No job in nursing in the Philippines, what to do?

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So here's the thing: Worked in a call center as I waited to have my results for the boards.. when I got my license, I resigned, which was actually around last week of December 2007. Then on, tried to get into trainings and so I got into one very good hospital and finished my Red Cross and IV Therapy Training... After which, still no job. Now, I took the NCLEX, and I am not that confident that I passed... No results yet. Its my birthday today and I feel depressed coz I still no growth in my career. My parents do not want me working anything else BUT as nurse!!! So I spend my time trying to look for jobs to no avail..... :crying2:

What do you think I should do next?

Apply to Saudi Arabia?

Where I don't know if thats gonna be safe for someone like me?

Need advice. And thanks.

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
I definitely appreciate where you are coming from Alex49 but the problem here is HOW to get that experience? As many others have stated, the ratio of nurses to positions is very heavily tilted.

Back to the point at hand. What types of work experience would be looked on well by American Hospitals outside of Nursing Assistant positions?

It's been said that Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. It would appear that the Philippine government could be insane by that definition, since they've turned nursing education into an industry, while the hundreds of thousands of graduates of those programs are unable to find employment.

Hospitals in many parts of the US are laying off nurses as the economic crisis deepens. For now they will not be looking at IENs in any sort of light at all. The longer a person's education and training goes unused, the less likely it is that they will ever use it. Nurses who dream of working in the US need to shift their focus and look at other countries where there is a nursing shortage AND money to hire nurses. As Alexk49 said, there are other ancillary health care jobs that will provide some experience and new knowledge that will be useful for the nurse, but when it all comes down to it, the employer will be looking for nursing experience. You can't get it in the Philippines, and you won't get it in the US, so where else can you look? That's where you start.

Specializes in intensive care, recovery, anesthetics.

I just had contact with an US american employer, they want current RN experience in an acute care setting. Means work as an RN in a big hospital, preferably on med/surg floor, critical care, step down care, sth like this.

They don't want nurses working in nursing homes, work as carers or similar.

And important for the guys working/or want to work in Canada, time as a graduate nurse doesn't count as RN experience!

5cats

The conclusion I gather then Hushdawg is that work outside actual nursing experience is still not gonna be valued abroad. At least thats what I understand from Janfrn, if I do understand her correctly. Sad isn't it?!!! :( Anyway, I would have to concur with you. Depending on the school you went to, I think the prominent ones do provide great clinical experiences for their students. What Alexk49 mentioned as part of US clinical experience, I had that in school. People should just really choose wisely where they build their future upon--schools that are cheap and yet have almost no passing percentages, or schools that have a long standing legacy of them actually excelling in the medical field.

What Janfrn posed as a question is the real reason behind why this thread was started. I hope each of us try to find a way for nurses to exchange information on how we could indeed, get that experience-experience that we all pursue but nevertheless, elude us as of this time.

i am a diploma grad, historically diploma nurses were used as grunt workers. the national league of nursing and the american nurses association change the program and monitored to ensure diploma nursing students were doing clinical work. so i it is up to the philippine nurses to pressure the government to set standards and monitor that the students are getting professional nursing experience. graduates should report back to the schools that the quality of their program is lacking .

i think the issue is that when the philippine nurses come to the usa or canada, they have not had clinical experiences, they are not able to monitor iv therapy, complete assessments, do complete care, etc. i have read that twenty students share one patient , it is impossible to learn. that should not be considered clinical experience. now many hospitals are moving to everything electronic charting.

unit secretaries, medical assistants, or techs are jobs that enhance the students experience.

i beg to disagree with the first red-marked statement. i've done complete assessments (head to toe, lab results, etc.), monitor iv thep including replacing, setting a new one, regulating, etc. and we actually had a 1 student nurse to 3-5 patients on duties providing all basic care, meds, completing some of doc's orders. we were also mimicking team nursing where we were rotated as team leaders which is responsible for knowing all the information (labs, history, diagnosis, all contraptions, scheduled operations, specific care needed, monitor pts status from start to finish) of all the patients in the ward for that duty - which is actually around 15-20 patients :). add to that, you are responsible for your team members and to make sure they monitor and take care of the patients you assigned them. we were also admitting and releasing patients. there are also med nurses who are solely responsible for all the meds due for the patients in the ward - usually this is 1-2 per shift.

as far as i know, student nurses in america have more limitations compared to those in philippines. if you were educated in a good university in philippines, you will surely get so much more. you get to do and practice a lot of stuff which will really prepare you. as for the technology, technology is easier to learn compared to nursing skills one should've at least learned in uni. then again, this is not the case for everyone. but to say too that nurses from the philippines didn't have enough clinical experience in general is not true.

for the 2nd red-marked statement: while closely related jobs can enhance students' experience at some point, it is still sort of useless in the end since it will not be considered as nursing experience.

as for the op, try whatever you can - may it be other job areas or closely related for the meantime while endlessly looking and hoping to land an rn job. the point is, at least one will not be wasting his/her time waiting and sitting at home for a possible opening in the hospitals. i know its hard, been there done that. i'm still not practising it :( but now i have found a pathway for me to finally practice it. it's been 2 years for me, but at least i can look back and tell myself i didn't waste much time since i busied myself with another profession and earned some money for my future plans for rn. ;)

good luck to you!

And that is the main problem which I think we can all agree on which is broken down into three singular items:

1) The Philippine government is doing nothing to ensure that the schools are providing a quality educational experience for these prospective professionals.

2) There are no opportunities for real nursing experience in the Philippines after college is complete.

3) The mechanics of Nursing education in the Philippines is processing and grooming nurses to a goal of the USA when they should be expanding the horizons for the students and encouraging routes to other countries as a destination rather than a stepping stone.

As an American, I really do love the idea of more people coming into the USA to share all the things that I enjoy about it. Especially if those people are qualified professionals. However, I am frustrated along with my Pinoy nurse friends and co-workers at the problems here and in getting to the States.

A large part of me wonders if we took the Hospitals in the USA away from the Insurance companies and had government run hospitals like in many other countries that perhaps the system would be more expansive and create more opportunities for nurses both native and immigrant in the USA.

Some people call that socialism but hey, I've always been a social kinda guy. :D

The problem is clear -- oversupply of nurses.

Drastic times call for drastic measures. In order to limit the supply why not petition the BON to raise the bar for the next licensure exam. So that those who can be RN's will be the top 1%. Flunk-out the mediocre 99%.

Why should the smarter RN's suffer with the rest of humanity.

But seriously, just tell the BON to raise the bar so that only 1% pass. e.g. if there are 50,000 test takers: 500 pass, 49500 fail.

Plus, if you can't find an RN job in 2 years then your RN license gets revoked.

Areglado! Come on PNA time to petition the BON. 1% passing and if you can't find an RN job in 2 years after graduation then you lose the license.

And that is the main problem which I think we can all agree on which is broken down into three singular items:

1) The Philippine government is doing nothing to ensure that the schools are providing a quality educational experience for these prospective professionals.

2) There are no opportunities for real nursing experience in the Philippines after college is complete.

3) The mechanics of Nursing education in the Philippines is processing and grooming nurses to a goal of the USA when they should be expanding the horizons for the students and encouraging routes to other countries as a destination rather than a stepping stone.

As an American, I really do love the idea of more people coming into the USA to share all the things that I enjoy about it. Especially if those people are qualified professionals. However, I am frustrated along with my Pinoy nurse friends and co-workers at the problems here and in getting to the States.

A large part of me wonders if we took the Hospitals in the USA away from the Insurance companies and had government run hospitals like in many other countries that perhaps the system would be more expansive and create more opportunities for nurses both native and immigrant in the USA.

Some people call that socialism but hey, I've always been a social kinda guy. :D

I agree with most of your post except, the government run hospitals, the VA system is the largest health system in the USA and it has many flaws. Now to work at the VA you must be a US citizen. The UK which is socialist system has a hiring freeze.

x.

If you want to volunteer to gain experience I can refer you to a government hospital that I went to. It was an awesome experience, probably the best 3 months of my nursing carreer. I terminated my services because i really want to look for a job.

Good luck to all of us.nurse.gif

hi there ms powers :nuke: if its okay to you to refer in that government hospital? i don't have any voluntary hospital experience yet:( oops too bad for me ,, just like you many BPO company has rejected my application in the past,, but because of my perseverance applying i finally landed a call center job:typing by a not well known BPO company in makati but ive already finish my contract after that ive tried applying as a staff nurse or even a volunteer but just like most of the newly RN theres no vacancy yet and thousand of hopefuls are already lined up ahead of you:bluecry1: right now im working as a part time fx driver most of my passengers are mostly NSG student haha:D. im very willing to be a volunteer nurse:nurse: i think it will be a great Christmas gift for me.:redbeathe tnx

Hi Nurse Pukyaw,

I sent you a PM. You can check the data.

hello. i've been reading these thread. i am currently doing volunteer work in a gov't hospital here in manila while reviewing for ielts for i chose to go the aus route. the said hospital don't ask for fees. you just have to pass all the necessary credentials at their training office.my batch will end on january 23 and i think they will have another set of 2 mos of volunteer work after that. it's ommc by the way.

i will also be doing a training at another hospital after my 2 mos volunteer work. but these hospital requires an iv card so you also should have one. as for the fees, i still don't know.

Hi Nurse Pukyaw,

I sent you a PM. You can check the data.

tnx miss powers :redpinkhe
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