By Dr. Rex Casiple
Twenty-five thousand seven hundred sixteen (25,716) out of 32,203 examinees nationwide, or 80%, passed in the Philippine Nurse Licensure Examination (PNLE) given by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) Board of Nursing in November 2023. This is higher than the June 2023 PNLE passing percentage (75.02%), November 2022 PNLE passing percentage (74.42%) and June 2022 PNLE passing percentage (68.11%). There were 23,913 first takers who took the said examination. The first takers passing percentage is 92.3%. There were 8,193 retakers who took the examination. The retakers’ passing percentage is 44.98%. Seven (7) out of 10 examinees were first takers.
West Visayas State University ranked number 1 in the national level with 100% passing; and Saint Paul University-Iloilo ranked number 5 with 99.12% passing for schools with 50 or more examinees and with at least 85% passing percentage. West Visayas State University is CHED Center of Development (COD) in Nursing Education in Western Visayas.
Other top performing nursing schools in Western Visayas with 50 or more examinees and at least 85% passing are Central Philippine University (98.85%); University of St. La Salle (97.38%); University of San Agustin (96.35%); Aklan State University (93.62%); St. Anthony’s College – Antique (93.18%); Colegio San Agustin – Bacolod (92.22%); Riverside College (89.6%); and Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology (86.61%). Central Philippine University and University of St. La Salle are CHED Autonomous Schools in Western Visayas. University of San Agustin is CHED Deregulated School in Western Visayas.
Four (4) board passers from West Viayas State University were included among the successful examinees who garnered the 10 highest places in the national level: one Rank #1; one Rank #8; one Rank #9; and one Rank #10.
In the Regional level, 15 nursing schools out of 20, or 75%, performed high or with a passing percentage higher than that of the national level. This is higher than June 2023 (71%), November 2022 (65%) and June 2022 (57%) nursing school performance.
The Region produced 2,154 passers out of 2,404 takers, or 89.6% passing percentage. This is higher than the national passing percentage. Likewise, this is higher than June 2023 (85.25%), and November 2022 (86.27%) passing percentage.
There were 342 repeaters and 2,062 first takers who took the said examination. The repeaters’ passing percentage is 60.53%. This is lower than the June 2023 repeaters passing percentage (74.7%) but higher than the November 2022 repeaters passing percentage (56%). The first takers passing percentage is 94.42%. This is lower than the June 2023 first takers passing percentage (95.11%) and November 2022 first takers passing percentage (94.19%). Eight (8) out of 10 examinees from the Region were first takers.
The high passing percentage in the PNLE in the Region and in the country in general reflects the high quality of nursing education program and nursing schools’ full compliance with the CHED policies, standards and guidelines requirements for Bachelor of Science in Nursing program.
One of the challenges in nursing profession in the country is the low salary of nurses compared to that of other professions. This is one of the reasons why our nurses migrate to other countries. Currently there is a demand of nurses abroad. This resulted to a continuing increase of enrolment in nursing program. This may affect the quality of our nursing schools.
We need to sustain our country’s leading role in the health-care labor market and as a a recognized producer of leaders, experts and authorities in the field of nursing. We need to address issues on unemployment and underemployment of nurses in the country and abroad years from now.
