PNA opposes TESDA’s practical nursing course

The Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) is up in arms against the institution of Practical Nursing (PN) program in the nursing profession, saying that graduates of this course will likely end up jobless and discriminated.

PNA president Dr. Leah Primitiva Paquiz said the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) should not have inserted PN in the “ladderization” of nursing education because there is no demand for practical nurses in the Philippines and abroad but only for registered or professional nurses.

It is demanding for an “immediate moratorium on the operation of existing PN programs.”

The group is also seeking a review of the PN program “in the context of the current situation of Filipino nurses, within the country and overseas, as well as its implications to the quality of health care services.”

“We strongly object to the institution of PN program. It is an ill-advised economic strategy that will not lead to the creation of more jobs but to more exploitation by unscrupulous businessmen,” she noted.

Introduced by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the “ladderization of education” is an education system that acts as bridge from technical vocational education and training to a college degree.

Ladderized education is like a stairway, with each step serving as a stepping-stone toward the next higher level. 

In the case of the nursing profession, undergraduates of nursing courses may be called practical nurses.

But according to Dr. Josefina Tuazon, dean of the University of the Philippines’ College of Nursing, practical nurses are only taught the “basics” and they could never be likened to professional nurses.

Tuazon added that practical nurses have a very slim chance of being recruited abroad because the demand overseas is for professional nurses.

“The students must be informed about this. There might be misrepresentation. Some may be playing on dreams. We must put a stop to this or we’ll be only creating another layer of unemployed and frustrated people,” she said.

And if ever they get hired, practical nurses will work only as assistants of professional nurses, receiving much lower salaries.

The PNA believes that the insertion of PN in the nursing curriculum has “no legal basis” because there is no licensure for them as provided for in Republic Act 9173 or the Philippine Nursing Act.

“If you play around with the curriculum, you might only dilute the nursing profession that we have worked so hard to build. Institutionalizing this PN program is a step backward,” Tuazon added.

She estimates that PN programs are now being offered in some 200 schools across the country.

“We thought there were just a handful but we were told that there are now some 200 programs. This is alarming,” she said.

Dr. Carmelita Divinagracia, president of the Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing, said at present, there is already an “oversupply” of Filipino nurses and the PN graduates could only aggravate the problem.