Nursing in the Philippines: Moving Forward

Nursing in the Philippines: Moving Forward
By: NOEL D. DE OCAMPO MSN/ED, RN
Week 1-Thursday, March 11, 2010

In the past ten years, the quality of nursing education in the Philippines is in the decline. This is evidenced by the continuous downward trend in passing percentages in the Philippine Nurse Licensure Examination (NLE), as well as the US National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN). This decline may be attributed to the proliferation of many nursing schools offering substandard curriculums and unqualified teaching personnel. This issue is now a subject of debate among many of the Philippines' nursing scholars and stakeholders, as this decline may adversely affect the quality of care being provided to patients that all Filipino nurses serve. This decline may also contribute to the negative image of Filipino nurses in the international health care community, thereby affecting their marketability with employers in such places as the United States, Middle East, and Europe. It is imperative that stakeholders continue discussions of this issue and address the problems promptly.
The industry of providing nursing review programs is growing and this growth is expected to continue in the next ten to twenty years. In the United States alone, it is estimated that more than one million new and replacement nurses will be needed in the next six years (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007). Many health care institutions in the US remain in short supply of nurses. Many schools of nursing in the US are continuing to turn away prospective students due to budget shortfall, as well as shortage in teaching faculties. Although efforts are being made by the United States federal government to alleviate this problem, and programs to increase the nursing workforce are implemented in many states, the problem of nursing shortage remains and is expected to persist for a very long time. According to Dr. Peter Buerhaus, "the average age of Registered Nurse in the US will increase and the size of the workforce will plateau as many RNs retire. Because demand for RNs is expected to increase during this time, a large and prolonged shortage of nurses is expected to hit the US soon" (JAMA, 2008).
Although the number of nursing graduates in the Philippines is currently trending downward, the demand for high quality nursing review programs remain high. Studies have shown that demand for nurses around the world is increasing and is likely to continue its upward trend in the next twenty to thirty years. Due to this, nursing enrollment in the Philippines is projected to reverse its course and begin its upward trend in the next two years. Concurrently, there will also be an increase in nursing review providers, but the level of competition will become greater due to the anticipated government crackdown on fly-by-night nursing schools and nursing review centers.
Many nursing graduates have seen the proliferation of Nursing Review Centers in the Philippines. Many of these review centers are claiming to have the highest quality nursing review program in the nation and charge hefty fees for aspiring nurses to attend their programs. Many of these review centers are also offering NCLEX review programs and are claiming to have faculty members licensed in the United States. They also provide false NCLEX passing rates and statistics to entice future nurses in using their programs. It is crucial that before making decisions in choosing what nursing review programs to utilize, aspiring nurses must ensure the credibility of a review center's faculty members. Nurses planning to take the NCLEX can make use of web-based, electronic license verification systems to ensure that a review center's faculty member claiming to have US Registered Nurse licensure is in fact, licensed. These licensure verification systems are operated by most nursing state boards for quick verification of licensures. Many review centers resort to false advertising techniques to lure unsuspecting nurses, therefore it is imperative that nurses always check and consider not only the faculty members' length of clinical and teaching experience, but also licensures in other countries that they are claiming to have.
All nursing schools offering nursing licensure review programs and all nursing review centers have the responsibility to assist future nurses take the guesswork out of any licensure examinations to help alleviate anxiety over those examinations, as well as to guide aspring nurses in their course of study. Nursing review centers employing quick marketing schemes and resorting to false advertising maneuvers should stop using those tactics and instead focus on the real reason why a nursing review center is operating. Every nursing review center should be motivated not by the revenue it will generate, but by the notion that nurses are to be developed into becoming what they are trained to become; professional, knowledgeable, skillful, competent, and truly caring individuals.