POSITION PAPER NO RETAKE OF THE NATIONAL LICENSURE EXAMINATIONS FOR NURSES IN THE NORTHERN MINDANAO AREA
POSITION PAPER
NO RETAKE OF THE NATIONAL LICENSURE EXAMINATIONS FOR NURSES IN THE NORTHERN MINDANAO AREA
Prefatory Statement
The image of the nursing profession has been greatly tarnished. More importantly, the Filipino image relative to the nursing profession in the international community has been largely ruined by the inconsiderate actions of some selfish and unscrupulous personalities in the nursing industry. And while the urgent call for reforms to restore the pristine reflection of the nursing profession cannot be gainsaid the same, and this must be highly underscored, should not be at the expense of the hundreds and thousands of innocent nursing students/examinees who invested blood, sweat and tears just to achieve their ultimate dream of becoming the next Florence Nightingale.This position paper aims to illustrate the recklessness, irresponsibility and injustice of compelling legitimate successful passers of the June 2006 National Licensure Examinations for Nurses in the Northern Mindanao area to retake the same examinations. If at all a retake is necessary and deemed the only thing that can restore dignity to the nursing profession, then the same must not encompass the whole archipelago but only to those areas proven to be where the alleged leakage took place. Surely not everyone can be made to endure the humiliation and indignities caused by the sins of a few, much less allowed to suffer the consequent penalty.
Presentation of Issues
1. The alleged occurrence of a leakage of examination questions in the June 2006 National Licensure Examinations for Nurses did not include the Northern MindanaoArea;
2. The propriety of the Philippine Regulatory Commission’s application of statistical treatment on the examination results of the June 2006 National Licensure Examinations for Nurses.
3. The competence of the passers of the June 2006 National Licensure Examinations for Nurses vis-à-vis the alleged occurrence of leakage of examination questions; and
4. The implementation of the Temporary Restraining Order suspending the registration and oath taking of the board passers.
Arguments and Discussion
- On the issue of the alleged occurrence of a leakage of exam questions in the June 2006 National Licensure Exams for Nurses, specifically the 20 items from Test III and 90 items from Test V
Ever since the whole fiasco regarding the alleged leakage of examination questions in the June 2006 National Licensure Examinations for Nurses broke out much has been said about it. However, the evidence presented thus far, be it testimonial or documentary, only serve to confirm one thing---no leakage occurred in the Northern Mindanao area. Owners and administrators of nursing schools and review centers and even nursing students from Northern Mindanao have remote, if any, connections to the members of the BON. It would thus be simply improbable, if not totally impossible, for any nursing student in the Northern Mindanao area who took the exams in the regional testing center in Cagayan de Oro City to have been involved in and/or benefited from any leakage of examination questions.
The fact of the matter is that there has been no evidence, real or imaginary, supporting the
occurrence of any leakage of examination questions in the Northern Mindanao regional testing center in Cagayan de Oro City. Further, no nursing school, nursing college dean, or nursing review center in the Northern Mindanao area has been linked to the alleged leakage of examination questions. These reasons support the belief that no examinee in the Northern Mindanao area could have possibly been privy to any leakage of examination questions much less benefited from them. Besides, granting without necessarily admitting there was any leakage of examination questions in the June 2006 National Licensure Examinations for Nursing this was not widespread enough to include the Northern Mindanao area. There is thus no need for examinees in the Northern Mindanao area to retake the said examinations.
- On the issue of the PRC’s statistical treatment of the exam results
The Board of Nursing, in its Board Resolution No. 31 dated 17 July 2006, determined that due to a leakage of examination questions in the June 2006 National Licensure Examinations for Nurses, specifically twenty (20) items from Test III (Medical-Surgical Nursing) and ninety (90) items from Test V (Psychiatric Nursing), undue advantage was afforded to those who were privy to the leaked questions.
In this regard, they resolved that to invalidate twenty (20) leaked items in Test III, and to re-compute the remaining eighty (80) items were sufficient to neutralize the undue advantage given to some by virtue of the leakage, and that the remaining eighty (80) valid items were sufficient to determine the competency of the examinees with regard to the areas of nursing covered by Test III.
And to minimize the effect of the leakage anent Test V, the BON, acting upon the advice of Test and Statistics expert Dr. Milagros Ibe, applied statistical treatment to the said Test V. The application of statistical treatment to tone down the effects of the leakage of questions in Test V was arrived at considering that ninety (90) out of one hundred (100) questions were leaked and the invalidation of the said ninety (90) items would result in only ten (10) valid questions which consequently would be insufficient to prove the competency of the examinees in the areas covered by Test V.
The application of statistical treatment was duly approved and applied by the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC), the independent body entrusted by the Philippine government to prepare, administer, evaluate, interpret and publish the results of competency examinations for Professionals.
It may be well to stress at
this point that in the same Board Resolution, the BON established that the performance of the regional examination sites did not show remarkable significance in Test V proving only that the alleged leakage was not as widespread as to demand a retake of the examination for those in the Northern Mindanao area.
- On the issue of competence, and on whether or not the passers of the June 2006 Licensure Exams pose a threat to public health and safety in the practice of the nursing profession
It is an indisputable fact that all the examinees of the recently concluded National Licensure Examinations for Nurses have completed, to the satisfaction of their
respective Nursing Schools, the Board of Nursing and the Philippine Regulatory Commission, all academic as well as clinical experience requirements as set forth in the Nursing Act of 2002. As such they have the necessary knowledge, as evidenced by their Transcript of Records and Diploma, and the necessary basic nursing skills as evidenced by their authenticated Related Learning Experience records as well as the completion of required number of cases for OR and DR.
Moreover, the examinees from Northern Mindanao successfully passed the Licensure Examinations on their own merit and without the benefit of any leakage. The statistical treatment applied on the examination results by the PRC simply proves the competence of examinees from Northern Mindanao as they passed the exams in spite of the undue advantage enjoyed by those who benefited from the leakage, and despite the statistical treatment applied on their test scores by
the PRC, which may have effectively eroded their scores. Otherwise stated, these examinees have nothing more to prove.
Surely, the successful examinees of the Northern Mindanao area will not pose a threat to public health and safety in the practice of the nursing profession for they have been duly evaluated (in school and in the licensure examinations) and passed. In other words, they have taken on the challenge and have not been found wanting.
- On the issue of the implementation of the Temporary Restraining Order suspending the registration and oath taking of the board passers
license as a nurse shall be issued to an applicant who passes the examination upon payment of the prescribed fees.
The suspension of the registration and oath taking of the board passers resulting from the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order has caused heightened anxiety and distress to both board passers and their respective families. The perception is that their basic rights as mandated under RA 9173 are being denied and their future put in abeyance.
Inasmuch as the board passers want to move forward and practice their chosen profession none of them can do so.
Conclusion
have taken swift and decisive action to undo the harm done by the leakage of examination questions. Through this, the PRC has ensured the competence of those listed as having successfully passed the Licensure Exams.
It must be categorically stated that there was absolutely NO leakage of examination questions in the Northern Mindanao region, and any insinuations to the contrary is utterly baseless and untrue. Moreover, any malicious imputation as to the integrity of the examinations held in the Cagayan de Oro City testing center is, at best, misleading. The National Licensure Examinations for Nurses, as held in Cagayan de Oro City, was legitimate and untainted by any leakage.
That the successful examinees possess the basic competencies to practice the nursing profession is beyond question. They have the necessary knowledge, as proven by their academic achievements as
well as their having passed the licensure exams (on their own merit and without the advantages enjoyed by those who were privy to the leaked exam items) and they have the necessary attitude as well as the basic skills necessary to effectively practice the noble profession they have chosen.
Therefore, to subject them to a retake of the examinations would be the height of injustice as it would be like penalizing them for successfully hurdling this milestone armed with nothing but sheer hard work, industry and a clean conscience instead of hailing them and heaping praises on them for a job well done. Surely, these successful examinees have every right to be called “registered nurses” and to be allowed to practice their profession as such.
Let us not begrudge them their dream---legitimately attained and richly deserved.
SENT VIA EMAIL
