The vice president of the ADPCN-Cebu chapter, Antonio Pascual, said that the proposed strict screening would be able to measure the competence of an incoming nursing student and see early on if he or she can meet the demands of the nursing profession.

Pascual said, “We are urging all the universities and colleges in the region that are offering nursing courses to be strict in screening possible students, as the students performance will also reflect to them.”

The stricter entrance requirements will assure competent nursing students and will also benefit the nursing schools as they can expect higher passing rate in licensure exams. It will also pave the way for better standard of the schools.

Pascual added, “Having competent nursing students is a big challenge for the academe in order to help uplift the quality of their graduates.”

Nonetheless, Pascual is aware of the fact that some nursing schools do not really impose strict or proper screening for incoming nursing students as all that matters is to increase the number of enrollees. More enrollees would mean more profit, noting that an educational institution is also a business.

He said, “Each school has their own policy on student admission and that is beyond our control, however, we are hoping that these schools will soon have the initiative to strictly screen possible nursing students.”

Pascual also informed that the entrance screening of nursing schools should not only test intellectual capacity but also if the personality and attitudes of a student is fit to the nursing career. This is because the nursing profession requires lots of patience.