Nursing back to credibility

The mess appears to be cleaning up as there are no leaks in sight. Following a series of setbacks that plagued it last year, the nursing sector hit the ground running at the start of the year with the recent no-controversy results of the December 2006 Nursing Licensure examinations.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and Board of Nursing (BON) did it right this time, as they should do each and every time. Hopefully, its members have learned from the costly mistakes of the past, for the sake of our people and country. Kudos to the 19,000-plus passers.

Feedback from the latest batch of examinees reveals that the examination was a toughie, and that the PRC was extra-strict in conducting the examinations, perhaps to make sure everything was above board this time around.

PRC and BON can now start the arduous but necessary task of bringing back the credibility and integrity of the Nursing licensure examinations that tainted board passers’ reputations last year.

While the US and even local hospitals had clamped down on nurse applicants who passed the controversial board examination, other key and emerging destination for RP nurses, including the UK, Belgium and Japan, have kept a close eye on the matter.

The labor department in fact reported that the governments of Belgium and Japan "expressed concern over the recent Nursing Licensure examination leakage."

Other pressing issues

Other than the board examination controversy, several other issues including concern over the deteriorating state of nursing education continue to hound the profession.

Such dire warnings should compel the PRC, BON, even the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), nursing educators and leaders, to decisively crack the whip on erring individuals, organizations and schools with the aim of preserving, if not recovering the past sterling image of Filipino nurses and nursing education standards.

Before falling to the temptation of producing substandard nurses via academic shortcuts, educators must realize that nurses are key contributors to the almost $12-billion foreign remittances yearly. Equally important is the fact that they are key members of our health care delivery system.

I’ve discussed and reiterated several nursing-related issues last year that need closure if we wish to have sustainable supply of competent and skilled nurses who are qualified to work abroad and will be vital source of all-important foreign exchange earnings from overseas.

Competition for work abroad is becoming keen with the number of nurses from China, India and Mexico (because it is cheaper and easier to hire them from South of the border) in the US is on a steady climb.

Of course it would be ideal if our best nurses stay home and serve their fellow Filipinos, but let’s face reality: the national budget for health is just too meager, hence the paltry wages offered many of our nurses.

The US has declared it will be needing over a million more nurses in the next few years, while Canada will hire some10,000, the UK and Netherlands around 8,000and other countries, particularly the Middle East, around 30,000 more. Instead of letting our nursing graduates become part of the underemployed, they are better off working overseas where they are in great demand and can earn more to send back home, and hopefully fuel an economy that at present can hardly backstop a reliable healthcare program.

Stopping shortcuts

As early as 2005, the CHED said it would crack the whip on poorly performing nursing schools to weed out fly-by-night schools and diploma mills. In addition, there was a plan to put in place a national Nursing College Admission Test for high school graduates wishing to take up nursing in college to determine if a student has the intellectual capacity required for the course.

Since then, however, no new details and updates of the plan have come up even as numerous nursing students, many of them erstwhile professionals, have complained of receiving poor education even from established and well-known nursing schools.

Many schools also continue the practice of open admission: Have money, can enroll. Never mind if there aren’t enough competent faculty members in schools and training hospitals.

Because there are just too many students and too few hospitals to train in, the number of both nursing students and schools must be regulated or monitored closely. For how can a student nurse gain adequate skills if his or her school makes short cuts in providing actual training hours in a hospital or health care facility?

Such shortcuts are now being resorted to by a number of nursing schools in Metro Manila. Students of these schools, for example, are usually scheduled for two weeks of hands-on training. But because too many others are waiting for their turn to get the same exposure, the original two-week training and learning exposure is cut in half, and in some instances to just one day!

Sure, such shortcuts would expedite the students’ graduation. But once they get into the work force, they would only be a liability.

Findings not healthy

For years now, the quality of nursing education has been under the microscope, and the findings are not that healthy. Those in the nursing sector have sounded the alarm that a growing number of under-qualified nurses are making it to the work force.

This year is a critical one for Filipino nurses and nursing in general. Decisive steps and actions – not mere press releases or lip service – must be undertaken lest our nurses lose the competitive and caring edge.

At the risk of overemphasizing the point, the credibility and competence of Filipino nurses must be regained after the last previous scandals. Not to do so would mean losing a highly valued and precious asset.

Poker skills competition

For announcements of poker events being lined up for this year, visit the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT) official website, www.PhilippinePokerTour.com. Participants and winners of the Philippine Poker Tour (PPT) Million-Peso Hold’Em championships held last December and April 2006 may also visit the website to view the photo galleries and picture downloads.

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 4th Floor, 156 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected] or at [email protected]. If you wish to view the previous columns, you may visit my website at http://bizlinks.linkedge.biz.