Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is planning to implement a shorter curriculum program to address the shortage of nurses in the country.
This was after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered them to carry out a solution to stop the shortage of nurses due to migration.
CHED Chairperson Popoy De Vera stated that the commission's "medium-term strategy" to generate more nursing professionals includes establishing a nursing curriculum that will award graduates early exit credentials after one or two years.
"Under the nursing curriculum with exit credentials, students could have several options: exit at the end of Level I or II, obtain the certificate or diploma in Nursing, or choose to continue and finish the four-year nursing program to become a registered nurse," De Vera said.
In the proposed shortened curriculum, students who complete a year of nursing school can obtain certification to work as a nursing aide or assistant. Their qualifications should include fundamental nursing skills in providing safe and appropriate care.
Those who continue to their second or third year can also complete the program with a certificate and work as a nursing assistant, community health nurse, or associate mother and child nurse.
Registered nurses and bachelor's degrees in nursing are only granted to students who complete the four-year nursing program successfully.
De Vera also reported that according to the Department of Health (DOH), 316,405 licensed Filipino nurses, or 51%, had migrated to other nations.
