FOREIGN-trained nurses who intend to take the U.S. National Council Licensing Examination in the CNMI will soon be mandated to comply with an emergency regulation requiring additional certifications for their credentials.
Assistant Attorney General Nancy Gottfried, legal counsel of the Department of Public Health, is currently working with the Commonwealth Board of Nurse Examiner in drafting this emergency regulation.
Under the emergency regulation, foreign-educated nurses who want to take the NCLEX are required to either have an original Commission on Graduates of Foreign Schools of Nursing certification submitted to the board or have their nursing school transcripts evaluated by an independent credential evaluation firm.
Over the years, the board has not required CGFNS certification from any foreign-educated nurses who applied to sit for the NCLEX test on Saipan.
Health Secretary James U. Hofschneider yesterday said this takes into consideration the recent case of six Chinese nurses who wanted to take the NCLEX on Saipan.
The Department of Labor and Immigration confiscated the passports of the Chinese students.
The board found that there was “insufficient information” to determine the eligibility of these Chinese nurses.
Rosa M. Tudela, the board chairwoman, said they need to write directly to the health school of Shanghai Medical University and inquire about their nursing course curriculum.
Tudela said the information provided in the students’ transcripts was not even enough to determine their basic requirements.
The board also found inconsistencies in the English translations provided by Eucon International School and the transcripts of the applicants.
Hofschneider said in the past, those with CGFNS certifications are more likely to pass the NCLEX than those who do not have them.
So far, 53 percent of foreign-trained nurses who took the NCLEX passed it.
“With CGFNS certification, this figure is likely to go up,” said Hofschneider.
