Private Nursing Schools Protest New 5 YEAR BSN Requirement

[Hoss]

Schools buck new nursing curriculum

May 23, 2008 05:54:00

Kristine L. Alave

Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- The largest consortium of private schools on Thursday demanded that the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) immediately stop implementation of the new nursing curriculum, saying its imposition was done without consultation and the curriculum posed too much of a burden on students.

The Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations (Cocopea) described CHEd's Memorandum Order No. 5 released last week which directed nursing schools nationwide to add new subjects and increase hospital hours for students starting this school year, as a "disastrous" policy that would do more harm than good.

The order had added 28 units and three summer classes to the nursing curriculum's 169 units. Practicum hours would also increase to 2,703 hours from the current requirement of 2,142 hours, Cocopea said.

CHEd said the new policies were aimed at further honing students' technical knowledge and skills, making them more competent and competitive to employers.

Unfair to students

But Cocopea said the imposition of additional subjects was unfair to schools and students.

It also accused CHEd of failing to consult schools and colleges about the new policies. "Due process was clearly not observed," the organization said.

Fr. Rod Salazar, Jr. SVD, Cocopea chair and president of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), urged the suspension of the order until after all stakeholders had discussed ways of improving nursing education.

"We are appealing to CHEd to suspend the implementation until we have considered in depth and at length how we can truly improve the quantity and quality of the nurses we educate," Salazar said.

The additional units would also increase the financial burden of students and parents and cause a logistical problem to hospitals and colleges, the group said. It pointed out that there might not be enough hospitals to satisfy students' need for hands-on learning.

"We have barely two months to go before the academic year will start and we, as heads of our respective institutions and educational associations, feel that the implications of the proposed changes in curriculum are too heavy for our educational system to implement this soon," Salazar said.

Cocopea officials said implementation of the curriculum may prompt many students to discontinue pursuing nursing careers.

Fr. Joel Tabora SJ, CEAP regional director and president of the Ateneo de Naga University, said, "It is a disastrous policy. It will make us choppy and will force students to drop out."

Cocopea is composed of 2,500 schools, colleges and universities.

Consultations were held on new nursing program 3 years ago

May 23, 2008 21:19:00

Katherine Evangelista

INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- Contrary to claims of a consortium of private of schools, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) said Friday consultations had been held before it ordered the implementation of a new nursing curriculum.

Maria Teresita Sy-Sinda, chairperson of CHEd's Technical Communication on Nursing Studies, said nursing school owners, parents and related institutions were consulted during the drafting of the program.

CHEd's Memorandum Order No. 5 released last week mandates nursing schools to add new subjects and increase the hospital hours of nursing students starting this school year. It will be applicable only to incoming freshmen nursing students.

The Coordination Council of Private Educational Associations on Thursday demanded that CHEd immediately stop the implementation of the revised curriculum, saying its imposition was done without consultation and it posed too much of a burden on students.

Meetings with stakeholders about the new program of study were held as early as three years ago, Sinda said.

The original proposal, according to Sinda, was to turn the nursing degree into a five-year program to ensure graduates' competence. This, she said, was turned down by the stakeholders, citing the additional costs it would entail.

Sinda said the new program is better because it integrates review for licensure exams. "As a dean, I feel that it is my responsibility to ensure the quality of education of my students. Why should I pass it on to a review center?"

She said the integration was done to ensure the program is "airtight" to prevent a repeat of the scandal-tainted 2006 nursing board exams.

Private review centers now have to comply with the strict standards set by CHEd if they wish to continue operating, Sinda said, adding nursing schools that fail to meet the minimum passing rate for three years could be closed down.

"They should get their acts together," she said.

At the same time, Sinda said the new nursing curriculum is CHEd's response to address the growing concern over the declining quality of nursing graduates.

"In the beginning, there was clamor among our consumers that the nurses that we are producing in the Philippines [are] not competent," she said.

In a primer provided during the 2008 National Conference on Health, statistics showed that from an annual passing rate of 62 percent in 1981 and 1988, nursing board exam passers dropped to 48 percent in 2002 to 2006.

The new curriculum also gets rid of "special courses" for professionals applying to nursing schools. Before, professionals can finish a nursing degree within 18 months because of the special courses offered by schools.

"If a doctor wants to be a nurse, she should go through the whole process in order to become a nurse," explained Sinda.

[elkpark]

I thought, from what I've read of the various articles posted here about nursing education issues/problems in the PI, that a big part of the problem is the use of inexperienced (new grad) instructors in the schools of nursing, and inadequate clinical opportunities (many students assigned to each patient in clinical) -- it seems to me that five years of poor quality, inadequate nursing education won't do any better a job of preparing students for practice than four years of poor quality, inadequate nursing education. I don't see how simply extending the length of the nursing programs will help when that doesn't address the real problems afflicting the substandard schools.

[suzanne4, RN]

I love the last paragraph or statement about those in other professions needing to complete a full program of training. And then we will not see those that have gone thru a few of the programs in nine months and not the 18 months.

Hope that they do make these changes, they are sorely needed as well as institute requirements as to what type of experience that an instructor must have before being hired as a CI. How in the world can one teach if they have never even worked as an RN. Straight from their program to teaching. You do not see that in any other country.

[lenjoy03, RN]

Private review centers now have to comply with the strict standards set by CHEd if they wish to continue operating, Sinda said, adding nursing schools that fail to meet the minimum passing rate for three years could be closed down.

Come on! They're always saying that! There are lots of schools still operating for years with only 1 student passing the board exam! I always hear that especially after the board exam! Should close this and close that if... if... if.... Why dont they just shut up and start doing something about it!

On the other hand,though what they want (5 yr program) has advantages on the part of the student and of course more money for the schools, if on this 5 yr program, an INEXPERIENCE, INCOMPETENT, and LACK OF SKILLS professors and Clinical instructor will teach these students and can't even experience a hands-on in a clinical setting or sometimes with 5 student-nurses: 1 patient ratio always happen, this program is practically USELESS!!! They'll be just wasting precious time and money....

[Hoss]

The Nursing "Education" bubble has burst and is now starting to sink in with government agencies. The PNA and private schools may complain all they want about tougher standards....all they seem to care about is recruiting students and membership fees. What they have created instead is a whole new class of highly educated Filipinos with absolutely ZERO prospects of getting a meaningful nurse related job!!!

Even the government is smart enough to realize that good jobs pay good taxes into the system, as well as boost the economy. With hundreds of thousands of students staggering out on to the streets with no jobs, all they have created is a slush fund of tuition payers for a few schools and NO TAXES, NO JOBS, NO INFUSION OF WAGES INTO THE ECONOMY, and a huge drain on government services with no paybacks in sight.

So it makes sense to use the bureacracy to slow down the swelling of the student / school ranks in nursing by making the entrance barriers much harder for students...both financially as well as through lengthening the time requirements to get the degree.

Oh, and just mabey the result will be far fewer nurses graduating, but with greater skills and competency as a result.

Hoss

[elkpark]

So it makes sense to use the bureacracy to slow down the swelling of the student / school ranks in nursing by making the entrance barriers much harder for students...both financially as well as through lengthening the time requirements to get the degree.

Oh, and just mabey the result will be far fewer nurses graduating, but with greater skills and competency as a result.

Hoss

I agree that those are good goals (fewer, better prepared graduates), but I just don't see how this proposal is going to accomplish that. Instead of just making all programs longer, what needs to happen is that the substandard, inadequate schools be closed. That would leave the good schools turning out smaller numbers of well-educated nurses.

[XIGRIS]

Sorry for being "not-so-aware" of the nursing education dilemma in the Philippines but I just have one question: what has happened in the last 10 years or so ( I guess, 18 years - I graduated in 1990 ) that caused this? If I remember right, we start doing clinicals when we were on our sophomore year till senior year. Did that change? On my senior year, I was doing the charge nurse role ( I think we call it head nursing role then ). After graduation, I felt competent as a new provider and I know I needed to earn more experience but I am aware of what is harmful to a patient. So the 3 years of clinical exposure is not enough?

Regarding pass rates in the board... why that low? I am looking at these numbers and I am totally shocked. Even the school I graduated from has low passing rates. What has happened?

i am just curious. I thought that my 4 year BSN was way enough to prepare me to the real world of nursing. I was scared after I marched in April 1990 but I knew the knowledge and skills I learned from my school was sufficient enough to make me a competent nurse.

[suzanne4, RN]

Things have changed considerably, and you may not be aware of the fact that there are now more than 400 nursing schools there and some have not even had one student pass the NLE. Add into it not enough patients for the students, and the other fact that there are now about 950,000 students enrolled in nursing schools there and no chance of jobs when they finish for most.

Unfortunately, things have changed considerably from when you have trained and there was about a 62% percent pass rate on the NLE the firs time and now it is down to about 43%. And with that increase in the nimber of students and clinical instructors teaching but they have never worked in the role of the RN and it is a set-up for disaster. And that is what is happening now.

At least if the second courser programs get close scrutiny and drastic changes made to the schooling there as well as everyone being aware that they are going to need to pass the NLE to get a license in the US now in many states; hopefully things will start to improve, but it is not going to happen over night.

[lenjoy03, RN]

Sorry for being "not-so-aware" of the nursing education dilemma in the Philippines but I just have one question: what has happened in the last 10 years or so ( I guess, 18 years - I graduated in 1990 ) that caused this? If I remember right, we start doing clinicals when we were on our sophomore year till senior year. Did that change? On my senior year, I was doing the charge nurse role ( I think we call it head nursing role then ). After graduation, I felt competent as a new provider and I know I needed to earn more experience but I am aware of what is harmful to a patient. So the 3 years of clinical exposure is not enough?

Regarding pass rates in the board... why that low? I am looking at these numbers and I am totally shocked. Even the school I graduated from has low passing rates. What has happened?

i am just curious. I thought that my 4 year BSN was way enough to prepare me to the real world of nursing. I was scared after I marched in April 1990 but I knew the knowledge and skills I learned from my school was sufficient enough to make me a competent nurse.

There's been alot of changes these passed few years. There's already this so called Associate in Health Science Education (from 1st-2nd yr.) One of their reason for this is that if a student doesn't want to continue nursing, they still have certificate and exposure to clinicals. And yes, we still start our clinical exposure at sophomore. And yes, we have head nursing at 4th year. I did my head nursing with a charged nurse from different units. Now, I can see that students from my school do it with managers.

I really can't point out only one reason why nursing is already deteriorating here in the Philippines. Let see... For me, first reason are the schools that popped out of no where and suddenly teaching nursing with no good background at all. Second, they hire incompetent, unskilled, inexexperienced Clinical instructors. Then third, with so many schools popping out like popcorn or mushrooms, there are few institutions that affiliates to these schools so less clinical exposure. Then 4th, since nursing is the popular course nowadays with so many promises for jobs (according to those abusive and corrupt politicians) parents persuades their children to take up nursing. Since some of them dont really like the course, they take it for granted. Some students also who just take the course for granted. So time continous and more schools opened and time just keeps repeating itself.... leading to deterioting nursing education and producing unskilled nurses. 3 years of clinical exposure is enough for some schools with higher accreditation and producing competent nurses for the passed years, but for some who just I dont know where and when was founded, its really not enough! Because some has 5 nursing students to 1 patient ratio. Some dont even know what a DR or OR looks like with lack of affiliating institutions... There's still sooooo many many reasons....

[risperdal]

unfair to students? you know what i think, the current curriculum is unfair to patients...just took my licensure exam yesterday, and honestly, i dont think i've learned enough in four years...creeps me out when i think of mistakes i might commit--unintentionally of course--when rendering patient care (which hopefully, would just be a few weeks from now)

[lenjoy03, RN]

unfair to students? you know what i think, the current curriculum is unfair to patients...

Unfair to patients you say? Well yes, its unfair to them because they'll be taken care by someone who has a very low self esteem like you.... If you want to blame the curriculum, then go! But no matter what curriculum we have today and no matter what school you came from, the biggest factor in learning comes from the students. If you dont like the curriculum, still try to follow it and make it a point to do extra effort to study for yourself so that you wont have to blame the curriculum for what you are right now. The problem with some of us Filipinos, we always blame others for our bad decisions.... We always fail to look what we made wrong...

just took my licensure exam yesterday, and honestly, i dont think i've learned enough in four years...creeps me out when i think of mistakes i might commit--unintentionally of course--when rendering patient care (which hopefully, would just be a few weeks from now

How's the exam? hope you did well... After I took the board exam, I was very afraid to look for a job because I think I'm not ready yet. I dont know lots of stuff. 4 years is not enough for me too.. Nursing or should I say life is a continuous journey and we never stop learning. I can say thay currently I'm a nurse committed many mistakes in the nursing profession. Though some people makes it a big issue and gossip about it, at least I'm gaining from my mistakes and not them.

I ask all the nurses here who among you started their first job already knows everything? And who among here haven't done a single mistake in their nursing profession? You see, we might learn from what we encounter everyday, but we learn more from our mistakes. Sometimes, these mistakes are the stepping point for success in life.....

[woknblues]

Unfair to patients you say? Well yes, its unfair to them because they'll be taken care by someone who has a very low self esteem like you.... If you want to blame the curriculum, then go! But no matter what curriculum we have today and no matter what school you came from, the biggest factor in learning comes from the students. If you dont like the curriculum, still try to follow it and make it a point to do extra effort to study for yourself so that you wont have to blame the curriculum for what you are right now. The problem with some of us Filipinos, we always blame others for our bad decisions.... We always fail to look what we made wrong...

How's the exam? hope you did well... After I took the board exam, I was very afraid to look for a job because I think I'm not ready yet. I dont know lots of stuff. 4 years is not enough for me too.. Nursing or should I say life is a continuous journey and we never stop learning. I can say thay currently I'm a nurse committed many mistakes in the nursing profession. Though some people makes it a big issue and gossip about it, at least I'm gaining from my mistakes and not them. *snip*

Sounded a bit harsh considering your first paragraph contradicts your second.

anyways, to the OP, I can hardly believe that any private school would protest the extra year. It's an even stronger grip that the school will have over the future of the student, requiring another years worth of tuition, and profit. I am also VERY skeptical that adding an extra year to the curriculum will improve anything, because CHED has not created any standard (or enforced one) regarding quality of students or faculty. Anyone can graduate with a degree in BSN in the Philippines, so long as they can afford it. What they will do with this piece of paper when they finish in 4 (now 5) years remains to be seen. Sadly, I predict A LOT of decent, presently working CI's will be replaced with new grads demanding a lot less than what the seasoned CI's make, erroding this last avenue for nurses in the Philippines to make any 'non ridiculous' amount of money, and further deteriorating the quality of education. It is going to get way worse before it comes close to getting better.