A record 88,750 nursing graduates are scheduled to take the Nursing Board Examinations on November 29 and 30, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) said Wednesday.

The PRC said this month's examinees are the largest in history.

However, the PRC said despite the increasing number of examinees, the passing rate for the Nursing boards continues to go down.

In the June 2001 board exams, a little over half of the total examinees - 54.29 percent - passed the exams. Compare this to June this year, where only 43 percent of all examinees passed the boards.

The PRC said this could be attributed to the increasing number of nursing schools, as well as the lowering of admission standards of some nursing schools.

"Open-door policy ng mga paaralan. Hindi siya puwedeng 'admit all' eh. There should be qualifications na tama para kung ano at sino ang pwedeng pumasok sa mga propesyon. Hindi lahat puwede mag-nurse," PRC Board of Nursing member Dr. Marco Sto. Tomas said.

Even some nursing board review centers are noticing the decline in the quality of nursing graduates, saying many graduates are poor in critical analysis.

"Critical thinking. Sa isang binigay na sitwasyon, ano yung dapat mong gawin na unique doon sa sitwasyon na 'yon. 'Yun ang nakikita kong kahinaan ng mga estudyante," Carl Balita, a review center owner, said.

Nursing review centers also say that if less than half of all examinees pass the local nursing boards, there are even fewer Filipino nursing graduates who pass foreign nursing boards, particularly US nursing examinations.

Currently, 39 percent of Filipino nursing graduates pass US nursing examinations - or less than four passers for every ten examinees.

Because of this, the PRC said nursing students should not be merely taught the concepts of the profession, but also be honed in the practical applications of these concepts. -- With a report from Sol Aragones, ABS-CBN News