What are your plans as a RN?

[gemini_star]

I don't know if it's only me seeing/reading these posts here like "I don't know what to do", "I can't find a job", "looking for work several years with no experience", etc. It is sad to say that dreams of going abroad to the US will be halted for several years. I am not even sure if the 5 years would be enough. It could be even more. As I have been observed here and from my colleagues, taking the NCLEX, CFGNS, IELTS, has been like a mandatory for them to take not knowing the real scenario ahead.

I have been doing some thinking lately that there should be something done or information being spread to BSN graduates. I think with the cooperation of everybody especially Filipino RNs in the US can contribute. If it takes a sticky with bold capital letters saying retrogression is on going. I think it can be done for starters. It is really unfortunate to hear such remarks from fellow colleagues who are losing hope and distracted in their nursing career. Appropriate Nursing diagnosis would be Knowledge Deficient. Anybody feels the same way? Do you have any more ideas?

For those nursing students, newly BSN graduates, RNs with or without experience, please let us know your short term or long term concrete plans. Any plans you have in mind, post it here. I know a lot of people here are willing to give information or guide you in achieving those plans.

[yumikatawara_RN]

1-Spend 1-2 more years in call center

2-practice nursing

3-get 2 or 3 years experience in the country

4-take care of things needed to work abroad

5-take masters degree while waiting

6-go back to number 1 if things won't work out that fine:idea:

[EwwThat'sNasty]

I'm American, not Filipino.

I just thought I'd chime in with my "two cents" as we say here.

Nursing in America is odd these days. In certain States such as California there is a shortage of RN's, however this is not so in many regions. On the East Coast not long ago I heard an RN working in a major Boston Hospital who worked as a Registered Respiratory Therapist in the hospital's NICU and who had recently passed the NCLEX and who applied for a job there. She did not get the job and told me that there were 1200 applicants for a few jobs! RN resumes on job sites in states like Michigan used to be non-existent, these days there are quite a lot.

Unemployment in America is probably much worse than you can imagine. Look at this graph:

See: http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2010/1/7/saupload_jobs_thumb1.png

The red area is the number in millions of unemployed. At a normal "expansion of economy" rate this graph predicts that normalcy will not be achieved until 2016! I know many RN's who have been terminated due to closings or down-sizing, and locally no hospital that I know is hiring any nurses. I will be terminated from my job this coming summer as my unit is closing. I do not expect it to be easy to find a replacement job even having been a med/surge and an ICU (Intensive Care RN) and am qualified in a sub-specialty. There are very hard times.

Some RP schools turn out highly learned, highly skilled RN's, as good as any in America or elsewhere.

This being said there are a few things that I'd like to add. The NCLEX pass rate from all RP Nursing schools, if you look at the % of schools that have a 70% or greater pass rate, is abysmal. The majority of nursing schools in RP are scams, simply inadequate diploma mills that the BON should close. I mean no disrespect by this, but this statement is evident by RP's annual pass rate data. If you search you can find a list of all accredited Nursing Schools and last year's board exam/NCLEX pass rates. You will see that (if I remember correctly) only about 16% fit in the >70% pass rate. There was a surprising number with zero pass rates.

Therefore, no matter how hard you try at these schools that have horrid pass rates, no matter how much time you spend studying, if these schools do not have the faculty or classes that are necessary to give you what you need you will be throwing money into the wind. This is very sad, I think but evident based upon statistics.

If you are in a school with a

According to the chart above, even if you are in one of the top schools jobs in America will still most likely be scarce and will become scarcer. Further it is likely that agencies will become more and more corrupt pushing pay grades down an demanding more and more from both foreign and domestic nurses who manage to get hired. (Though this may work to foreign nurse's advantage since the quality of the work environment, I think, is causing many American RN's to want to escape.) Even my former hospital DHMC.org now requires onerous (in my opinion) and very one-sided contracts such that if you leave for any reason you will be required to pay them a huge amount. It's shameful. The fact is that for America (and Iceland, Spain, Ireland, and Italy, and soon: Great Britain, Germany and many other countries this recession does not appear to be resolving quickly. If the world has a "double-dip" recession where countries get "hit" again in 2010, even Japan will be severely affected.

I also suspect there will be more and more agencies who "offer" jobs (at a fee) and never manage to get you one, and there are no refunds.

I don't mean to be overtly negative. Knowledge is power.

Now for a more positive suggestion: When you do graduate, take the NCLEX as fast as possible, preferably within 8 weeks. Why? Because there is a very clear relationship that shows that the longer a person puts it off, the more likely they will not pass, or the more likely that they will no longer have the confidence to even try. The NCLEX does not (at least for Americans) have an "end date." As long as the person logs a certain number of nursing hours as a state licensed RN (I am not sure if volunteer work is ok) at a job every two years, it stays active. I wonder if obtaining the NCLEX and then working the requisite hours in RP is enough, I do not know. (Look for a thread that addresses this questin on the forum.) Also, different states here have different regulations. Nobody makes it easy do they?

Still, even if you take the NCLEX as soon as possible and then cannot utilize it such that you have to retake it a few years later, the experience will be invaluable. Pass it once, and you will likely pass it again. Frankly with a decent education the NCLEX is not difficult. But American colleges (even very small "community colleges," are very well run. In my class of about 23, I believe that everyone who took it passed.

As mentioned previously the MN will probably not be useful and could possibly be used against you as some hospitals are such that they must pay a premium for a nurse with a Master's. Exceptions to this would be an Advanced Nurse Practitioner Master's degree which is "golden," or some exotic Master's such as CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) which is ultra-golden.

IV experience might or might not be useful. When I practiced as an Adult ICU nurse, all IV's were initiated by a special team; all wound care was also done by a special team. In a smaller hospital this could be very valuable.

What happened to Arroyo's NARS? (Nurses Assigned in Rural Areas) That seemed to me to be a good starting point if the program ever got off the ground.

I wish you all the best of luck! Persevere.

[yumikatawara_RN]

Wow that personally gave me a notion how hard getting a decent nursing career is elswhere across the globe. Nothing's easily gotten nowadays and we'll really need to persevere more and stand firm on what we believe in including our goals and aspirations in life. I will be a hypocrite if I would say that I took nursing because I have the innate compassion to care for and about people. I took nursing hoping to make a lot of money out of it abroad. Way back then, documentaries and news about how rewarding taking the course is are rampant. There are no regrets though that I have taken the course. In my four years of stay in the university, learning how to become a good nurse has paved way to numerous skills and personal strengths being discovered. "Why not use these skills in other line of careers first while waiting for a nursing career?"-I asked my self. The bottom line is, You wouldn't really last 4 years studying nursing if you have not acquired the inate zeal and interest to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitude one must have to become one. It is killing me to think that while I tried so hard to be the best nurse I could be, here I am I found my self doing something else that is way too far from it.

[Dijon]

I'm American not Filipino.[/size']

I just thought I'd chime in with my "two cents" as we say here.

Nursing in America is odd these days. In certain States such as California there is a shortage of RN's, however this is not so in many regions. On the East Coast not long ago I heard an RN working in a major Boston Hospital who worked as a Registered Respiratory Therapist in the hospital's NICU and who had recently passed the NCLEX and who applied for a job there. She did not get the job and told me that there were 1200 applicants for a few jobs! RN resumes on job sites in states like Michigan used to be non-existent, these days there are quite a lot.

Unemployment in America is probably much worse than you can imagine. Look at this graph:

See: http://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2010/1/7/saupload_jobs_thumb1.png

The red area is the number in millions of unemployed. At a normal "expansion of economy" rate this graph predicts that normalcy will not be achieved until 2016! I know many RN's who have been terminated due to closings or down-sizing, and locally no hospital that I know is hiring any nurses. I will be terminated from my job this coming summer as my unit is closing. I do not expect it to be easy to find a replacement job even having been a med/surge and an ICU (Intensive Care RN) and am qualified in a sub-specialty. There are very hard times.

Some RP schools turn out highly learned, highly skilled RN's, as good as any in America or elsewhere.

This being said there are a few things that I'd like to add. The NCLEX pass rate from all RP Nursing schools, if you look at the % of schools that have a 70% or greater pass rate, is abysmal. The majority of nursing schools in RP are scams, simply inadequate diploma mills that the BON should close. I mean no disrespect by this, but this statement is evident by RP's annual pass rate data. If you search you can find a list of all accredited Nursing Schools and last year's board exam/NCLEX pass rates. You will see that (if I remember correctly) only about 16% fit in the >70% pass rate. There was a surprising number with zero pass rates.

Therefore, no matter how hard you try at these schools that have horrid pass rates, no matter how much time you spend studying, if these schools do not have the faculty or classes that are necessary to give you what you need you will be throwing money into the wind. This is very sad, I think but evident based upon statistics.

If you are in a school with a

According to the chart above, even if you are in one of the top schools jobs in America will still most likely be scarce and will become scarcer. Further it is likely that agencies will become more and more corrupt pushing pay grades down an demanding more and more from both foreign and domestic nurses who manage to get hired. (Though this may work to foreign nurse's advantage since the quality of the work environment, I think, is causing many American RN's to want to escape.) Even my former hospital DHMC.org now requires onerous (in my opinion) and very one-sided contracts such that if you leave for any reason you will be required to pay them a huge amount. It's shameful. The fact is that for America (and Iceland, Spain, Ireland, and Italy, and soon: Great Britain, Germany and many other countries this recession does not appear to be resolving quickly. If the world has a "double-dip" recession where countries get "hit" again in 2010, even Japan will be severely affected.

I also suspect there will be more and more agencies who "offer" jobs (at a fee) and never manage to get you one, and there are no refunds.

I don't mean to be overtly negative. Knowledge is power.

Now for a more positive suggestion: When you do graduate, take the NCLEX as fast as possible, preferably within 8 weeks. Why? Because there is a very clear relationship that shows that the longer a person puts it off, the more likely they will not pass, or the more likely that they will no longer have the confidence to even try. The NCLEX does not (at least for Americans) have an "end date." As long as the person logs a certain number of nursing hours as a state licensed RN (I am not sure if volunteer work is ok) at a job every two years, it stays active. I wonder if obtaining the NCLEX and then working the requisite hours in RP is enough, I do not know. (Look for a thread that addresses this questin on the forum.) Also, different states here have different regulations. Nobody makes it easy do they?

Still, even if you take the NCLEX as soon as possible and then cannot utilize it such that you have to retake it a few years later, the experience will be invaluable. Pass it once, and you will likely pass it again. Frankly with a decent education the NCLEX is not difficult. But American colleges (even very small "community colleges," are very well run. In my class of about 23, I believe that everyone who took it passed.

As mentioned previously the MN will probably not be useful and could possibly be used against you as some hospitals are such that they must pay a premium for a nurse with a Master's. Exceptions to this would be an Advanced Nurse Practitioner Master's degree which is "golden," or some exotic Master's such as CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) which is ultra-golden.

IV experience might or might not be useful. When I practiced as an Adult ICU nurse, all IV's were initiated by a special team; all wound care was also done by a special team. In a smaller hospital this could be very valuable.

What happened to Arroyo's NARS? (Nurses Assigned in Rural Areas) That seemed to me to be a good starting point if the program ever got off the ground.

I wish you all the best of luck! Persevere.

dont worry we are filipinos like what you said you are an american. obviously you dont have the ways of the filipino so it is hard for you to imagine, i salute you but trust us... we sure can...after all we are filipinos...

[secondattempt]

anybody know of anyone who got any working/immigrant visa to states yet?

[chokyali]

I graduated in 2005, (actually i'm a second courser) and passed the june 2005 NLE. Applied for the CGFNS exam but failed the 1st time. I took up CG again the 2nd time and passed after that I took up IELTS and passed. I applied for NY thru an agency and they supplied me with all the forms required for immigration and after a few months I received my receipt from USCIS. I know it would still take several years before I could land a job in the US so I decide to apply for a volunteer nursing job in a government hospital. Luckily, I was able to get experience to the area where I really wanted to be when i was still a nursing student and that is in the OR. After 3 months of training I decided to apply as an OR nurse in Saudi and fortunately i did but I did not finish my contract for some family reasons. At least I had more than a year experience in the OR and it was great beacuse the hospital I worked with have modern facilities and acrredited by the Canadan health services. Right now, I'm working ( not related to nursing) and waiting for my visa.

[chokyali]

I graduated in 2005, (actually i'm a second courser) and passed the june 2005 NLE. Applied for the CGFNS exam but failed the 1st time. I took up CG again the 2nd time and passed after that I took up IELTS and passed. I applied for NY thru an agency and they supplied me with all the forms required for immigration and after a few months I received my receipt from USCIS. I know it would still take several years before I could land a job in the US so I decide to apply for a volunteer nursing job in a government hospital. Luckily, I was able to get experience to the area where I really wanted to be when i was still a nursing student and that is in the OR. After 3 months of training I decided to apply as an OR nurse in Saudi and fortunately i did but I did not finish my contract for some family reasons. At least I had more than a year experience in the OR and it was great beacuse the hospital I worked with have modern facilities and acrredited by the Canadan health services. Right now, I'm working ( not related to nursing) and waiting for my visa.

my next plan is to go to canada but since they stopped hiring at the moment next plan is to try to look for a j sob in my homeland but I dont think I could land a job there so next step ahhh i don't know where to go

[gambutrol]

I'm living my dream already! Hope everything turns out fine here in Canada..

[chokyali]

I'm living my dream already! Hope everything turns out fine here in Canada..

Congratulations!:yeah:

When did you get there and what agency...How many months have you waited...share:nurse:

[Turbota]

With all these negative posts about newly graduated nurses who are either working for next to nothing at some Filipino hospital or having zero to very little luck finding a nursing job in the U.S. after they graduate here in the Philippines, I am having second thoughts about my Filipina wife going to nursing school.

Being an American citizen living here in the Philippines with my Filipina wife, she now has the idea of attending nursing school here in the RP before we apply for her IR-1 Immigrant Visa to the U.S. She has the idea that if she gets her BSN degree here in the Philippines, she will be able to get an RN job in the U.S. once she immigrates there with me and gets her "green card".

She already has a BS degree in Computer Science from a Filipino college, but feels she can do much better in the U.S. if she can get a job as an RN.

I am getting second thoughts about all this ...

God bless all of you, and I hope things get better as time goes by.

Ron,

Bacolod City

[mikalai]

Yay! Very nice plans from everyone.

I'm gonna share mine! So here goes:

1. Pass the midwifery Exam

2. Take Advance training then

3. Train in another hospital (general this time) to improve my skills

4. Take the NCLEX and pass it

5. Take the IELTS and pass it

6. Of course apply or if ever go Abroad.

[caliRNdude]

we just hope that US economy bounce back soon and unemployment here in US would go down. in the near future ,RN jobs here in US would open again specially for pinoy nurses which is prefered by employers here.me? my plans as RN.have a vacation in PI miss it so bad,and Find a young wonderful cute filipina GF.he he he;)