Arroyo to tighten oversight on nurses
Arroyo to tighten oversight on nurses
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/28/news/nurses.php
MANILA President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday ordered a reorganization of the government body that administers nursing board examinations as part of her administration's efforts to mitigate the impact of a cheating scandal that has tainted the reputation of Filipino nurses.
Arroyo also urged the Professional Regulation Commission, which oversees the licensing of professionals in the Philippines, to sanction those who were behind the leaking of test questions to examinees.
The fraud, revealed last month by students and later confirmed by the commission, has gripped the country with many in the medical profession worrying about its implications on the Philippines's standing as one of the world's biggest sources of nurses.
In an interview with a Manila radio station, Arroyo said the government's Board of Nursing, which administers the examinations. should be reorganized. Some members of the board were accused of receiving bribes from the owner of a nursing review center in exchange for leaking some test questions.
Arroyo also said she was considering putting nursing review centers under the responsibility of the Department of Education. The plan to cheat in the June examinations was allegedly hatched in some of these review centers.
"I talked yesterday with the chairman of PRC and I told her to find a solution to the problem so that the guilty will be punished and those who are innocent will be spared," Arroyo said, referring to the Professional Regulation Commission. But she refused to comment on the suggestion by industry groups to have students caught up in the scandal take the test again. The nurses are protesting being given a second test.
Those who have passed the exam have complained that hospitals have been refusing to hire them. Recruiters in the United States no longer are considering members of this class of examinees, officials have said. Around 17,000 passed the June exams, out of 42,000 who took the test.
Last week, officials warned that because of the scandal, the country is in danger of losing its application to administer the U.S. National Council Licensure Examinations in the Philippines. The United States is one of the Philippines's biggest markets for nurses, and nurses who wish to work there must pass the exam. Filipino nurses who apply for jobs in the United States are now required to take the test in the United States and its territories or in other countries authorized to give it.
"One concern is examination security," Rino Paez, an official from the government's Council of Filipinos Overseas, told the Associated Press. "If we cannot protect our own professional examination, how do we protect the examinations of a foreign entity?"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/28/news/nurses.php
According to the government, nearly 8,000 Filipino nurses found employment abroad last year.
MANILA President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday ordered a reorganization of the government body that administers nursing board examinations as part of her administration's efforts to mitigate the impact of a cheating scandal that has tainted the reputation of Filipino nurses.
Arroyo also urged the Professional Regulation Commission, which oversees the licensing of professionals in the Philippines, to sanction those who were behind the leaking of test questions to examinees.
The fraud, revealed last month by students and later confirmed by the commission, has gripped the country with many in the medical profession worrying about its implications on the Philippines's standing as one of the world's biggest sources of nurses.
In an interview with a Manila radio station, Arroyo said the government's Board of Nursing, which administers the examinations. should be reorganized. Some members of the board were accused of receiving bribes from the owner of a nursing review center in exchange for leaking some test questions.
Arroyo also said she was considering putting nursing review centers under the responsibility of the Department of Education. The plan to cheat in the June examinations was allegedly hatched in some of these review centers.
"I talked yesterday with the chairman of PRC and I told her to find a solution to the problem so that the guilty will be punished and those who are innocent will be spared," Arroyo said, referring to the Professional Regulation Commission. But she refused to comment on the suggestion by industry groups to have students caught up in the scandal take the test again. The nurses are protesting being given a second test.
Those who have passed the exam have complained that hospitals have been refusing to hire them. Recruiters in the United States no longer are considering members of this class of examinees, officials have said. Around 17,000 passed the June exams, out of 42,000 who took the test.
Last week, officials warned that because of the scandal, the country is in danger of losing its application to administer the U.S. National Council Licensure Examinations in the Philippines. The United States is one of the Philippines's biggest markets for nurses, and nurses who wish to work there must pass the exam. Filipino nurses who apply for jobs in the United States are now required to take the test in the United States and its territories or in other countries authorized to give it.
"One concern is examination security," Rino Paez, an official from the government's Council of Filipinos Overseas, told the Associated Press. "If we cannot protect our own professional examination, how do we protect the examinations of a foreign entity?"
According to the government, nearly 8,000 Filipino nurses found employment abroad last year.
FROM : http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/28/news/nurses.php
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/28/news/nurses.php
MANILA President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday ordered a reorganization of the government body that administers nursing board examinations as part of her administration's efforts to mitigate the impact of a cheating scandal that has tainted the reputation of Filipino nurses.
Arroyo also urged the Professional Regulation Commission, which oversees the licensing of professionals in the Philippines, to sanction those who were behind the leaking of test questions to examinees.
The fraud, revealed last month by students and later confirmed by the commission, has gripped the country with many in the medical profession worrying about its implications on the Philippines's standing as one of the world's biggest sources of nurses.
In an interview with a Manila radio station, Arroyo said the government's Board of Nursing, which administers the examinations. should be reorganized. Some members of the board were accused of receiving bribes from the owner of a nursing review center in exchange for leaking some test questions.
Arroyo also said she was considering putting nursing review centers under the responsibility of the Department of Education. The plan to cheat in the June examinations was allegedly hatched in some of these review centers.
"I talked yesterday with the chairman of PRC and I told her to find a solution to the problem so that the guilty will be punished and those who are innocent will be spared," Arroyo said, referring to the Professional Regulation Commission. But she refused to comment on the suggestion by industry groups to have students caught up in the scandal take the test again. The nurses are protesting being given a second test.
Those who have passed the exam have complained that hospitals have been refusing to hire them. Recruiters in the United States no longer are considering members of this class of examinees, officials have said. Around 17,000 passed the June exams, out of 42,000 who took the test.
Last week, officials warned that because of the scandal, the country is in danger of losing its application to administer the U.S. National Council Licensure Examinations in the Philippines. The United States is one of the Philippines's biggest markets for nurses, and nurses who wish to work there must pass the exam. Filipino nurses who apply for jobs in the United States are now required to take the test in the United States and its territories or in other countries authorized to give it.
"One concern is examination security," Rino Paez, an official from the government's Council of Filipinos Overseas, told the Associated Press. "If we cannot protect our own professional examination, how do we protect the examinations of a foreign entity?"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/28/news/nurses.php
According to the government, nearly 8,000 Filipino nurses found employment abroad last year.
MANILA President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday ordered a reorganization of the government body that administers nursing board examinations as part of her administration's efforts to mitigate the impact of a cheating scandal that has tainted the reputation of Filipino nurses.
Arroyo also urged the Professional Regulation Commission, which oversees the licensing of professionals in the Philippines, to sanction those who were behind the leaking of test questions to examinees.
The fraud, revealed last month by students and later confirmed by the commission, has gripped the country with many in the medical profession worrying about its implications on the Philippines's standing as one of the world's biggest sources of nurses.
In an interview with a Manila radio station, Arroyo said the government's Board of Nursing, which administers the examinations. should be reorganized. Some members of the board were accused of receiving bribes from the owner of a nursing review center in exchange for leaking some test questions.
Arroyo also said she was considering putting nursing review centers under the responsibility of the Department of Education. The plan to cheat in the June examinations was allegedly hatched in some of these review centers.
"I talked yesterday with the chairman of PRC and I told her to find a solution to the problem so that the guilty will be punished and those who are innocent will be spared," Arroyo said, referring to the Professional Regulation Commission. But she refused to comment on the suggestion by industry groups to have students caught up in the scandal take the test again. The nurses are protesting being given a second test.
Those who have passed the exam have complained that hospitals have been refusing to hire them. Recruiters in the United States no longer are considering members of this class of examinees, officials have said. Around 17,000 passed the June exams, out of 42,000 who took the test.
Last week, officials warned that because of the scandal, the country is in danger of losing its application to administer the U.S. National Council Licensure Examinations in the Philippines. The United States is one of the Philippines's biggest markets for nurses, and nurses who wish to work there must pass the exam. Filipino nurses who apply for jobs in the United States are now required to take the test in the United States and its territories or in other countries authorized to give it.
"One concern is examination security," Rino Paez, an official from the government's Council of Filipinos Overseas, told the Associated Press. "If we cannot protect our own professional examination, how do we protect the examinations of a foreign entity?"
According to the government, nearly 8,000 Filipino nurses found employment abroad last year.
FROM : http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/28/news/nurses.php
