Who will guard the guardians?
Who will guard the guardians?
By EMIL JURADO
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=emilJurado_aug23_2006
***
Senator Eduardo Angara said it pointedly when he commented on the leaking of questions in the recent nursing licensure examination. “Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?” meaning, “Who will guard the guardians?”
Angara put his finger on a sore spot of the nursing law, where the chairman and members of the board of examiners are nominated solely by the Philippine Nurses Association, supposedly a self-policing and peer regulating mechanism that has gone askew. One can conclude, from Angara’s observation, that a top nursing official was involved in the leak, something that, if proven, can taint the nursing and care-giving profession here and its image abroad. In fact, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing of the United States will no longer consider the country as a venue for its accreditation exams.
What is important is not so much to pinpoint responsibility and throw the book at the culprit or culprits. The bigger stake here is national interest because it gives the country’s nurses and caregivers a black eye. As Angara observed, the root cause of the scandal lies in the fact that members of the exam board for nursing were handpicked by the president of the nursing association, who happened to be the owner of both a nursing school and a review center. And as we all know, the scandal first broke out in a Baguio City review center reportedly owned by the PNA chief.
Just as there’s need to pinpoint responsibility and throw the culprits to jail, there’s a far greater need to uproot the conflict of interest that promotes leaks in nursing exams. National interest is at stake since the country holds the distinction of being the world’s leading provider of quality nurses.
***
FROM : http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=emilJurado_aug23_2006
By EMIL JURADO
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=emilJurado_aug23_2006
***
Senator Eduardo Angara said it pointedly when he commented on the leaking of questions in the recent nursing licensure examination. “Quis custodiet ipsos custodies?” meaning, “Who will guard the guardians?”
Angara put his finger on a sore spot of the nursing law, where the chairman and members of the board of examiners are nominated solely by the Philippine Nurses Association, supposedly a self-policing and peer regulating mechanism that has gone askew. One can conclude, from Angara’s observation, that a top nursing official was involved in the leak, something that, if proven, can taint the nursing and care-giving profession here and its image abroad. In fact, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing of the United States will no longer consider the country as a venue for its accreditation exams.
What is important is not so much to pinpoint responsibility and throw the book at the culprit or culprits. The bigger stake here is national interest because it gives the country’s nurses and caregivers a black eye. As Angara observed, the root cause of the scandal lies in the fact that members of the exam board for nursing were handpicked by the president of the nursing association, who happened to be the owner of both a nursing school and a review center. And as we all know, the scandal first broke out in a Baguio City review center reportedly owned by the PNA chief.
Just as there’s need to pinpoint responsibility and throw the culprits to jail, there’s a far greater need to uproot the conflict of interest that promotes leaks in nursing exams. National interest is at stake since the country holds the distinction of being the world’s leading provider of quality nurses.
***
FROM : http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=emilJurado_aug23_2006
