More RP board exams abroad considered

by Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Despite the dismal performance of first overseas Philippine nursing licensure exam in Hong Kong, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) is considering more such exams abroad, INQUIRER.net learned Tuesday.

“PRC says it is currently engaged in other ‘offshore’ licensure exams,” PRC’s Board of Nursing member Dean Marco Sto. Tomas told INQUIRER.net.

The results of the first overseas exam held in Hong Kong were released Monday. And only two of 90 examinees of the test held in Hong Kong last December 12 and 13 passed. The two successful examinees are Edgardo De Sesto Estrada and Jorlyn Boyayot Gagatam.

Malacanang had instructed the PRC to administer the first overseas Philippine nursing licensure exam in Hong Kong on the requests of Filipino under-board nursing graduates working in the former British crown colony, Sto. Tomas said.

Most of those who requested for the Hong Kong exam were not working as nurses there, Sto. Tomas.

“(The examinees’) work right now does not totally jibe with the expected competencies of beginning nurse practitioners,” the board member said, explaining the very poor results of the exam.

“While PRC through the Board of Nursing prepared well for this maiden exams, the sadly ‘low’ performance may be due to lack of appropriate preparation considering the years of ‘zero’ practice of these nursing graduates,” he added.

To raise the passing rate in future overseas licensure exams, Sto. Tomas proposed that examinees first undergo a diagnostic test for their preparedness in taking the test.

Then, instead of taking review classes, those who are not prepared may be trained by a competent agency like the Philippine Nursing Education Academy, the attached training academy of the Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing, he said.

“Better preparation must be made so as not to waste the hard-earned resources of these aspiring examinees,” he added.

The Philippine nursing licensure exam in Hong Kong was conducted a couple of weeks after the November 2009 board exam for nursing graduates in the Philippines.