Improvement of the qualification system in Korea for foreign nurses eligible to take Korean nursing licensing examination

PURPOSE: We aimed to review and provide a quality improvement for the document utilized by the relevant Korean government body to verify and evaluate foreign university/college graduates’ eligibility for nursing and qualification to take the Korean nursing licensing examination. METHODS: This was a descriptive study. We analyzed the current Korean qualification system for foreign graduates to take the Korean nursing licensing examination and the same system utilized in some other countries. Then, we created a draft of the reviewed qualification standards document based on the 2 prior analyses and their comparisons, and applied a questionnaire in an open hearing with 5 experts to enhance the draft’s quality. Finally, we presented and discussed the final draft. RESULTS: The reviewed criteria of the qualification standards included confirming whether the foreign graduate’s university has an accreditation provided by its relevant government body, the exclusion of foreign graduates’ provision of several documents previously required, a minimum number of credits (1,000 hours) for their original course, a 3-year minimum enrollment period for their original course, and a mandatory reassessment of the foreign graduates’ university recognition in a 5-year cycle. CONCLUSION: We believe that by creating a review draft that addresses the flaws of the current document utilized to determine the qualification for foreign graduates to take the Korean nursing licensing examination, we have simplified it for a better understanding of the application process. We hope that this draft will contribute to a more objective and equitable qualification process for foreign university nurse graduates in Korea.