Nursing council bats for licentiate system

On Thursday, the proposal was made at a conference, by S Ani Grace Kalaimathi, Registrar of the Council, who said that it would ensure a degree of quality in the services rendered by nurses.

She said the exams will be able to determine the quality of training. It will also take into account a number of aspects in the field, in order to bridge the gap between clinical practice and nursing education. She said, “This would go beyond marks and look at the overall capability of the nurses.” 

She added that in several Asian countries, the licentiate system has been prevalent for a while. “Countries like Pakistan and Nepal too follow the same system and even nurses from India, who are sent abroad to serve in the Middle East have to undergo the same to serve there. It is almost like a brain drain of skilled nurses,” she pointed out. 

However, the registrar maintained that it need not be compulsory in the beginning. “We can rather make it optional and see what difference it makes to the quality of services rendered by both groups — those who undergo the examination and those who don’t. We can adopt the Bloom’s taxonomy model to test the knowledge,” she added. 

The model serves as the core for several fields, especially the ones that has skills at the centre of its applications. Endorsing the proposal, S Vijayalakshmi, former vice-president of the Trained Nurses Association- Tamil Nadu said, “There won’t be much of pressure on the trained nurses, as it is not compulsory. Anything made compulsory is met with resistance, initially. Therefore, those who want to observe the results and the enhancement of quality before undergoing it, would have the time.” 

According to the registrar, there are 1,50,000 nurses registered with the council. However, the number of active nurses is around 88,000.