Nursing exam retake all for show abroad
Nursing exam retake all for show abroadGOTCHA By Jarius BondocThe Philippine Star 08/28/2006
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608282603.htm
It’s only right to have last June’s 13,000 nursing licensure examinees retake Tests III and V that were tainted with leaked questionnaires. But not for the reason cited by nursing student unions. Egged on by job recruiters, the students wail that condoning cheating will deter the US Nursing Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), the official competence measuring agency, from setting up licensing exams right in Manila. That in turn would mean higher costs to take the exams elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, and thus less chances of landing jobs in America.
That line of reasoning seems all for show. It’s like saying, look, those stern foreigners are watching, so let’s be in our best behavior. Put another way, if there was no invitation from RP for NCLEX to come to Manila, we can live with the nursing exam scam. After all, there had been similar questionnaire leaks before – at least three in the past 25 years of Bar exams, for instance, involving no less than Supreme Court justices and their kin – yet those were no skin off our nose. Unlike with nurses, the US doesn’t recruit Filipino lawyers anyway.
Still, redoing the nursing board exam of 2006 is a must. As Dante Ang of the Commission on Overseas Filipinos says, "Nothing short of the invalidation and retaking of the two leaked subjects can repair the damage done to the reputation and integrity of the nursing exam." In short, the situation needs to be reversed for the right reason. Honorable standing for any professional licensing exam is not only for overseas job placement. Nor is it for local stature. More basic, either you are a true professional, or one who acquired the honorific title of Dr. or Arch. or CPA by chicanery.
Examinees who passed fair and square naturally will feel aggrieved about a retake. In fact, the topnotcher has said "no way am I letting them steal the position from me by annuling the exam results." Others who never partook of the leakage can be as livid. But they have no one to blame for the mess than their own industry leaders. No less than two members of the Board of Nursing (BON), which prepares the questionnaires, leaked Tests III and V. They crassly handed what should be top-secret papers to the president of the Phil. Nurses Association, most likely out of gratitude for being feted to a Switzerland tour. And that PNA chief, who owns a nursing school and an exam review center, passed on the leaks to a dozen deans. He had the audacity to claim that if there truly was a leak, as half a dozen examinees have sworn, how come his own son failed the exams. Fortunately for that young man, no one raised the matter of scholastic aptitude, for the sins of the father must not visit upon the son.
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608282603.htm
At any rate, the collusion of nursing leaders makes the cheating look widespread, and not limited only to Baguio City as earlier reported. Too, the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) worsened things by refusing to acknowledge the sworn statements about cheating. The BON also hesitated to investigate. And when it no longer could stall, it tried to sweep the problem under
the rug by voiding the results of Tests III and V, and recomputing the examinees’ grades. After which, the PRC ordered a hasty professional oathtaking of passers in the Visayas and Mindanao – obviously to pre-empt an impending court order to stop such rites.
The damage is done. No matter what the clean exam passers say now, they will always be lumped together with the cheaters. No hospital or employer would hire any of the 2006 examinees until they retake Tests III and V to everyone’s satisfaction.
Let this be a painful lesson to all professional board examiners as well. Never shit in your own backyard.
* * *Incidentally, 47,683 Filipino passers of the NCLEX have been sucked into American hospitals and clinics in the past ten years. Citing figures from the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing, ex-senator and labor leader Ernesto Herrera says half of the Filipino registered nurses, or 23,608, passed the NCLEX on the first take and immediately were recruited to US jobs. The rest either retook it or worked their way into America as vocational or licensed practical nurses.
from : http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608282603.htm
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608282603.htm
It’s only right to have last June’s 13,000 nursing licensure examinees retake Tests III and V that were tainted with leaked questionnaires. But not for the reason cited by nursing student unions. Egged on by job recruiters, the students wail that condoning cheating will deter the US Nursing Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX), the official competence measuring agency, from setting up licensing exams right in Manila. That in turn would mean higher costs to take the exams elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, and thus less chances of landing jobs in America.
That line of reasoning seems all for show. It’s like saying, look, those stern foreigners are watching, so let’s be in our best behavior. Put another way, if there was no invitation from RP for NCLEX to come to Manila, we can live with the nursing exam scam. After all, there had been similar questionnaire leaks before – at least three in the past 25 years of Bar exams, for instance, involving no less than Supreme Court justices and their kin – yet those were no skin off our nose. Unlike with nurses, the US doesn’t recruit Filipino lawyers anyway.
Still, redoing the nursing board exam of 2006 is a must. As Dante Ang of the Commission on Overseas Filipinos says, "Nothing short of the invalidation and retaking of the two leaked subjects can repair the damage done to the reputation and integrity of the nursing exam." In short, the situation needs to be reversed for the right reason. Honorable standing for any professional licensing exam is not only for overseas job placement. Nor is it for local stature. More basic, either you are a true professional, or one who acquired the honorific title of Dr. or Arch. or CPA by chicanery.
Examinees who passed fair and square naturally will feel aggrieved about a retake. In fact, the topnotcher has said "no way am I letting them steal the position from me by annuling the exam results." Others who never partook of the leakage can be as livid. But they have no one to blame for the mess than their own industry leaders. No less than two members of the Board of Nursing (BON), which prepares the questionnaires, leaked Tests III and V. They crassly handed what should be top-secret papers to the president of the Phil. Nurses Association, most likely out of gratitude for being feted to a Switzerland tour. And that PNA chief, who owns a nursing school and an exam review center, passed on the leaks to a dozen deans. He had the audacity to claim that if there truly was a leak, as half a dozen examinees have sworn, how come his own son failed the exams. Fortunately for that young man, no one raised the matter of scholastic aptitude, for the sins of the father must not visit upon the son.
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608282603.htm
At any rate, the collusion of nursing leaders makes the cheating look widespread, and not limited only to Baguio City as earlier reported. Too, the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) worsened things by refusing to acknowledge the sworn statements about cheating. The BON also hesitated to investigate. And when it no longer could stall, it tried to sweep the problem under
the rug by voiding the results of Tests III and V, and recomputing the examinees’ grades. After which, the PRC ordered a hasty professional oathtaking of passers in the Visayas and Mindanao – obviously to pre-empt an impending court order to stop such rites.
The damage is done. No matter what the clean exam passers say now, they will always be lumped together with the cheaters. No hospital or employer would hire any of the 2006 examinees until they retake Tests III and V to everyone’s satisfaction.
Let this be a painful lesson to all professional board examiners as well. Never shit in your own backyard.
* * *Incidentally, 47,683 Filipino passers of the NCLEX have been sucked into American hospitals and clinics in the past ten years. Citing figures from the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing, ex-senator and labor leader Ernesto Herrera says half of the Filipino registered nurses, or 23,608, passed the NCLEX on the first take and immediately were recruited to US jobs. The rest either retook it or worked their way into America as vocational or licensed practical nurses.
from : http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200608282603.htm
Ohh..come on... the local nursing board is no comparison to the NCLEX or the Canadian Registered Nurse Examination (CRNE). It's not a guarantee that if u pass the local nursing boards u will perform well in the NCLEX and CRNE or if u failed the nursing boards u will also fail the NCLEX or CRNE. Anyway maski naman wala kang local nursing boards, u can still take the NCLEX in some states like California where nurses are paid one of the highest. So what I advise to those who june 2006 exam takers, better go to the US as soon as possible. hwag nyo nang hintayin ang pinagkakaguluhang local nursing boards.
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:32 AM
This is an advise from a fellow nurse who is earning a minimum of US$35/hr in california, don't make ur life miserable by waiting for ur local board exam result, as long as u have ur transcript and diploma, u can let urself be evaluated by the California Board of Nursing and take the NCLEX immediately. Anyway, PRC papers are not needed. Hindi naman na nila tatanungin kung pumasa ka ba sa local boards sa Pilipinas. Sobrang sensationalized na ang june 2006 nursing boards, sobra na, tama na, purnada na kami. Wala namang pakialam ang mga foreigners sa philippines politics, as long as u will perform well in ur job, hindi sila mahilig sa tsismis na parang mga pinoy. Nakakahiya ang ka-tsismisan ng mga pinoy.
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:38 AM
The best solution, dissolve the PRC and let all those who have transcripts and diplomas in nursing go to the US or Canada. Hindi naman kailangan ang local boards para makapag-nurse abroad. Mga pinoy lang kasi ang masyadong ma-pulitiko and mahilig sa sensationalism. Wala naman pakialam ang mga foreigners sa mga nangyayari sa Pinas kasi they have their own set of rules/requirements and screening criteria before one can work as a nurse in the US or Canada. Wala namang bearing ang local boards doon. So, why still re-take? Gastos pa? Ipadala niyo na lang sa mga flood victims or landslide victims ang gagastusin niyo sa re-take, di ba?
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:46 AM
Marami pa namang magagandang bagay sa mundo ng pagiging bagong graduate ng nurse, don't make ur life miserable by waiting for ur local boards. Iwanan na ang PInas maski walang result ang local boards. Tama na ang masyadong sensationalized na june 2006 nursing boards. I-release ang result at makaalis na ang 17,000+ passers. God bless na lang sa mga people involved. May ur tribe go into extinction.
Posted by
Anonymous |
6:50 AM
That's right, RETAKE is all for SHOW abroad. But it is a superfluous or useless show (and sacrifice on the part of innocent passers) because, as the foregoing comments pointed out, and as the foreign recruiter who showed up at PRC on August 22, 2006 pointed out in the TV newscast, they have their own testing method and it will be the basis for their hiring, not the PRC licensure exam. So he even welcome the June 2006 passers and asked them to apply....
Justice is an abstract term--we cannot see it, though in rare times somehow we can feel it. It is hard to understand, let alone apply. It is elusive, and it is difficult to launch a revolution or coup d'etat just to attain it. However, we can do simple justice in our daily lives--and, as someone said, it is much better than a beautiful treatise on the subject. We can do it by the simple act of being FAIR to everyone in everything that we do. We can do it by forgetting the usual SHOW or "pakitang tao" in the nursing scandal and, instead of it, by giving primordial consideration not just to the PUNISHMENT of the GUILTY but also to the SPARING of the INNOCENT, which is doable because, in this scandal, the guilty can be separated from the innocent. Under the circumstances, FAILURE to do JUSTICE to INNOCENT PASSERS by the Presidential Task Force that questions their competence is INCOMPETENCE in itself !!!
MLT
8-28-06
Posted by
Anonymous |
8:01 AM
Attention: Deans of UST and other institutions favouring PRO RETAKE
Dont judge the passers incompetent or competent, because this exam is not a basis to test the competency of a nurse, it is only a tool for you to shift from novice to advance beginner and soon to be competent.... Competence is reflected by the nurse who has been on the same job for 2 to 3 years and not the NLE's, thats according to Patricia Benner "From novice to Experts" page 45, Fundamental of Nursing.... 4th Edition by Ruth F. Craven, .....
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:22 AM
This few boards passers deserve to be congratulated for passing the most controversial exam in nursing history... They passed a test that has been cleansed from leakage not like previous nursing examination tinted with leakage not reported.....
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:24 AM
I don't understand why some people, officials even, would constantly used the issue of the leakage in the June 2006 PNLE as a reason for 2006 June passers not to possibly land a good job or destroy the chances of the Filipino nurses in general for a work abroad. They know themselves that foreign countries like U.S. and the likes of it has their own evaluative tool to assess the nurse's capabilities. So, there really is no need for Dante Ang, whom I personally think, has no knowledge of what the real score of the situation is, to keep on yapping for a retake of the board exam in fear that we might lose our edge as a primary supplier of nurses abroad.
And as the others have pointed out, U.S. employers do not care whether you are a local board passer or not, just as long as you pass the NCLEX, then you will be all set to work for them. And if Dante And is not aware of this, then I guess he should be the one to resign and give up his post to a more deserving person.. someone who knows the ins and outs of nursing..maybe somebody who is also a nurse this time.
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:49 AM
RETAKE IS NOT NEEDED JUST TO REFURBISH THE IMAGE OF 2006 PASSERS.
ASK EMPLOYERS OF NURSES--LOCAL OR FOREIGN--IF THEY HIRE NURSES SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF PASSING THE BOARD EXAM. NO EMPLOYER WILL BE STUPID ENOUGH TO DO THAT!
If there are some exceptions who do, then they deserve the kind of nurses that they hire! Moreover, we should not make rules on the basis of exception. The general rule is that even PRC license holders are subjected to further screening or testing by their prospective employers, so there should be no big deal in giving the benefit of the doubt to the 2006 innocent passers.
AND WHAT'S MORE. CHED SHOULD ALSO TEST THE CAPABILITY OF THE GOVERNMENT NURSING SCHOOL--UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES SCHOOL OF NURSING. It should be required to accept at least 10 average students and see if UP can transform them into the top performer that UP thinks its graduates are. The people should see if UP is really good or it is good because it is able to select out of so many applicants the most intelligent high school graduates that will pursue the nursing course--something that other supposedly low performing schools are not able to do.
Posted by
Anonymous |
2:51 PM