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A nurse prepares for her shift inside at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center on May 8, 2020. Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News/File

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ANJO BAGAOISAN

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17248973267711724897324016.png" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><span id="isPasted" style="white-space:pre-wrap">A nurse prepares for her shift inside at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center on May 8, 2020. <em>Gigie Cruz, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="caret-color:rgb(0, 0, 0);color:rgb(0, 0, 0)" id="isPasted"></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">MANILA — Nurses looking to enter the academe can now avail a quicker chance to teach and train future Filipino nurses, thanks to the launch of an “enhanced” master’s degree program for nurses by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Under the program—offered initially by 17 pilot higher education institutions (HEIs) this August—nurses will be able to use their relevant nursing experience to attain their master’s degrees within one year.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">This hopes to address the shortage of qualified nursing faculty, CHED commissioner Dr. Prospero De Vera III said at a press conference Wednesday.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“It is part of the long-term solution, but it is also an immediate solution,” he said, referring to the agency’s work to solve the country’s shortage in nurses.</span></div><div><br/></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/4/26/filipino-nurses-in-germany-can-they-build-a-decent-life-1016">Filipino nurses in Germany: Can they build a decent life?</a></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Aside from recognizing nurses’ prior learning or experience in patient care, the enhanced program features a “flexible” learning system with a hybrid of online lecture courses and face-to-face related learning experience, De Vera said.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">It would also tap technology used by top nursing schools and enable the schools offering the program to work together and share practices.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“In the end, you produce a faculty member who has understanding of technology and their use in learning, a faculty member who is produced by a consortium of universities, and most of all, you attract faculty members who practice already to go to teaching, and the best part of it is, they can finish their graduate studies faster,” De Vera said.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Scholarships would be offered to current nursing school faculty members who are still pursuing their graduate studies.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/5/2/nurse-na-tumulong-sa-rider-na-sumemplang-binaril-sa-caloocan-1-pa-patay-715">Nurse na tumulong sa rider na sumemplang binaril sa Caloocan; 1 pa patay</a></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"><strong>WHERE WILL PROGRAM BE OFFERED?</strong></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The program is also seen to boost the capability of schools that have begun offering nursing courses since 2022, when the CHED lifted an over-decade-long moratorium on the program.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The CHED has tracked a continued increase in BS Nursing enrollees in the Philippines over the past 5 years, from 53,889 in 2019 to 191,361 in 2023.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There are 381 HEIs offering the nursing program—48 of which only started since the end of the moratorium.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Enrollment is limited by the lack of faculty. And this is a concrete step to increase enrollment and maximize the potential of our new nursing colleges to contribute to national health workforce in support of the universal health care implementation,” said Dr. Michael Tee, chancellor of the University of the Philippines Manila. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/2/22/singapore-offers-payouts-to-retain-nurses-1608">Singapore offers payouts to retain nurses</a></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">UP Manila helped CHED develop the enhanced master’s program with the UP Open University and will both offer it. </span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The HEIs in the pilot program include the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Cebu Normal University in Cebu City, and Silliman University in Dumaguete City—all of which garnered a 100 percent average passing rate in the Philippine Nurse Licensure Exam in the past 5 years. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Also in the pilot list for Metro Manila are Trinity University of Asia and Centro Escolar University. </span></div><div><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Others in Luzon include:</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, Ilocos Norte (Region I)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-St. Paul University Philippines in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan (Region II)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-Southern Luzon State University in Lucban, Quezon (Region IV)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-Adventist University of the Philippines in Silang, Cavite (Region IV)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-Unibersidad de Santa Isabel in Naga, Camarines Sur (Region V)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-Camarines Sur Polytechnic College (Region V)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-Bicol University in Legazpi City (Region V)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Visayas and Mindanao:</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-West Visayas State University in Iloilo City (Region VI)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga City (Region IX)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">-San Pedro College in Davao City (Region XI)</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">If the program works, CHED hopes to open it to other HEIs, De Vera said.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Aside from fast-tracking more nursing faculty, CHED is also working with HEIs to provide special review classes for so-called “underboard” nursing graduates or those who have not yet passed the licensure exam.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“We are producing world-class nurses both for whatever interest the graduates want to do later on. Importante, we maintain our reputation as a country who produces world-class nurses who may practice their profession wherever they want to,” De Vera said.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br/></div><div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/12/15/23/filipino-nurse-wins-41-million-over-wrongful-termination">Filipino nurse wins $41 million over wrongful termination</a><br/><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/12/23/filipina-killed-in-israel-refused-to-abandon-patient-official">&#x27;Unbelievable honor&#x27;: Filipina killed in Israel refused to abandon elderly patient</a></div>

<p>Nurses looking to enter the academe can now avail a quicker chance to teach and train future Filipino nurses, thanks to the launch of an “enhanced” master’s degree program for nurses by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).</p>

Nurses looking to enter the academe can now avail a quicker chance to teach and train future Filipino nurses, thanks to the launch of an “enhanced” master’s degree program for nurses by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

1-year ‘enhanced’ master’s program to address lack of nursing school instructors: CHED

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1-year ‘enhanced’ master’s program to address lack of nursing school instructors: CHED

ANJO BAGAOISAN,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 29, 2024 10:19 AM PHT

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