4-year BSN Curriculum or make it a 5-year coursE?

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Specializes in Internal Medicine / SICU / MICU.

The Commission on Higher Education proposed to amend the nursing curriculum of the Philippines into a 5-year course.

What are your insights on the matter?

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.

I don't see any benefit in adding another year to the BSN curriculum. Traditional BSN programs in western countries such as the US and Canada are 4 years in length. In recent years, second degree BSN programs in the US have increased in number and these programs only take about a year to 18 months to complete. Looking at this pattern, we seem to be heading the opposite direction because US colleges and universities are making attempts to train nurses at a shorter length of time to alleviate the nursing shortage.

True enough, we do not have a nursing shortage in the Philippines, so is this a ploy then to discourage high school graduates from taking up nursing? Exactly what is the motivation behind CHED's desire to lengthen the program by a year? Is it the poor quality of graduates as evidenced by poor NLE passing rates in general? In that case, CHED or another governing body should look into the quality of each of the nursing programs in terms of qualifications of professors and instructors, adequacy of facilities and training hospitals for related learning experience/clinical practicum, and appropriateness of the curriculum in preparing nurses for entry into practice.

But then again, they should probably look into PRC as well, because as far as I can remember they always come up with exam questions that do not make sense and do not really test the examinees' mastery of basic nursing concepts necessary for entry into practice. So much useless questions appear in the NLE. I remember having to memorize formulas for morbidity and mortality rates. Like how many times did we have to figure out the country's infant mortality rate in our own practice as nurses? No wonder a lot of examinees flunk the test.

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But then again, they should probably look into PRC as well, because as far as I can remember they always come up with exam questions that do not make sense and do not really test the examinees' mastery of basic nursing concepts necessary for entry into practice. So much useless questions appear in the NLE. I remember having to memorize formulas for morbidity and mortality rates. Like how many times did we have to figure out the country's infant mortality rate in our own practice as nurses? No wonder a lot of examinees flunk the test.

uhmm I think it's the Board of Nursing that creates the questions. Yes the questions are very vague too and often very subjective. I don't know if this will happen in the upcoming NLE this December 2006, now that some of the board members had been replaced.

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Specializes in Internal Medicine / SICU / MICU.

Seems to me we have the same views on the matter. If the Nursing curriculum really have a problem why is it that employers abroad are running over our nurses?

In truth, I posted this querry because I planned to conduct a thesis for my MA with regards to this topic. But I later found out that the topic is so overwhelming and i got lost on how i could set my scope and limitations...

I really want to pursue my topic. I really want to investigate on the matter but my resources in my place is so limited...

Do anyone have any idea where i could start looking?

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical.

No sense in making it to 5 years. They could have remove some unnecessary subjects and instead put more science class.

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Specializes in Internal Medicine / SICU / MICU.
uhmm I think it's the Board of Nursing that creates the questions. Yes the questions are very vague too and often very subjective. I don't know if this will happen in the upcoming NLE this December 2006, now that some of the board members had been replaced.

yes its the BON who makes the questions. But the Credibility of the new BON was questioned because of the leakage issue. Some of my friends who took the june 2006 NLE were affected because of it.

but lets get ON TRACT here... I'm asking about the issue of THE NURSING CURRICULUM...

Do you think its the same as the 5-yr course program of the General Nursing that was abolished last 1982? ( THat was the curriculum i knew that implemented the 5-yr course program ) or is it different?

I planned to narrow down my research to comparing the GN and the BSN Curriculum in relation to the proposed amendment of CHED to make the Nursing curriculum a 5-yr course. Or should I just evaluate the effectiveness of the BSN curriculum lets say for the past 5-yrs of a specific college of nursing in relation to the proposed amendment?

Which do you think is more appealing?

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Specializes in MedSurg.-Tele, Home health, LTC.
no sense in making it to 5 years. they could have remove some unnecessary subjects and instead put more science class.

i have to say i totally agree with you on this one, rep. there are some school who offers a lot of useless classes on their nursing curriculum. i think they are doing this so they can squeeze more tuition money from the students. i find it really ridiculous and appalling. many nursing students are struggling already to pass the nursing related classes, yet they have to deal with classes that they don't even need for nursing! i remember i had to take "spanish i and ii back in the early 90s.......( i am glad they abolished that ).also that silly basic computer class that i barely passed..( now i can buy a computer that comes with color coded instruction in a the box that even a 10 year old kid can easily install it!!!). so, why do they want to make it a five year course again? is this because they are trying to prevent the second coursers to study nursing? well, i am not sure but i doubt that will stop them though, anyone who wants to make their life better will do anything just to pursue something that will help them get out of the country. in this case, nursing is the one of the best way. in the u.s., anyone can be a nurse in just 2 years ( adn, or associate degree in nursing), also they can be an lpn in just 18 months, bsn is also 4 years. the way i see it, why make it harder for our fellow filipinos to move ahead? weird thinking, huh?:uhoh21:

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
uhmm I think it's the Board of Nursing that creates the questions. Yes the questions are very vague too and often very subjective. I don't know if this will happen in the upcoming NLE this December 2006, now that some of the board members had been replaced.

You're right, thanks for correcting -- I meant the BON. The BON operates under the umbrella of the PRC, though. I am not optimistic that there will be changes in future NLE questions. NLE questions have always been out of touch with real-life nursing since back when I took the exam. And there had been many changes in the BON membership since then but the same pattern seems to occur.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
Do you think its the same as the 5-yr course program of the General Nursing that was abolished last 1982? (THat was the curriculum i knew that implemented the 5-yr course program) or is it different?

I planned to narrow down my research to comparing the GN and the BSN Curriculum in relation to the proposed amendment of CHED to make the Nursing curriculum a 5-yr course. Or should I just evaluate the effectiveness of the BSN curriculum lets say for the past 5-yrs of a specific college of nursing in relation to the proposed amendment?

Which do you think is more appealing?

If I'm not mistaken the GN and BSN programs back in the day were 2 different programs that co-existed. The GN was a 3-year program and the BSN was a 5-year program. They both led to RN licensure. The GN was phased out due to "lack of interest" from nursing applicants. Eventually, the BSN was shortened to 4 years. Now, you probably can come up with a research comparing outcomes from the GN and BSN curriculum in terms of NLE passing rate or employer perception of the quality of graduates from each program. There are still a number of nurses who are GN trained and some of them are actually here in the US. But then, what would we benefit from such a study when the GN program no longer exist. Also, the GN curriculum is in no way similar to the current 4-year BSN program so there is really no point in comparing the two.

I guess the real puzzle here is that there is no sound research than can back CHED's proposal to add a year to the BSN curriculum other than the fact that our graduates do not perform well in the NLE based on consistent data that shows that only around 50% of examinees pass the test (This is my opinion, I welcome opposing views from anyone especially the folks at CHED).

May I suggest something. This may be totally different from what you have in mind but maybe you can try researching trends in nursing programs among different countries where a BSN is required to enter professional nursing practice. It would be beneficial to Philippine nursing schools to learn and adopt current BSN trends globally if we plan to keep our graduates competitive internationally given the fact that our government actually encourages migration of nurses to other countries.

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Specializes in Critical Care Nursing.

it is more like puting icing on the pudding...meaning covering the lapses in our system... i suggest stricter measures to protect the integrity of local exams instead of making it a five year course which will become more of a burden to not so well of students than an asset...

no to 5 year nursing curriculum!!!

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What subjects that should be stricken out in college:

1. Filipino 1 and 2 (since Grade 1 up to High school)

2. Philippine History (a repeat subject)

3. Asian History (also a repeat subject)

4. Political Science 1 and 2 (unless you want to be a politico)

5. Chemistry and Inorganice chemistry (if you want to experiment with drugs)

And others I could not remember anymore. Why don't start your first year with anatomy. I think even without Filipino or History we can learn Anatomy and Physiology.

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Sorry, but do not agree with the above poster. Those same courses are required if you were to attend a US nursing school, you are required to have courses in history, as well as government, and the sciences. How do you figure out how the body is doing without having an understanding of chemistry? It is definitely required, probably even more than what you are even getting now.

Working in the US as an RN is very different from what you do as an RN in the Philippines. What if physicians did not take chemistry either? You are caring for the human body and making decisions on based on what you have learned, as well as experience.

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