Nurses belong to the largest group of health practitioners in the Philippines. Their primary responsibility is to administer nursing care to patients who need medical help. Specifically, Registered Nurses (RN) are tasked with these responsibilities:
- Assessment of patient health problems
- Development and implementation of nursing care plans
- Maintenance of medical records
- Administration of nursing care to the ill, injured, convalescent, or disabled patients
- Providing advice to patients on health maintenance and disease prevention
Nurses Licensure Examination (NLE)
To become a Professional Registered Nurse (RN) in the Philippines, an individual must both:
- 1. Be a graduate of a “BS in Nursing” course in an accredited educational institution in the Philippines; and
- 2. Pass the Nurses Licensure Examination, which is administered by the Board of Nursing under the supervision of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
The Nursing Board Exam is scheduled twice a year: in June and in November of every year.
Nursing Board Exam Topics and Coverage
If you’re interested to be a registered professional nurse, take note of the following scope of the Nurses Licensure Exam which includes these topics, among others:
- Nursing Practice I – Community Health Nursing
- Nursing Practice II – Care of Healthy / At Risk Mother and Child
- Nursing Practice III – Care of Clients with Physiologic and Psychosocial Alterations (Part A)
4. Nursing Practice IV: Care of Clients with Physiologic and Psychosocial Alterations (Part B)
5. Nursing Practice V: Care of Clients with Physiologic and Psychosocial Alterations (Part C)
Number of Registered Nurses in the Philippines and Abroad
There is a ton of career opportunities for licensed Filipino nurses. Aside from working domestically, nurses can work abroad given huge demand for nursing care in other countries.
In fact, in the past years, there has been a continuous increase in the number of Filipino nurses overseas. A case study by the Health Services Research of the US National Institutes of Health shows that more than 160,000 Filipino nurses work abroad as of 2003. A mere 30,000 nurses work in the Philippines, either in government hospitals or in private clinics.
The same research shows that the top destinations for Filipino nurses abroad have been Saudi Arabia, the United States (US), and the United Kingdom (UK).
Best Nursing Schools in the Philippines
Are you interested to find out which universities in the Philippines are able to achieve the highest passing rates in the Nurses Licensure Exam (NLE)? We compiled the data from previous NLEs to determine the top schools with the highest Nursing Board Exam passing rates.
Check out the table below to see if your school is one of the best Nursing schools in the Philippines!
Category 1: Nursing Schools with more than 100 examinees
| Rank | BANK / INSTITUTION | UITF | JAN - MAY 2018 RETURN % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Union Bank | UnionBank Medium Term Fixed Income Portfolio | 1.84% |
| 2 | Manulife Asset Management and Trust Corporation (MAMTC) | Manulife Stable Income Fund (Class I) | 0.74% |
| 3 | Philippine National Bank | PNB PESO INTERMEDIATE TERM BOND FUND (Formerly AUP GS FUND) | 0.61% |
| 4 | China Banking Corporation | CBC INTERMEDIATE FIXED-INCOME FUND | 0.59% |
| 5 | Union Bank | UnionBank High Net Worth Intermediate-Term Peso Fixed Income Fund | 0.55% |
| 6 | BPI Asset Management and Trust Corporation | BPI Premium Bond Fund | 0.28% |
| 7 | Union Bank | UnionBank Infinity Prime Fund | 0.23% |
| 8 | BDO Unibank, Inc. | BDO MERIT FUND INTERMEDIATE TERM PORTFOLIO | 0.23% |
| 9 | Manulife Asset Management and Trust Corporation (MAMTC) | Manulife Stable Income Fund (Class A) | 0.22% |
| 10 | EastWest Banking Corporation | EastWest Peso Intermediate Term Bond Fund | 0.16% |
| 11 | Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. | Metro Max-3 Bond Fund | 0.08% |
Category 2: Nursing Schools with 100 or less examinees
| Rank | BANK / INSTITUTION | UITF | JAN - MAY 2018 RETURN % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China Banking Corporation | China Bank Institutional Money Market Fund | 1.06% |
| 2 | Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. | Metro Short Term Fund | 1.01% |
| 3 | Philippine National Bank | PNB INSTITUTIONAL MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.96% |
| 4 | BPI Asset Management and Trust Corporation | BPI Money Market Fund | 0.96% |
| 5 | BDO Unibank, Inc. | BDO INSTITUTIONAL CASH RESERVE FUND | 0.95% |
| 6 | Development Bank of the Philippines | UNLAD KAWANI MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.95% |
| 7 | RCBC Savings | RCBC Savings Bank Peso Money Market UITF | 0.95% |
| 8 | BDO Unibank, Inc. | BDO SHORT TERM FUND | 0.93% |
| 9 | BPI Asset Management and Trust Corporation | BPI Short Term Fund | 0.89% |
| 10 | Development Bank of the Philippines | CLASS I - UNLAD PANIMULA MM FUND | 0.89% |
| 11 | BDO Unibank, Inc. | BDO PERA SHORT TERM FUND | 0.88% |
| 12 | Security Bank Corporation | SB PESO MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.87% |
| 13 | Asia United Bank | Peso Money Market Fund | 0.86% |
| 14 | Philippine National Bank | PNB GLOBAL FILIPINO PESO MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.86% |
| 15 | Development Bank of the Philippines | CLASS II - UNLAD PANIMULA MM FUND | 0.86% |
| 16 | Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. | Metro Money Market Fund | 0.85% |
| 17 | Philippine National Bank | PNB DREAM BUILDER MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.85% |
| 18 | Development Bank of the Philippines | CLASS III - UNLAD PANIMULA MM FUND | 0.84% |
| 19 | United Coconut Planters Bank | UCPB Cash Management Fund (Formerly United Cash Management Fund) | 0.84% |
| 20 | LandBank of the Philippines | LANDBANK Money Market Fund | 0.83% |
| 21 | EastWest Banking Corporation | EastWest Peso Money Market Fund | 0.83% |
| 22 | Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation | RIZAL PESO CASH MANAGEMENT FUND | 0.83% |
| 23 | Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation | RIZAL PESO MONEY MARKET | 0.81% |
| 24 | China Banking Corporation | CBC MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.81% |
| 25 | Philippine Savings Bank | PSBANK MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.80% |
| 26 | CTBC Bank (Philippines) Corp. | CTBC Money Market Fund | 0.78% |
| 27 | Robinsons Bank | RBank Peso Money Market Fund | 0.77% |
| 28 | AB Capital | AB CAPITAL SHORT-TERM FUND | 0.76% |
| 29 | Philippine National Bank | PNB PRIME PESO MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.76% |
| 30 | ATRAM Trust Corporation | ATRAM Peso Money Market Fund | 0.74% |
| 31 | EastWest Banking Corporation | East West Peso Short Term Fund | 0.72% |
| 32 | BDO Unibank, Inc. | BDO PESO MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.71% |
| 33 | China Banking Corporation | CBC SHORT-TERM FUND | 0.71% |
| 34 | Bank of Commerce | DIVERSITY MONEY MARKET FUND | 0.70% |
| 35 | LandBank of the Philippines | LANDBANK Money Market Plus Fund | 0.69% |
| 36 | Union Bank | UnionBank Peso Short Term Fixed Income Portfolio | 0.41% |
| 37 | Philippine Bank of Communications | SIGNATURE TRUST FUND | 0.30% |
| 38 | Sterling Bank of Asia | Sterling Money Market Fund | ---- |
Note: The passing rates just count the first-time takers; repeaters are not included in the passing rate. All figures are based on the four (4) previous Nurses Licensure Exams in November 2017, June 2017, November 2016, and June 2016.
Source: PRC Philippines (www.prc.gov.ph)
