Nursing exam top-notcher: I know the struggles of nurses so I want to serve

Elijah Legaspi

MANILA, Philippines – When Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) graduate Elijah Legaspi opened his computer last Friday, he said he did not want to look at the website of the Philippine Regulation Commission (PRC) right away.

“Ayaw ko tignan agad ang results, baka ma-disappoint lang ako,” Legaspi told INQUIRER.net. “Pero nakita ko ang posts ng friends ko na kino-congratulate ako.”

(I did not want to look at the results right away because I just might be disappointed. And then I saw the posts of my friends congratulating me.)

From the third floor of their home, Legaspi screamed in jubilation to let his family know the result: He has topped the November 2014 Nursing Licensure Examination.

He had initially told them not to expect so much about the results since he did not always ace the mock exams at his review center.

Average student

Legaspi, 21, describes himself as an “average student.”

“Wala akong social life (I had no social life [when I was still studying]),” he said jokingly.

“Average student lang ako,” he said. “Wala akong bagsak at on time ako mag-pass ng requirements. Pero hindi naman ako overcompetitive at hindi naman ako nade-depress kapag nakakakuha ng hindi ganoong kataas na grade.”

(I am an average student. I have no failing marks and I pass my requirements on time. But I am not the type who is overcompetitive or gets depressed when he gets grades that aren’t that high.)

He said he was an honor student in grade school, but was overwhelmed by the competition at the Manila Science High School.

“Hindi naman hindrance na hindi ka honor student para maging maganda performance mo (Not being an honor student is not a hindrance for you to do well),” he said.

Struggles of government nurses

Since his elementary days, Legaspi always knew that he would take Nursing in college.

“I have always wanted to be a doctor, at sabi nila, maganda raw na pre-Med course ang Nursing (they told me Nursing was a good pre-Medicine course),” he said.

He said that he plans to take the National Medical Admission Test in November. He said he is also open to taking a job from a review center or a government hospital.

“Graduate ako ng state u[niversity], at duty namin ang mag-rotate sa mga government hospitals. Naranasan ko na ang hirap ng mga nurses, ang kakulangan ng resources,” he said. “Maganda naman ang naging resulta, so why not serve?”

(I graduated from a state university, and it has been our duty to rotate on government hospitals. I have experienced the struggles of nurses and the lack of resources. I have acquired good results, so why not serve?)

Legaspi, however, brushed off being branded as a blind idealist. He shared that he is also open to working abroad.

“Okay rin naman sa akin to work abroad kapag fulfilled na ako dito (I am open to working abroad once I have gotten my fulfillment here),” he said.

With more than 15,000 successful takers from the latest nursing board exam and thousands more still unemployed or underemployed, Legaspi is unperturbed about the fate of nurses in general.

“Sabi nga ng professors namin, hindi pwede alisin ang profession na ito kahit na marami ng nurses. Kami ang laging kasama at kausap ng mga pasyente. Kaya importante talaga ang course na Nursing,” he said.

(Just like what our professors tell us, the nursing profession can never be dismissed even if there are already many nurses. We are the ones who are always with and always talk to the patients. So the job of nurses is very important.)

“Naniniwala rin ako na (I also believe that) Filipinos are good nurses,” he said.

Here is the list of the successful passers of the November 2014 NLE:

(The complete, downloadable results may take several seconds to load.)