A TOTAL of 3,714 nursing graduates from the Philippines has sought employment in the United States by taking the licensure examination in the North American country for the first time from January to March this year.
The first quarter number of the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) takers is up 147 percent from 1,501 Filipino nursing graduates who took the same exam in the same period in 2021, according to Cebu First District Rep. Eduardo Gullas, a member of the House committee on higher and technical education.
Gullas said in a press statement on Sunday, June 19, 2022 that since passing the NCLEX is usually the final step in America’s nurse licensure process, the number of graduates from the Philippines taking the test for the first time (excluding repeaters) is a good indicator as to how many of them are trying to enter the US labor market.
The US National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. (USNCSBN) administers the NCLEX.
“Our universities should invest more aggressively in training entry-level nurses if we want to supply the global demand for new practitioners while also fulfilling the local requirement,” said Gullas, who is set to be replaced by First District Representative-elect Rhea Gullas, the wife of his grandson Talisay City Mayor Gerald Anthony “Samsam” Gullas Jr.
Based on USNCSBN statistics, a total of 225,551 nursing graduates from the Philippines have taken the NCLEX for the first time since 1994.
“Our single biggest advantage in foreign labor markets is that we are teaching our Bachelor of Science in Nursing program in English, the world’s bridging language,” Gullas said.
‘Shortfall of nurses’
The World Health Organization (WHO), in its State of the World’s Nursing report, has projected that without action, “there will be a shortfall of 4.6 million nurses worldwide by 2030.”
In the Philippines, the WHO said the shortfall of nurses is expected to be 249,843 by 2030, unless greater investment is made now to retain them in the local health sector.
The Philippines has produced a total of 307,237 registered nurses since 2010, according to data published by the Professional Regulation Commission.
The Gullas family runs the University of the Visayas, which has been producing nursing graduates for years.
The Cebu-based university’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program was the first to have been granted Level III reaccreditation status in Central Visayas by the Commission on Higher Education.