Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 30) — A revised curriculum for the BS Nursing program to include “exit credentials” will be a way to address the shortage of nurses in the country, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) said on Thursday.
CHED Chairperson Prospero de Vera said the proposal, which has been discussed with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., is a medium-term solution that would allow first- and second-year nursing students to work early.
“It’s a regular nursing program that at year one, after one year, after two years there’s an exit credential, so that after one year you can have a certificate and you can be a nursing aid or a nursing assistant,” De Vera explained in an online briefing.
“And by year two or year three you can have a diploma in nursing that will qualify you to be a nursing associate, community health nurse,” he added.
De Vera said the curriculum will be adopted by universities or schools that have existing contracts or will enter into agreements with hospitals and health care providers.
He said he will meet next week with the CHED technical panel for nursing, top schools, and other stakeholders to further discuss the proposal.
On the other hand, De Vera said lifting the moratorium on new nursing schools, which was imposed in 2010, is a possible long-term solution, with 2,052 more nursing students seen to graduate by 2030.
De Vera also said the agency is also working on a flexible short-term master’s program to address the lack of qualified teachers for nursing and medical schools.
Other measures are the need to upskill and reskill those who failed in licensure exams, as well as looking into redirecting licensed nurses who are not working in the health sector, he added.
Marcos earlier ordered CHED to address the shortage of nurses due to migration.
Based on 2022 data from the Department of Health, 316,405 or 51.2% of the 617,898 licensed nurses are migrant health workers or working overseas. Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom are the top two countries with the most number of nurses from the Philippines.
Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the agency is studying the standardization of salaries of medical workers, and assessing the status of the proposed legislation on the Magna Carta for Public Health Care Workers and the Philippine Nursing Act.
