Miriam wants better nursing instructors

Thought this would be interesting: The Daily Tribune <<< Without Fear or Favor >>>


After the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) was concurred by Congress, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago proposed more government programs to improve the quality of nurses the country produces.

Santiago’s Senate Bill 2555, or the Nurse Faculty Higher Education Act, aims to provide scholarships to qualified Filipino nurses who plan to get advanced degrees and be part of the nursing faculty.

The bill also seeks to provide grants to accredited nursing schools and hospitals or health facilities for the development of educational programs such as clinical simulation laboratories and distance learning technologies.
Grants to hospitals, health facilities and schools will also be used for salaries and paid leaves for qualified nurses enrolled in graduate nurses programs.

By improving the instructors in nursing schools, Santiago’s bill also aims to address the steady decline of nursing board passers in the last five years. Of the 64,459 nursing graduates who took their licensure exams last June, only 27,765 or 43.07 percent passed, which is lower than that last December’s 43.45 percent.

“Due to the increase in enrollment, our nursing education system is hard pressed to catch up with the demand. The current faculty shortage will be greatly compounded in the next few years by the retirement or migration of many of the current nurse faculty,” Santiago said.
She added the Filipino nurses have much to gain from the Jpepa because of Japan’s aging population, and that this is a big opportunity since this would be the first time that Japan allows the deployment of Filipino health-related professionals in their labor market.