CHED eyes grants to help nursing board examinees

THE Commission on Higher Education (CHED) on Tuesday bared plans to provide grants to tertiary education institutions to support the review classes of nursing board exam takers.

CHED Chairman Prospero E. De Vera III disclosed they are planning to tap universities with “good track record in licensure tests” for the said initiative to help increase the country’s pool of licensed nurses.

He noted 50 percent of those who take the Nursing Licensure Exam (NLE) pass the said test.

“S o we will hold special review classes for those employed in the DOH [Department of Health] and in private hospitals as aides or assistants so that they can pass the licensure test and we can produce more graduates,” De Vera said.

Under the pr oposed scheme, private hospitals will pay for the review of their employees who did not pass the NLE.

Mean while, CHED will give grants to qualified schools to provide the free reviews to non-board passers, who are not employed in medical institutions.

We’re going to negotiate with the schools on what rate they will apply and help mobilize funds for it on the part of DOH [Department of Health] and the private hospitals,” De Vera said.

CHED noted the amount of the grant would differ per school depending on the rate they charge for their reviews, which may range from P6,000 to P10,000 per examinee.

T he government wants to boost the number of its licensed nurses since they remain in demand here in and abroad.

Aside fr om increasing the number of NLE passers, the government lifted the 10-year moratorium for the creation of nursing board exams, which is expected to produce 2,052 new nursing graduates by academic year 2027-2028.

It is also dev eloping programs to train health-care associates and healthcare assistants to help address local nursing shortages.

“If the nurses ar e de-loaded of some of the work they do, they can focus on patient care to cover more patients,” De Vera said.

C iting figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), CHED estimates the country needs to produce 126,044 additional nurses to meet local demand for the said health-care professionals.