Taking into account the low percentage of nursing graduates who passes the board exam, the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) in Western Visayas said that nurses should not be allowed to take the nursing licensure exam for as long as they like. They suggested that a limit should be set on the number of times the exam can be taken.

The Assistant Regional Director of CHED, Dr. Rex Casiple blamed the repeaters for the very low passing percentage of some nursing schools in Western Visayas. He said sixteen nursing schools that got a good passing rate in the 2009 board exam for nurses registered a low passing mark this year because of the number of repeaters that comes from the said schools.

Casiple said that if not for the repeaters, the said region would have registered a very good passing rate. The CHED director cites a report from the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC) that shows that out of the 8047 examinees from Western Visayas, 4028 passed, registering a 50% passing rate. That makes the passing rate of their region 10.28 percent higher than the national passing rate of 39.72%.

Casiple added that 16 of the 21 nursing schools in the region or 76 percent were performing above the national average. In fact, of the 48 examinees that made it to the Top 10 list, ten comes from Western Visayas. One of them is one of the three topnotchers, Katrina Isabel Doromal of St. Paul University-Iloilo.