NCSBN rules out Philippines as NCLEX site

[pinoy_guy]

just a sad update to other filipinos.

american nurses' boards won't accredit rp grads

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news5_oct26_2006

the american national council of state boards of nursing has rejected president gloria macapagal arroyo's request to include the philippines as an accredited venue of the united states licensure exam for foreign nurses.

mrs. arroyo met with the council's president, faith fields, and associate executive director dr. casey marks yesterday to brief them on what was being done to address the leak of test questions during the june board exams for nurses.

but they told the president that the philippines--up for consideration as a venue before the scandal--would have to wait "some time" before its application could be taken up again.

"some time needs to pass, and that is definitely after a final decision is made clear," fields said in an interview after the meeting.

"i think the entire nursing world is looking at what your action will be. we are very interested to see how you handle the crisis... you don't want to waste opportunity to make your own system better."

commission on filipinos overseas chairman dante ang said the president was told that some 14 states in the us did not want to reconsider the philippines' application as an accredited testing center after the june test leaks.

this post is not meant to incite arguments, but to inform.

the leakage issue had, and is continuing to have, an international effect.

i want this as a call to action & prayers.

the ncsbn heads have spoken.

i hope we have the will to do what is right.

[pinoy_guy]

nurses wake at dawn to take oath, move on

http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=29218

in an interview with the inquirer, ang said that in his recent meetings with officials of the united states national council of state boards of nursing (ncsbn), they told him that if a similar leakage had happened in the united states as what occurred during the nursing licensure examination here in june, they would have ordered a retake of the whole exam.

in fact, ang said ncsbn president faith fields had told him that a nursing board exam in one us state was also wracked by a leakage scandal and the ncsbn ordered a retake of the whole exam to solve the problem.

. . .

around 80 percent of nclex examinees come from the philippines.

. . .

interviewed by the inquirer, dante ang said fields had called the method used by the prc in the recomputation of the june results was "unprecedented."

"we couldn't believe it," ang quoted fields as saying.

but ang quickly qualified that the ncsbn officials had made it clear they would not dictate on philippine authorities on how to resolve the controversy.

congratulations to the nurses who just took their oaths.

i doubt the prc will be revoking any licenses, as the government just wants to "move on" and forget about the whole mess.

i think it would be best if the june 2006 rns applied for the visascreen soon, so we will know if this fiasco had affected these rns.

if they get their visascreen certificates, that's good, and should be the end of the whole affair. hopefully.

if not...then we should mobilize ang plan on how to comply with the cgfns/ichp standards.

prayers will be needed that they do not revoke the philippine rn licenses and the visascreen certificates.

what a mess.

personally, i would rather have a complete retake now, rather than live with the fear of visascreen certificate revocation...and the subsequent deportation.

i came across a news article around 10 years ago about 2 filipina nurses who applied for us citizenship and were deported. turned out their prc licenses were fake.

(this was before news on the internet. i would appreciate it if somebody can pm me a copy of that article. from what i recall, the 2 nurses failed the nle, and went to the prc for a "recount." they were approached by a man to whom they paid a sum of money, and they got their rn licenses after a week. they were able to apply and work as rns in the us, and got their green cards. but a routine license check when they applied for us citizenship discovered that they were not in the philippine roster of registered nurses, and their green cards were revoked due to fraud. they were then deported. i didn't find anything about the case after that.)

just my 2 cents.

[pinoy_guy]

the prc manipulated grades creating a situation where

passers become flunkers,

flunkers become passers

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/oct/29/yehey/top_stories/20061029top1.html

. . .

not many know, however, that:

* the licenses of those who are eventually found by ongoing investigations to have benefited from or got involved in the leakage will be revoked.

(this pertains to the passers whose names are on the list of reviewees in the final coaching of the 3 review centers.)

* making flunkers out of passers and passers out of flunkers--the court of appeals had ruled that the 1,687 passing examinees had wrongly benefited from the prc's recomputation of test grades and should be made to retake the nle while 1,186 examinees whom the prc had originally passed were removed from the list of board passers after the october 13 recomputation of test grades.

* the united states' national council of state boards of nursing, while officially not making public comments about the prc and june nle mess, have told president arroyo and nclex task force head and commission on filipinos overseas, among other officials, that 16 us states are eyeing the june 2006 batch of filipino *****s with suspicion.

(i wonder where we can find this list of 16 us states? maybe our kababayans can apply in states not on this list.)

* that the ncsbn officials, led by its president, ms. faith fields, have told philippine officials clearly--and the philippine *****s' association obliquely in ms. fields' keynote speech to them at the pna assembly--that the granting of the philippine request that nclex tests be held in the philippines will happen "in due time" depending on how satisfactorily the current nle leakage scandal is settled.

* the pro*retake petitioners defeated at the court of appeals are taking the case to the supreme court.

(this is the bigger problem**we don't know when the issue will be fully settled if it reaches the supreme court. and the supreme court ruling might be useless if its final decision does not appease the cgfns/ichp, the ncsbn, and the 16 us states bon.)

* the philippine *****s association in the united kingdom is upset and anxious about the way the nle leakage scandal has been handled by the prc and warn that the prestige of filipino *****s in general "and the integrity and credibility of the [philippine] licensure examination," has suffered.

(this contradicts the oath*taker interviewed in the tv news program 24 oras where he said that his sister in the uk claimed there is no news nor issue in the uk regarding the leakage. )

. . .

under the prc modernization law, the commission has a mandate to establish and maintain a high standard of admission to the practice of all professions and to at all times ensure and safeguard the integrity of all licensure examinations.

the prc is left no room for maneuver. it has no discretion to compromise standards. it has no discretion to manipulate scores. it has no discretion to pass those who deserve to fail and fail those who deserve to pass.

observers now wonder how that mistake could have been committed--unless there was an effort to manipulate the results.

. . .

the prc, by its executives' own admission, did rule and take steps to manipulate results in the june 2006 nle through their recomputations and reassignment of percentages for tests 3 and 5.

. . .

but those who have passed and taken their oath could still be stripped of their professional status as *****s. an nbi investigation is still going on and those who were originally judged by the prc itself to have benefited from the leakage could go back to their "fail status."

. . .

news of the leakage, according to brion, had already caught the world's attention, particularly the united states and united kingdom (uk), among other countries, where filipino *****s are highly in demand.

the us for one, brion said has temporarily suspended its plan of setting up an examination center in the philippines for *****s aspiring to work in america.

according to brion, the british government might also imposed additional requirements on filipino *****s entering the uk for the first time.

brion also noted that many other countries are competing with the philippines in supplying *****s to western countries, and if the test leakage controversy is not dealt with properly, filipino *****s might lose out to those from other countries.

(this i can confirm. a lot of *****s from the uk are applying for jobs in the us. there had been an influx of *****s from mainland china and hong kong to the us hospitals for the past few years.)

[suzanne4, RN]

When there are issues with a licensing exam in the US, no matter what the field, the entire exam must be retaken and not just parts. At this point, it does not matter if a nurse gets a license from the PRC based on that exam, it is not going to be accepted in the US.

The Philippines is free to do as it pleases, they wish to send nurses to other countries, but the other countries do not need to take them. The foreign nurse wishing to work in the US must meet the requirements of the US, that is why the NLE exam was never required to work in the US in the first place.

But because of the controversy with this exam, the only way to clear anyone's name is to retake the exam, the entire exam.

Sure, you may get over to the US, but you are always going to be looking over your shoulder.......will I get caught? And USCIS does deport, has deported, and will continue to deport. And what if you purchase a home and a car here? And do not even have time to sell them? Immigration does not care what you were able to purchase here, only that you could be in violation of US immigration laws. Adn they do not take excuses. "I thought....." does not work over here.

This forum is read by US employers, as well as from other countries. They all know exactly what is going on, it has not been swept under the carpet as so many of you think.

CGFNS until August or so had just a few sentences in their handbook about irregularities with items, now they have devoted an entire page in the VSC Handbook. If there were not so many issues that have come up, you would not be seeing a thing about it.

The UK already has a freeze in hiring foreign nurses, if you have checked.

If the Philippines cannot even get it right with their own exam, how in the world do you think that they will be able to hold a US licensing exam there?

Get realistic, and think about it. We all know about the issues that have been going on in Hong Kong with the exam as well. And mist if you know exactly what I am speaking of, the special reviews held the day or so before the exam in Hong Kong.

And as I keep saying, working in the US is a privilege, it is not the right of anyone. And you can easily lose that privilege. Do not think that because you make it to the US, you will be okay........reviews are always being done.

[pinoy_guy]

i know some of the no retake people hate mr. tadle's guts, but i think everybody should listen to his reasoning...because he said he was taking the case to the supreme court.

nursing 0606 and bar 0903: a sharp contrast

by prof. rene luis m. tadle and atty. cheryl l. daytec-yangot

sunday, october 29, 2006

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/oct/29/yehey/top_stories/20061029top2.html

prc powers versus supreme court powers

the board of nursing (bon) chairman insists that the examinees do not have to retake the leaked tests. she invokes what the supreme court did--that is, it excluded mercantile law. for the bon to claim that it can do what the supreme court did is the height of arrogance. the prc and bon are not comparable to the supreme court. the court promulgates the rules for admission to the bar, a power granted by no less than the philippine constitution. it has sole discretion to determine the criterion standards to determine the competencies of the examinees. when it disregarded mercantile law in the 2003 bar, it was acting within the ambit of its powers. in the case of the bon, it is not free to do that. the nursing act of 2002 unequivocally provides that it should prepare questions on the broad areas of nursing. it is not at liberty to disregard a test if doing so will narrow down the coverage of the exam. definitely, what it did--practically excluding test v--violated the law. it did not conduct an exam on the broad areas of nursing.

[pinoy_guy]

for the people spousing no retake under the banner of justice.

manila nclex hinges on how mess is settled

sunday, october 29, 2006

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/oct/29/yehey/top_stories/20061029top3.html

competence is the issue

it was in her meetings with dr. ang and the president that ms. fields more clearly said about the "to retake or not to retake" the leakage-tainted june nle that "competence, not justice, is the issue."

this is with reference to the argument of the nonretake faction that it would be unjust to examinees who did not benefit from the leakage and passed to be made to take the nle again. the problem with that argument is that it will take a long time to determine who really benefited or did not. also, a retake will more dramatically tell the world of nurse-employers here and abroad that examinees of the june 2006 batch who passed the retake exams have passed without a cloud of doubt about their competence and integrity.

there you have it.

straight from the ncsbn head's mouth.

[suzanne4, RN]

And by granting licenses base on this past exam, they have just made it impossible for the Philippines to be a test site.

[pinoy_guy]

The Philippines is free to do as it pleases, they wish to send nurses to other countries, but the other countries do not need to take them.

ack.

Sure, you may get over to the US, but you are always going to be looking over your shoulder.......will I get caught? And USCIS does deport, has deported, and will continue to deport.

this is the painful truth.

they might not catch you at the time of commission, but they'll get you eventually.

Eventually is more painful than Now.

and if the deportation is due to Fraud, there is the 10-year or lifetime ban to consider.

This forum is read by US employers, as well as from other countries. They all know exactly what is going on, it has not been swept under the carpet as so many of you think.

the news is not only in this forum.

it's all over the Internet.

sadly, there's no focus on how to really rectify the error and move on.

only BandAid solutions proffered by politicians, and now administered by a court.

there is still a big question mark if the solution will be acceptable.

otherwise...dignity & pride will prevent a satisfactory solution, and the June 2006 batch will be the sacrificial lambs.

the December 2006 batch might also be involved. there is still no Philippine BON to make the NLE questions, as required by law.

if this is the case, then the December 2006 batch might also bear a mantle of suspicion.

the only people spousing the solution implied by CGFNS & NCSBN--Mr. Tadle--had been getting death threats. how democratic is that?

And by granting licenses base on this past exam, they have just made it impossible for the Philippines to be a test site.

the NCSBN people were very diplomatic about it. they tried subtle hints. then stronger hints.

but I guess they won't come out and say things loudly and clearly.

they won't meddle in the sovereignty of a democratic country.

and thus the boil festers.

[pinoy_guy]

it would be interesting to revisit this thread 1 year from now (when the June 2006 RNs will definitely know if ICHP will give them VisaScreen Certificates) and 6 to 7 years from now (when these people hopefully apply for US Citizenship).

but from the wording in the VisaScreen Application Handbook, they can never be 100% sure.

the sad part is that the PRC does not provide an avenue for people who want a complete retake.

and we still have the vacant BON to consider--pointing to a doubtful December 2006 NLE.

[Rep]

Too bad, the PRC should have do the most sensible thing is to conduct a retake and there would be no problems now facing the June 2006 BAtch.

We Filipinos are so proud that we can not admit that we made some mistakes and do the most rightful thing. Instead we tried to cover all our backs and insist that nothing wrong had happened.

Well, the things that PRC does can only happened in the Philippines and most of the June 2006 think that it won't create problems.

WAKE UP GUYS! Open your eyes, think outside of the box and see the bigger picture. Most of you want to work in the US and "things only in the Philippines" can not work in the US.

Too bad!!!

[Rep]

it would be interesting to revisit this thread 1 year from now (when the June 2006 RNs will definitely know if ICHP will give them VisaScreen Certificates) and 6 to 7 years from now (when these people hopefully apply for US Citizenship).

but from the wording in the VisaScreen Application Handbook, they can never be 100% sure.

the sad part is that the PRC does not provide an avenue for people who want a complete retake.

and we still have the vacant BON to consider--pointing to a doubtful December 2006 NLE.

The PRC could just say we are going to do a retake but there is too much pride involved because they made mistakes and don't want to correct it in the most sensible way.

[Rep]

Exactly!

When there are issues with a licensing exam in the US, no matter what the field, the entire exam must be retaken and not just parts. At this point, it does not matter if a nurse gets a license from the PRC based on that exam, it is not going to be accepted in the US.

The Philippines is free to do as it pleases, they wish to send nurses to other countries, but the other countries do not need to take them. The foreign nurse wishing to work in the US must meet the requirements of the US, that is why the NLE exam was never required to work in the US in the first place.

But because of the controversy with this exam, the only way to clear anyone's name is to retake the exam, the entire exam.

Sure, you may get over to the US, but you are always going to be looking over your shoulder.......will I get caught? And USCIS does deport, has deported, and will continue to deport. And what if you purchase a home and a car here? And do not even have time to sell them? Immigration does not care what you were able to purchase here, only that you could be in violation of US immigration laws. Adn they do not take excuses. "I thought....." does not work over here.

This forum is read by US employers, as well as from other countries. They all know exactly what is going on, it has not been swept under the carpet as so many of you think.

CGFNS until August or so had just a few sentences in their handbook about irregularities with items, now they have devoted an entire page in the VSC Handbook. If there were not so many issues that have come up, you would not be seeing a thing about it.

The UK already has a freeze in hiring foreign nurses, if you have checked.

If the Philippines cannot even get it right with their own exam, how in the world do you think that they will be able to hold a US licensing exam there?

Get realistic, and think about it. We all know about the issues that have been going on in Hong Kong with the exam as well. And mist if you know exactly what I am speaking of, the special reviews held the day or so before the exam in Hong Kong.

And as I keep saying, working in the US is a privilege, it is not the right of anyone. And you can easily lose that privilege. Do not think that because you make it to the US, you will be okay........reviews are always being done.

[suzanne4, RN]

And to claify what I mentioned above, you will be always looking over your shoulder. Is INS watching me now? That is the name of immigration in the US, Immigration and Naturalization Service. And they do watch.

And they will deport even if you have a green card. CGFNS can revoke the Visa Screen Certificate at anytime and they so right in the handbook. They do, and then your green card gets cancelled, and you are forced to leave the country. And you do not get advanced notice, they come to your door, and you are escorted out of the country.

No time to do anything. And they not care about your belongings...and your family.