MDC is top nursing college
(The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced recently the top-performing schools offering the Bachelor of Science in Nursing programs in the country for 2009. These schools rated higher than 40.70% national passing average set by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) and the school’s number of exam takers in the 2009 June and November results of the Nursing Licensure Examinations. Among nursing colleges, MDC topped the list with a rating of 69.63%. MDC ranks 3rd among nursing colleges and universities. The top three schools for each range are:

Range 1 (with 1,000 and up takers): Far Eastern University-Manila (NCR) with 1,982 passers out of 2,656 takers or 74.62 percent passing rate; Centro Escolar University-Manila (NCR) with 720 out of 1,002 or 71.88%; Manila Doctors College (NCR) with 704 out of 1,011 or 69.63%;

Range 2 (with 100 to 999 takers), Saint Paul University-Iloilo (Region 6) with 100% passing rate; West Visayas State University-La Paz (Region 6) with 99.48%; Saint Louis University (CAR) with 99.04%;

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CDU asserts it still is top nursing school
By Marjun A. Baguio/JMO (The Freeman)

CEBU, Philippines – The Cebu Doctors’ University yesterday asserted that it has maintained its standards following a report that it has failed to live up to its reputation as one of Cebu’s top performing nursing institutions.

Dominic Duja, Coordinator of Student Affairs, Publications and Public Relations of CDU said the university has always lived up to the high standards it has set for itself, as manifested by its overall placement as top two in the nursing licensure examinations from 2004 to 2008 with a 91.89 percent passing percentage.

“In the last Nursing Licensure Examination, November 2009, Cebu Doctors’ University is the only Cebu Nursing School who landed in the Top 20 of the National ranking by the Professional Regulations Commission,” Duja said in a statement. CDU placed 19th in the November 2009 exams.

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PRC sounds alert on low performing nursing schools
By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said that it has been alerted by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) of some 253 “low performing” nursing schools in the country based on their graduates’ performance in the PRC nursing licensure examinations for 2009.

Emmanuel Angeles, CHED chairman, said that they have noted the 2009 nursing licensure exam results and will incorporate this into the data they are gathering on PRC licensure exam results of previous years as they pursue an effort to identify nursing schools that has to phase out their nursing programs due to poor quality.

The 253 “low-performing” nursing schools were adjudged as such from their graduates’ passing percentage in the 2009 licensure exams wherein it should register above the national passing average rate of 40.70 percent.

The data coming from PRC-Educational Statistics Task Force show that these schools ranked less than 40.70% in the licensure examinations administered by the PRC last June and November 2009.

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NURSING PROGRAM UP TO PAR: CHED apologizes to UV for wrong announcement
By Jessica Ann R. Pareja (The Freeman)

CEBU, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) admitted yesterday that it mistakenly included the University of the Visayas (UV) in the list of institutions with nursing programs recommended for closure.

CHED Chairman Emmanuel Angeles sent a letter through facsimile to UV Executive Vice-President and VP for Finance Jose R. Gullas correcting the information earlier published that UV was one of the four schools in Cebu advised to scrap its nursing program for failure to surpass the national passing percentage of 40.70 percent.

Angeles already apologized to Gullas over the phone last week for the mistake.

“We take cognizance for the performance of the graduates in nursing of the University of the Visayas, Banilad, Mandaue City for the year 2009. A review of the data given to us by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) revealed that truly your graduates’ performance in the 2009 Board Examination for Nurses is 45.72 percent which is above the National Passing Percentage of 40.70 percent,” Angeles said.

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CHED issues warning to 132 nursing schools
By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) disclosed yesterday that the agency had warned 132 nursing schools whose graduates have consistently flunked the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) nursing licensure examinations for five years to either shape up or phase out their nursing programs.

CHED chairman Emmanuel Angeles said that they were closely monitoring the performance of the schools and the agency would close their nursing programs if they fail to improve their graduates’ average passing rate in the PRC licensure exams to at least above the national passing rate of 46.14 percent.

Angeles said CHED had covered 456 nursing schools operating in the country and evaluated the performance of their graduates in PRC nursing licensure exams from 2004 to 2008.

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152 nursing schools face closure for poor board performance

MANILA, Philippines – A total of 152 nursing schools face closure for registering poor passing percentages in the nursing licensure examinations over the past five years.

However, Emmanuel Angeles, Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman, said the 152 nursing schools will be given another chance in next year’s nursing examinations.

“It’s a warning for them,” he said.

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2 student groups slam CHED for failure to close down 177 poor quality nursing schools
By Rainier Allan Ronda (The Philippine Star)

MANILA, Philippines – The National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) and the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) slammed the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) for its seeming protection of the 177 erring nursing schools it is set to close down for poor performance in nursing licensure exams for the past five years.

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The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) will shut down some 177 nursing schools because of the constant failure of the graduates that they produce to pass the Professional Regulation Commission’s (PRC) nursing licensure examinations (NLE).

Emmanuel Angeles, chairman of the CHED said that it has been found out that there are 177 nursing schools that do not have even one graduate pass the NLE for the last five years.

Data is currently being verified by the CHED before they start issuing orders to the schools to eliminate their nursing programs.

This article is written by RUSTY L. FRANCISCO, EdD, RNC, CEN, CCRN, CNAA and appeared first in the Philippine Daily Inquirer last May 13, 2009. I have asked for his permission if I can post it here and I am glad that he allowed me to do so. This is a good read for nurses and I hope you get inspired by his words. -Rona RN (admin)

Allow me to share my views on the present nursing curriculum and its impact on our nurses’ education and global competitiveness.

The present four-year nursing program includes three summers. If a summer is equivalent to a semester, then the present nursing program is actually five-and-a-half years long. Therefore, the proposal of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to add one more year to what is at present a four-year course—that is a five-year course without summers—is better for two reasons: (1) nursing students can enjoy a much-needed respite during summer, and (2) their parents will be given time to save money for the following semester.

However, we should not worry so much about the length of the program or the tuition fees to be paid. Let’s rather focus on the proper implementation of the curriculum per se. The present curriculum is a well-researched program that was carefully developed by our country’s dedicated deans and noted nursing academicians in consultation with different nursing sectors and specialty groups. In fact, our nursing curriculum’s conceptual framework has been hailed as a blueprint for excellence and has been adopted by many Asian and western countries. And it has been presented at numerous international conventions and accepted by our nursing colleagues globally. Given its content, the curriculum can be said to be in parallel with the global standards of nursing care and practices.

As one of the many Filipino nurses given the chance to teach nursing subjects in the United States for more than 15 years, this is my observation: even though the US nursing program has two entry levels, the predominant one is the Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN), a two-year nursing program with barely 600 actual nursing hours in the clinical areas; and it yields amazingly and consistently a very high passing performance in the nursing licensure (NCLEX-CAT) examination.

As to the Filipino nurses’ global competitiveness, to this day they remain the number one choice of other countries trying to make up for their acute nursing shortage. Our nurses may be noted for being inherently caring, respectable and compassionate, but more employers (nursing homes and hospitals), especially in the United States, are now so concerned that the nurses they hire are truly trained in the western nursing practices and standards, or “globally competent.”

Nursing competence (not the BSN degree or passing or topping the mandatory examinations) is very crucial in the effort to prevent and totally eliminate nursing malpractice/negligence. It’s a known fact that the United States is one of the most litigious countries in the whole world and yet it is a favorite destination of our nurses for long-term work tenure.

Hats off and kudos to all our nurses in the academic arena!

—RUSTY L. FRANCISCO, EdD, RNC, CEN, CCRN, CNAA,
chief operating officer, International Division,
NC-CLEX- Global Training Center,
docrusty@ncclex.com

Download (Right click >Save As) CHED (Commission on Higher Education) Memorandum Order No. 14 Series of 2009 Policies and Standards for Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program.

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CHED Memorandum Order No. 14 Series of 2009