UP alumnus tops list of 37,513 new nurses

The July 2011 nursing licensure examination results were released Saturday and 48 percent or 37,513 of the 78,135 who took it passed —with a graduate of the University of the Philippines–Manila, Jomel Garcia Lapides, as topnotcher. The new nurses will take their oaths at dates and venues to be announced later, according to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). Lapides, who topped the exam with a rating of 88.40 percent, edging out two graduates of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) who shared second place with a rating of 87.40 percent. The UST topnotchers are Hazel Cortes Crisostomo and Beverly Lynne Yao Ong. “The results of examination with respect to six (6) examinees were withheld pending final determination of their liabilities under the rules and regulations governing licensure examination," the PRC said. Top nursing schools Among the top performing schools is Chinese General Hospital College of Nursing & Liberal Arts with passing rate of 100 percent for 338 first-time examinees. The University of Santo Tomas had a success rate of 99.79 percent as 467 of its examinees passed, while University of the East had a 98.11 percent passing rate with 312 new nurses. Baguio’s Saint Louis University had 590 passers from among first-time examinees and a passing rate of 98.50 percent. The Trinity University of Asia saw 387 pass for a success rate of 99.74 percent while Cebu Doctors University had 371 first-time takers hurdling the exam for a 97.12 percent passing rate. De La Salle University Health Sciences Institute got 267 passers from first-time takers for a passing rating of 98.89 percent. A total of 481 nursing schools nationwide fielded examinees. Exam results CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL LIST OF QUALIFIED EXAMINEES. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TOP TEN EXAMINEES OVERALL. CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW YOUR SCHOOL PERFORMED. Low success rates among repeaters However, some nursing schools had difficulty posting passing rates that are higher than the national passing rate of 48 percent. These same colleges also had relatively low success rates for repeaters: Saint Jude College – Manila, Pines City College, Medina College – Ozamiz City, Liceo de Cagayan University, Emilio Aguinaldo College – Manila, Southeast Asian College, and Nueva Ecija College. Saint Jude College – Manila had 270 repeaters and 225 of them failed while only 16.30 percent passed. Its first-time takers as a group had a 35.34 percent passing rate. Pines City College had 551 repeaters and only 16.70 percent of them passed. The success rate of their first time takers was 38.01 percent. Medina College in Ozamiz City fielded 390 repeaters and only 11.28 percent of them passed while among first timers, only 28.97 percent passed. Nueva Ecija College had 268 repeaters, of whom only 14.55 percent passed while their first timers’ success rate was only 28.74 percent. Liceo de Cagayan fielded 344 repeaters and 31.69 percent of them passed. Its passing rate for first time takers was 40 percent. Emilio Aguinaldo College – Manila had 332 repeaters and only 18.07 percent of them were successful. First timers’ passing rate was 43.70 percent. Southeast Asian College fielded 320 repeaters and their passing rate was 16.56 percent. Their first timers’ passing rate was 40.21 percent. Reality bites As soon as the joy of passing the exam fades, the reality of job-hunting will bite hard for the licensed nurses when they compete for scarce vacancies in the labor market. Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has said that there is an oversupply of nurses in the country and overseas, with many nurses ending up in jobs not matching their training. She said nursing is not among the top “in-demand" careers in the world of work these days and in the near future.
On nurses seeking employment abroad, Baldoz reminded nursing administrators nationwide that volunteer work does not count as actual experience in other countries that hire foreign nationals as nurses. “Host countries requiring nursing services for their own healthcare needs now demand 2-3 years of ‘actual nursing engagements or work experiences’, not the so-called on-the-job training (OJT) or volunteer experiences, no matter how long these experiences were undertaken," Baldoz explained.
Representative Arnel Ty of LPG/MA partylist has noted that demand for Filipino nurses in the United States has gone down as only about 3,000 Filipino nurses sought employment in the US in the first semester of 2011, down by nearly half of the number recorded in the same period in 2010. — TJD, GMA News