Nursing examinees top 95,000; PRC adds more testing centers

The number of nursing graduates who will take the licensure examination this month went up by 16,733 to 95,305, prompting the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to add two more examination sites in Central and Northern Luzon to spare the examinees the hassles of expensive and rigorous travel to the testing centers.

“Instead of coming to Manila, the board takers from those regions can now take the test in th sites we assigned in Angeles City (Pampanga) and San Fernando, La Union,’’ PRC Commissioner-in-charge Dr. Ruth Padilla said Monday.

“This is the first time we have this zoning... Ang laki kasi ng number of examinees from Baguio kaya (That’s why we decided to divide the sites,’’ she said in an interview.

Based on PRC data, majority of the board takers will be in Manila with 40, 675. The second highest number of examinees is in Baguio City (11,105) and La Union (3,001) for a combined total of 14,106 examinees in Northern Luzon.

The other board takers are in Cagayan De Oro (3,048); Cebu City (8,912); Davao City (3,143); Iloilo City (6,063); Legazpi City (3,073); Lucena City (3,444); Pagadian City (1,569); Tacloban City (1,145); Tuguegarao City (2,324); and Zamboanga City (1,609).

The lowest number of examinees will be in Butuan City (898), Angeles City (185) and Jolo, Sulu (166). The licensure examination is set from Nov. 29 to 30.

According to lawyer Diosdado Lalusis of the PRC Licensure Division, the increased number of examinees can be attributed to graduates who failed to take the exam last June and are instead taking it in November.

“Marami kasi ang hindi nakasama sa June board dahil kulang pa sila sa requirement at kelan lang din nila ito na-comply,'' he said.

There were 78,572 nursing graduates who took the licensure examination last June. However, only 32, 617 passed to get a professional license from the PRC.

Padilla said the Commission will issue an advisory to all schools and deans of nursing colleges about the zoning scheme and its plan to split the deadline of application for repeaters and first- timers.

She said the new scheme was pilot-tested for the November exam, but will be fully implemented for the June board next year.

Padilla also bared the Commission’s plan to combine and hold twice the special licensure examination for nurses in Hong Kong and the regular nurses’ board in the country.

The special licensure examination for nurses in Hong Kong started this month upon the request of the Filipino Nurses Association (FPA) and the Integrated Midwives Association of the Philippines, Inc. (IMAP) chapters in that country.

She said the professional regulatory body will also implement in 2010 the new schedule for the licensure examinations from June to July 3, and from November to Dec. 12 and 13.

“Ang reason natin dito, we are having problems with examinees not able to apply on the deadline simply because they are not issued a transcript of record, because they are not graduates yet,’’ she said.

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