both in the public and private sector.  

In February 2012, Labor Communications Director Nicon Fameronag urged incoming college students to avoid nursing courses, as the demand for nurses had already declined. 

 

"Kung magiging realistic ka about it, na kapag ikaw ay nakatapos ng nursing, mahihirapang maghanap ng trabaho kasi nga may oversupply [dito sa Pilipinas],” Fameronag said at the time.

 

At the beginning of 2013, Philippine Overseas Employment Adminstration (POEA) Deputy Administrator Libby Casco said US job prospects currently seem bleak for Filipino nurses, when sought for comment on a CNN report saying new registered nurses "are coming across thousands of job postings with an impossible requirement: no new grads."

 

In 2010, only 83 Filipino nurses were sent to the US, while 8513 were deployed to Saudi Arabia, making it the top destination of Filipino nurses. 

 

Apart from the US, Filipino nurses would find it difficult to get into Japan, where language training is required, and the United Kingdom, DOLE said in 2012. 

 

This year, Japan vowed to take steps to improve the employment scheme for foreign health workers to attract more Filipinos in seeking employment opportunities in the country. 

 

The Philippines sent 12,082 nurses overseas in 2010 based on POEA statistical data, according to a previous report. — Carmela G. Lapeña/RSJ, GMA News