The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools has announced that they will begin accepting test scores from both TOEIC - The Test of English in International Communication and IELTS - The International English Language Testing System. The rule is particularly welcome because one of the two currently approved testing services that administers the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery ("MELAB") stopped offering that test to foreign health care workers in November.

Nurses will be able to begin submitting TOEIC and IELTS on February 24, 2003 as part of their CGFNS certification applications. CCFNS added the caveat, however, that they might delay accepting the results if the INS, Department of State or Department of Health and Human Services objected.

CGNFS will require the following scores from registered nurses:

TOEFL: paper-based: 540; computer-based: 207; TWE: 4.0; TSE: 50

TOEIC: 725; plus TWE: 4.0 and TSE: 50 or

IELTS: 6.5 overall with a spoken band score of 7.0

CGFNS announced the plan in an effort to alleviate the current shortage of English language proficiency tests available to health care workers seeking certification to perform health care services in the US . The credentialing organization noted in its announcement that it believes the new policy is consistent with the current rules and the proposed regulations governing nurse credentialing that were recently published by the INS.

The announcement is welcome news to nurses, health care employers and health care recruiters who have been complaining recently about the lack of exams as well as about the dep lora ble quality of testing conditions at certain testing centers.