PHILIPPINE NEWS SERVICE — The nursing profession in the Philippines got a big shot in the arm with the recent approval of the government’s request for the establishment of a National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) testing center in the Philippines.
The approval was a welcome development after the controversial nursing board exam leakage last year tarnished Filipino nurses’ reputation abroad. The initiative was advanced through the efforts of Secretary Dante Ang, chairman of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO).
Dr. Ang said it was the sincerity of the Philippine government in resolving the nursing-text leakage issue that convinced the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) to make the Philippines a venue for NCLEX. Ang stressed, however, that members of the Philippine nursing profession must closely guard this victory.
He urges nursing graduates who will take the NCLEX exam for the first time not to be wooed by fixers and other devious elements who claim they possess test questions.
Ang also warns examinees of the consequences of collaborating with individuals out to make money from the exams by fraud. Dr. Ang relates how unscrupulous review centers acquired test questions and sold these for huge fees.
“With a group of such individuals positioned in a test center, these crooked institutions manage to get substantial leakage incomes from a particular exam,” he told The Times.
Ang warned that anybody caught engaged in such activities will be pursued criminally by the government.
For reliable information on fees and other details regarding the NCLEX exam, Dr. Ang advises nursing graduates to visit the NCSBN website at http//www.ncsbn. org. or http://www.pearsonv ue.com/. The NCSBN will commence the NCLEX testing at the International Pearson Professional Center in Manila on August 23. Scheduling for examination appointments will begin on July 13.
With an NCLEX testing center established in Manila, local nursing graduates will save a great deal of money on air fare and accommodation expenses because they no longer have to travel to overseas testing centers. Filipino nursing graduates who pass the NCLEX test will no longer have to take the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) exam, Ang said. “Passing the NCLEX is the Filipino nursing graduate’s ticket to working and earning good money as nurses abroad,” he added.