Gordon: Nursing Schools must have review classes

All nursing schools should improve their quality of education and be required to have their own review classes for licensure examination, Sen. Richard Gordon proposed yesterday.

The esteemed senator also discouraged the introduction of the “Practical Nursing” program by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in its proposed ladderization of the nursing curriculum.

HE mentioned that there is no demand nurses because the local and global markets are for professional nurses. The nursing students might be misled into believing that they could take advantage of the high demand for nurses by being practical nurses.

Senator Gordon is set to file a Senate resolution urging the legislative body to look into the possible, if not actual implications of such practical nursing program inserted by the CHED in the nursing curriculum, to see if there are further legislations that would have to made.

Moreover, he noted that review centers are sprouting and ranking it in with the big number of students finishing their nursing studies every year.

He also noted that some review centers have become notorious for accessing the supposedly confidential set of questions to be asked in the licensure examination.

“The CHED should be more stringent with the review centers so they would not become leakage centers,” Gordon urged.

A reviewee pays from 15,000 pesos to 17,000 pesos for a few weeks review. Gordon sad he had heard of some graduates enrolling in three different review centers because of the dissatisfactions with the earlier ones.

A way to put more order to the system, according to Gordon, is to improve the quality of their teachings and required duly-licensed nursing schools to have their own review classes.

A bill emphasizing the accountability of nursing schools over review center is also set to be filed by Gordon.

“This is will establish the accountability of the schools. Their students remain their responsibilities up to the time they take the licensure examination. This will also separate the outstanding from the mediocre schools,” he said.

He said the CHED should have a keener eye on nursing schools now that 950,000 students are taking up nursing.

“The low passing rate in the licensure examinations should serve as a wake-up call to CHED and policy makers. CHED should not be happy with 40% passing the exam,” Gordon said.