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Thursday, October 26, 2006
US nursing body defers test in RP pending leakage resolution (2:08 p.m.)
MANILA -- The leakage in the nursing examinations last June has caused the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. (NCSBN) to put off its plan to include the Philippines among its international testing centers, an official said.
Faith Fields, newly-elected NCSBN, called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at Malacañang’s Music Room on Wednesday.
Also present in the courtesy call were Ruth Ann Terry, NCSBN treasurer; Cassey Marks, assistant executive director; Fraser Cargill, director for Asia Pacific (NCSBN); Jose Molano Jr., executive director; Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) chair Dante Ang; and Jennifer Gonzales, deputy executive director, and Golda Myra Roma, director, all of the CFO.
The NCSBN is a not-for-profit organization of the boards of nursing of 50 states in the US, the District of Columbia, and the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The CFO is lobbying for the inclusion of the Philippines as an international testing center on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for nurses. The NCLEX is a licensure examination taken by more than 9,000 Filipino nurses yearly, with the hope of securing jobs in hospitals and health institutions in the US.
The NCLEX can be taken in US territories and selected international test centers in Hong Kong, Korea, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Mexico and Taiwan.
“Obviously, it (leakage) has affected (our decision) because we were set to make a decision. When the leakage occurred, we decided to back off to get the results of how you handle that,” Fields said in an ambush interview after her courtesy call on Arroyo.
Fields also said the board is watching how the government will handle the leakage issue. “We will definitely be waiting for the outcome of the issue,” she said.
She said Filipino nurses make up about 80 percent of foreign educated nurses that come to the US. “We’re very interested to see how you handle the crisis and I think it’s something that you don’t want to waste the opportunity to make your system better,” she said.
She said doing nothing about the leakage issue would be “a mistake”.
“You have to understand that the entire world is watching what the Philippines does here and so you definitely will need to take some action but what that is, it is up to the Philippines to do,” she added.
Fields and Terry told Arroyo that the NCSBN remains confident of a continued partnership with the Philippines. "We are still hopeful and confident of our partnership in terms of nursing education. We want to keep up the training and employment opportunities for your Filipino nurses in the United States," they said.
The president on the other hand, said she is aware of the negative impact of the nursing exam scandal on Filipino nurses seeking employment abroad. "But we were able to identify those who were involved in the nursing exam leakage and we are bent on filing criminal charges," she said.
She assured that the government is determined to upgrade the quality of the country’s nursing educational system, hospital facilities and standards. She said part of the upgrading is publishing a list of sub-standard schools, which will be eventually ordered closed. (JMR/Sunnex) |
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