Nursing grads leave anyway to try luck abroad

By Vincent Cabreza
Inquirer
Last updated 08:48am (Mla time) 08/27/2006

BAGUIO CITY—Some government employees who passed the June licensure examinations for nurses have decided to try their luck abroad even without their licenses.

Jude Accos, a government forester who decided to shift to a nursing career, said many of his fellow government workers who did likewise were convinced that a Philippine nursing license was not necessary if they could pass the licensing exams given in other countries like the United States which conducts the National Council Licensure Examinations for Practical Nurses (NCLEx).

Accos said many of his fellow workers, including officials of regional agencies in Northern Luzon, had already filed for leaves of absence to explore job opportunities abroad or to take the NCLEx. He said he was only following their lead.

Officials of the Philippine Nurses Association said they anticipated an exodus of new nursing graduates despite the crisis caused by allegations of cheating in the June 11 and 12 nursing board exams.

Ruth Thelma Tingda, a PNA governor, said nothing would prevent the 42,000 examinees who took the tainted exams from trying their luck in other countries.

Stigma of cheating

“Countries in the Mediterranean don’t require Philippine licenses. Some states in America also do not make it their prerequisite [for hiring],” she said.

“But [the June examinees] still have to contend with the stigma of cheating. Overseas employers have already advised the [government] that they may not hire licensed nurses who took the June board exams,” said Mary Grace Lacanaria, chapter president of the Association of Deans of Philippine Nursing Schools.

Largest group

Tingda, Lacanaria and 92 Baguio examinees went public in June about leaked test questions that were allegedly distributed by certain review centers.

Lacanaria, who is also the dean of the St. Louis University’s school of nursing, said many nursing graduates this year took nursing as their second courses.

The Professional Regulation Commission described the June batch of examinees as the largest group of nursing licensure applicants in history, although only more than 17,000 of the 42,000 examinees passed the tests.