Pimentel: Allowing non-board passers to practice nursing is just a short-term solution
The proposal to allow non-board passers to practice nursing and grant them temporary licenses is a short-term solution, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Tuesday, June 20, said.
Pimentel emphasized that the root causes of the shortage lie in the significant number of nurses leaving the country to seek higher-paying jobs abroad.
"We should take a look at nurses' salaries and provide more incentives for them to stay and practice in our nation," Pimentel said.
Pimentel stressed that government should stick to the current grade if 75 percent as the passing grade.
"Improve the exam and make sure the questions ask test the competence and readiness of the nursing examinee. Make the exam direct to the important knowledge and skill set for nurses," he suggested.
If the nursing examinee passes, then he or she is ready and competent, he pointed out.
"If bumagsak (if the examine fails), then clearly and surely hindi pa ready maging nurse (he or she is not yet ready to become a nurse)," Pimentel said.
He stressed that government has to protect the "integrity" of our testing system.
"Pasa means ready na I(One is ready when the examinee passed the board examination), Lagpak (failure) means not yet ready, Study and prepare more for the next exam. 75 means 75, not 74.5,’’ he added.
The Department of Health (DOH) earlier said that nursing graduates who failed their board exam with scores between 70-74 percent would be employed in government hospitals.
“I will tap them, around 50 percent of those who took the board exam but did not pass – specifically those who achieved a 70-74 percent rating,” Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said in an interview at the DOH central office.