CGFNS denies appeal of RP panel on nursing exam row

It’s final. Passers of the June 2006 nursing licensure exam intending to work in the United States will have to retake the leakage-tainted portions of the test and pass it to be eligible for VisaScreen Certification, an immigration requirement to obtain work visa in the US. A task force from the Philippines failed to convince the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) International in a meeting Monday night (Manila time) that a retake won’t be necessary. In a statement posted on its website March 5, CGFNS stood firm on its February 14 decision to deny VisaScreen Certification to the June 2006 passers of the Philippine nursing licensure exam. The task force led by Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella met "in extended discussion" at the CGFNS headquarters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA with CGFNS Board of Trustees president Dr. Lucille Joel, chief executive officer Dr. Barbara Nichols, and counsel to CGFNS John Ratigan. "After listening to and reviewing the concerns of the delegation, Joel and Nichols explained that CGFNS's decision was based on the requirements of US law and was not subject to re-negotiation or further review," the CGFNS statement said. "As Dr. Nichols advised [Professional Regulation Commission chair Leonor Tripon Rosero, the decision on this issue made and announced by the CGFNS Board of Trustees on February 14 was unanimous," it further stated. "That decision is final, and will not be reconsidered," it declared. "The Philippine delegation accepted that fact." Puentevella's group had asked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to defer decision for a retake of Test 3 (Medical Surgical Nursing) and Test 5 (Psychiatric Mental Health) in compliance with the CGFNS decision on February 14 to deny VisaScreen Certification to the Filipino nurses who passed the June 2006 exam. Earlier, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Apostol said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should already set the date for the exam retake without waiting for an executive order to be signed by Mrs Arroyo. Presidential Chief of Staff Joey Salceda said the Arroyo government can shoulder the cost of the exam retake by drawing money from the contingency funds. All 17,323 passers in the June 2006 nursing licensure exam had been sworn in as licensed nurses on the basis of a decision by the Court of Appeals in October. Some 1,687 of the passers who qualified after a re-computation of the compromised test results took Tests 3 and 5 along with the regular batch of first-time examinees last December 2 and 3, 2006. "The sooner the responsible authorities in the Philippines move forward to implement the steps for a re-take of Tests 3 and 5, without the need for Philippine nurses to surrender their current licenses in order to do so, the better it will be for all concerned," the CGNFS said. "We hope that is the message the delegation will take back to the Philippines -- that the time for challenges and delegations is past," the CGFNS said further. GMANews.TV tried but failed to contact Puentevella through his cellular phone Tuesday noon for comment and his version on the outcome of the meeting. Puentevella left Sunday morning for Philadelphia with Rosero, Dr. Remigia Nathanielz representing the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and Philippine Nurses Association, and Renato Aquino, leader of the Alliance of New Nurses that is against a retake. Interviewed the day before departing for the US, Puentevella said the team was aware that it was faced with what he described as "mission impossible." Nonetheless, he said it was willing to take the last remaining opportunity to personally appeal the decision for the possibility of reconsideration. "We are doing this for the sake of 17,000 families, not just the nurses, but their families who are suffering because of this decision," Puentevella said. "We just want to take this one last chance. If we succeed, well and good. If we don't succeed, at least it can be said that we tried our best, but our best wasn’t good enough," he told GMANews.TV. During the meeting in Philadelphia, the CGFNS officials explained to the Philippine team that the February 14 decision "was based on US law, and what US law required of CGFNS in the circumstances of the June 2006 examination." "The key question was not what Philippine authorities did, but what US authorities would have done in similar circumstances," the statement said. Drs. Joel and Nichols also explained to the task force that CGFNS determined that the controversy "was handled in a way that was not comparable to the way it had been handled in the US." Further, it said CGFNS has been gathering information on the issue almost since it occurred in June. In fact, the announcement noted that Dr. Nichols led a fact-finding team to Manila in September 2006 for that purpose. "CGFNS has been well and thoroughly informed of developments throughout this process," it said. As early as October 26, 2006, CGFNS said it already questioned the eligibility for VisaScreen certification of the Philippine nurses who passed the June 2006 nursing licensing exam based on the widespread allegations that it had been compromised. "The CGFNS Board of Trustees directed its staff and counsel to review and assess whether the licensure process based on the challenged results of the June 2006 exam is 'comparable' with that required for nurses licensed in America, as required by US law," it explained. "CGFNS then made a final determination on February 14, 2007 that the licensure process was not comparable and moved to deny VisaScreen certification for Philippine Nurses Who Passed the Compromised June 2006 Philippine Licensure Examination," it further said. The CGFNS VisaScreen Program, administered by the International Commission on Healthcare Professions (ICHP), a division of CGFNS, is a federal screening program mandated by US immigration law. US law designates CGFNS to determine whether internationally-educated healthcare professionals who wish to obtain a visa to practice in the US possess education, training, license and experience that is "comparable with that required for an American healthcare worker of the same type." The CGFNS decision provided a remedy by which the June passers could regain their eligibility for VisaScreen Certification by re-taking and passing the compromised Tests 3 and 5 with a passing score of 75. CGFNS urged the Philippine authorities to authorize a re-take of those tests without surrender of licensure. "The integrity of foreign licensing systems ultimately affects the health and safety of patients in the United States, a primary consideration of CGFNS in its role in evaluating foreign-educated healthcare workers under US immigration law," the CGFNS statement said. The decision that was made final on February 14, 2007 supports this critical mission of CGFNS, it added. Eligible nurses who want to work in the US still have to pass the CGFNS qualifying exam. A CGFNS qualifying exam is scheduled on July 11, 2007. CGFNS International recently announced the opening of three new exam centers in China, in addition to the current exam site in Beijing, beginning with the July 11, 2007 CGFNS Qualifying Exam. The new exam centers are in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu. The exam center number assigned for Shanghai is # 808; the exam center number assigned for Guangzhou is # 809; and the exam center number assigned for Chengdu is # 811. The exam center number assigned to Beijing is # 801. Applicants who are interested in taking the July Qualifying Exam in any of the four exam sites in China need to indicate the appropriate exam center number as their choice of exam center on their Certification Program application. CGFNS International is an internationally recognized authority on credentials evaluation and verification pertaining to the education, registration and licensure of nurses and healthcare professionals worldwide. CGFNS International is an immigration-neutral, nonprofit organization with 30 years of experience in certifying the credentials of over 450,000 internationally educated nurses and other healthcare workers. - GMANews.TV