the american dream: do not lose hope

[rookie_rn]

there are hundreds, maybe even thousands, of posts here pertaining to the current immigration and economic situation of the us. in addition, the situation is also being played out in the media all over the world (i would think). with all of these information out there, i think most, if not all, foreign nurses are already aware of the sad realities of wanting to work in the us.

i got the following lines from the novel the alchemist by paulo coelho:

"... the soul of the world is nourished by people's happiness... to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation...

and, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

so, to all my fellow pinoy rns out there who are still dreaming of one day being able to work in the us as a registered nurse, don't lose hope. do not be discouraged. you will meet a lot of people who get pleasure from splashing water over the smallest ember of hope that you may have. but, no one could/should ever tell you that your dreams are beyond your reach.

in my opinion, we are all brothers/sisters in the world of nursing and we should be benevolent enough to welcome and help our colleagues on their way in as we, ourselves, may be on our way out.

ignis fraternum eterna est

(the flames of our brotherhood will burn forever)

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

Yes,we are not daydreaming suzanne. we took everything you said here into consideration.we are not blind when we decided to pursue this dream.we do not expect to go there in 5-8 years or so because that would be impossible...Its really more like a long term goal that someday we will work there..

And when we say that we want to pursue this dream,it doesnt mean that our world is centered only here.We go on with our lives at the present and try to find jobs here in our own country. its not like we are waiting here blindly for that American dream.

Read the posts here,

First a I read post after post how nurses quit there well paying call center job, since they now passed the NCLEX, then they complain they don't have money for their family.

There must be a half dozen posts.

Second post is, how can I get around the American License, which is the best state to get a license,

Third common post, I don't have a local license since I am never planning to work in the Philippines.

Fourth, I am not going to get a job until I pass all my tests.

Fifth, why isn't the state I took the NCLEX not processing my papers quick enough.

Six the Philippine nurses are superior to all nurses, and why can't I be hires as nurse Specialist.

Based on those numerous posts I gather these nurses don't have a plan B to survive, they are living at home and post .

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Yes,things like that exist in our country and believe me that there are still Filipinos who are against those things....BUT i hope you also take into consideration that there are still thousands of us Filipino nurses who earned our degree the right way,who got our licenses without paying someone under the table,who got our education in good reputable schools..So i hope you wont come into conclusions like that just because you learned some little information about us. IT DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL.

I HOPE THAT WE SHOULD JUST STOP WITH ALL THESE GENERAL CONCLUSIONS BECAUSE WE DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING...

So how does a recruiter tell the difference? How does the interviewer know which route the person before them took to get their BSN in the Philippines? As someone who may have little or no knowledge of how things work there, how does the person doing the hiring know they're getting someone who is truly a well-educated and skilled nurse? It would seem that the people from Capital Health in Alberta did NOT get what they thought they were getting, as evidenced by the group who are now working as LPNs when they were hired as RNs. Should they be suspicious of applicants from the Philippines, or should they just take the applicant's word for it that they're really what they say they are? And then what do they tell the taxpayers whose money has been spent on this exercise when there is still just as large a shortage of qualified nurses at the bedside?

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

So how does a recruiter tell the difference? How does the interviewer know which route the person before them took to get their BSN in the Philippines? As someone who may have little or no knowledge of how things work there, how does the person doing the hiring know they're getting someone who is truly a well-educated and skilled nurse? It would seem that the people from Capital Health in Alberta did NOT get what they thought they were getting, as evidenced by the group who are now working as LPNs when they were hired as RNs. Should they be suspicious of applicants from the Philippines, or should they just take the applicant's word for it that they're really what they say they are? And then what do they tell the taxpayers whose money has been spent on this exercise when there is still just as large a shortage of qualified nurses at the bedside?

When I was in the Philippines during the early 1990's, there were recruiters who knew which schools are good. In fact there were some that only signed up nurses who graduated from reputable schools or are working in large tertiary hospitals. There was heavy recruiting in these kinds of hospitals at the time. However, when the "nurse immigration" boom hit in the late 90's to early 00's, many nurses were being directly hired and were not going through agencies. Some were being assisted by family members in the US in processing their applications and immigration documents. That's when many graduates who were half-baked, if you will, was able to arrive in the US. I don't know how recruitment is done in the Philippines now as I've been away for a while.

[greenjungle]

The cold hard fact is that the dream may be dead in the water. The USA is now in dire economic straits. Nurses here who own their own house and lot, however small are luckier than those immigrant RNs who are now complaining that they have to work overtime just to pay the mortgage. See how lucky we are? The truth is that for the majority of new nurses its now too late to get on the bandwagon for the USA since there are so many people ahead of you all stuck in the pipeline. And tough times in the USA means jobs are prioritized for Americans. There's such a thing as unrealistic hope.

"stuck in the micropipeline"

[pinkroyalty18, LPN, LVN]

Read the posts here,

First a I read post after post how nurses quit there well paying call center job, since they now passed the NCLEX, then they complain they don't have money for their family.

There must be a half dozen posts.

Second post is, how can I get around the American License, which is the best state to get a license,

Third common post, I don't have a local license since I am never planning to work in the Philippines.

Fourth, I am not going to get a job until I pass all my tests.

Fifth, why isn't the state I took the NCLEX not processing my papers quick enough.

Six the Philippine nurses are superior to all nurses, and why can't I be hires as nurse Specialist.

Based on those numerous posts I gather these nurses don't have a plan B to survive, they are living at home and post .

and from those posts alone you came up with that conclusion?again, let me tell you that the ones who posted those things do not represent the entire Phil RNs.

[independent_chiq]

I appreciated the facts presented --these are really eye-openers for us, Filipinos. It made me step back and look at a bigger picture on the current status of what we have called "the american dream".However, I find some posts belittling and discriminating to Filipino talents and abilities as a nurse ( I don't want to pinpoint.. you know in your heart who you are). Although it is an admitted-matter that the nursing profession here has its flaws ,I felt that it would be unjust to equate these flaws with whom we can be as a nurse. In a country where the pay is preposterous, the working conditions are unjust, and the workload is overwhelming, the existence of quality nursing care is put to question. Yet I can say that there are still Filipino nurses making conscious efforts to continually improve our craft. Despite the roaring pessimism over the american dream, I still encourage my fellow Filipinos to still to dream but this time with our mind and eyes open to any possibilities-- While America is one of the countries wherein we can best practice our profession there are still other countries who acknowledge our skills as competent nurses:nuke:

[pinkroyalty18, LPN, LVN]

So how does a recruiter tell the difference? How does the interviewer know which route the person before them took to get their BSN in the Philippines? As someone who may have little or no knowledge of how things work there, how does the person doing the hiring know they're getting someone who is truly a well-educated and skilled nurse? It would seem that the people from Capital Health in Alberta did NOT get what they thought they were getting, as evidenced by the group who are now working as LPNs when they were hired as RNs. Should they be suspicious of applicants from the Philippines, or should they just take the applicant's word for it that they're really what they say they are? And then what do they tell the taxpayers whose money has been spent on this exercise when there is still just as large a shortage of qualified nurses at the bedside?

I was just pointing out to rockandrollRN that there are still nurse who earned our degree the right way since he was so sure of his posting about the piece of information he learned about our country.I was just merely correcting some misconceptions.

Sometimes people only see what their minds wanted to see.

As to the whole hiring thing,I do not know. That is not my biggest concern since I am not a recruiter after all. But if they really want to get the best nurses,then they must screen nurses thoroughly.Have skill competency assessments, NCLEX type of tests, assess transcripts and see if they came from mushroom or reputable schools and the works.A lot of nurses who got their diplomas from these so called bootleg shools will even have a hard time passing NLE,how much more for foreign exams..I do not really know a lot about these type of tests since i havent been under any foreign hiring.So i cannot suggest much.

[elmar22]

So how does a recruiter tell the difference? How does the interviewer know which route the person before them took to get their BSN in the Philippines? As someone who may have little or no knowledge of how things work there, how does the person doing the hiring know they're getting someone who is truly a well-educated and skilled nurse? It would seem that the people from Capital Health in Alberta did NOT get what they thought they were getting, as evidenced by the group who are now working as LPNs when they were hired as RNs. Should they be suspicious of applicants from the Philippines, or should they just take the applicant's word for it that they're really what they say they are? And then what do they tell the taxpayers whose money has been spent on this exercise when there is still just as large a shortage of qualified nurses at the bedside?

Easy...just recruit nurses who finished their BSN degrees from reputable or topnotch nursing schools in the Philippines.

[pinkroyalty18, LPN, LVN]

hushdawg, i dont agree what you said that" philippines is not an industrilized nation". i travel there almost every year x 20 plus years and despite shaddy homes as u said....or people in squatter areas...i dont see any poverty in philippines..almost every house/family there might live in bamboo /floating homes on the river but inside.. they own flat screen tv/ designer clothes /bags /karaoke/computer/cable/plus indulge in manicure/pedicure/hairdo every other day etc...now compare that to other countries..

I thought we are talking about nurses here,not our country...

But let me explain our side since you already mentioned about it.if we are an industrialized country,then how come we are still considered a "third world country"? Take a look at the average net income of an average filipino family and compare that to other countries.

You do not see any poverty? How about the bamboo floats you mentioned? Do you think they would live in riverbanks or live dangerously under the bridge if they have the money to buy a piece of land? When you visited the country,haven't you noticed the streetkids or the families who just slept in the parks or streets?

And about the flat screens and designer clothes,that is really getting out of the topic. But let me get this straight, the poor here do not even have televisions,how much more for a flat screen? I belong to a lower middle class family and yet we cannot even afford to buy ourselves designer clothes...We do not have flat screens.We cannot even afford an every other day trip to the parlor...How's that?

However,there are still above the average families here in phil and maybe you are looking at them when you mentioned these flat screens/manicure/pedicure every other day().

Again,why are we talking about our country and our lifestyle here?

[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

Recruiters make money by signing nurses on, they don't worry about the quality of care or if the recruit will do well in their new position.

Personally, if there is a need to bring foreign nurses, it means the economy is doing well, so personally I will be doing well. If there is another push to bring foreign nurses the hospitals will have to training similar to the training we give to newly licensed nurses. I don't think the old days of coming in and working right away with no orientation. Also since there are so many nurses from foreign countries, it will be harder for nurses to gain entry due to the world wide competition.

[Aviationurse]

we are aware of the less-than-ideal situation of the nursing field in our country. there is not one system/curriculum in the entire world that is perfect.

i hope you can just give the information as it is and avoid giving remarks/comments with a tone of condescension.

i find it amazing that there are people who find it so easy to look down upon and mock their fellow men and yet still have the tenacity to wake up in the morning and ask/pray for more blessings from the Lord.

excuse me..i was not llooking down at people..PLS read posts before you jump to conclusions....

[Aviationurse]

Yes,things like that exist in our country and believe me that there are still Filipinos who are against those things....BUT i hope you also take into consideration that there are still thousands of us Filipino nurses who earned our degree the right way,who got our licenses without paying someone under the table,who got our education in good reputable schools..So i hope you wont come into conclusions like that just because you learned some little information about us. IT DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL.Maybe you should also consider that although theres an increase in the number of nursing students,there are still thousands who chose a non-nursing course. AGAIN,it is wrong to generalize that every citizen here wants to be nurse. A lot of my friends chose to be engineers, architects, teachers and accountants .I HOPE THAT WE SHOULD JUST STOP WITH ALL THESE GENERAL CONCLUSIONS BECAUSE WE DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING...

i did not make general conclusions..pls read posts carefully before attacking people