Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

Originally Posted by leader

I myself would be willing to be one of them because my purpose is that before I leave the country I want to be fully equipt with knowledge and skills. Although as what my sister-in-law (USRN) told me that before one starts working as a nurse, one will still undergo a training for the specific department assigned to, (aside from orientation) But of course, I know that I will be carrying with me the Philippines as a whole when I start working there and clearly I should keep the good impression other nurses have shown over the years.

I also had a hard time finding work there when i graduated '98. That was the time when there were no hiring abroad so nurses were saturated. My dad who is a doctor wanted me to work in the hospital where he works but I refused coz I know I can make it on my own. I worked as a trainee in a gov't hospital for 3 mths without pay and I should say that was the hardest job for me so far as a nurse. I bought my own gloves,my co nurses assigned me to the worst and infectious patients, and the worst was the emotional torture whenever I see patients cannot get their treatment because of not having money. I ended up giving them medicine (which I got from my dad) and some stuff like buying them syringes especially the paeds patients. I cannot take any longer so I left and applied in a private hospital.

I worked again as a trainee at NICU for 6 months without pay and then another 3 months coz there were still no vacancies. I started to lose hope but I told myself, thats okay I will not give up! After so many months of waiting, I finally became a staff nurse. I had 1 year there and then I felt that I wanted to gain more so I transferred at Cardiovascular OR, same hospital. They wanted me to have training again at CVOR so what I did was I had training 7-3 then worked at NICU 3-11 everyday so as not to lose my position. Thats so tough and stressful for me but I pave the way. Like any other newly grad nurses, I told myself after 2 years of work I will go abroad but I enjoyed being a Filipino RN and served our own country and I thought that there were still things needed to be learned thats why i stayed for 7 years .

I took CGFNS, IELTS. I passed them but because of the long wait of processing my papers to US, instead, I went to Ireland. I had training again for 3 months but with pay. It was like learning new things again!!! Maybe the fact that I was in CVOR and the job I got was in GSOR but it was just adjusting to new stuffs, new environment and new colleagues. I didn't had a hard time actually coz the things I was doing back home was also the same in Ireland. I should only speak English at all times and understand what the patient and my colleagues were saying. I should say that was the hardest part.( I even had a co trainee, an Indian, who was sent back to India because of lack of communication and haven't reach the Irish standards ). There were even Filipinos I knew also.( but some of them stayed and preferred to be illegal instead of going home and be a bum ). I worked there for 2 years which I enjoyed a lot!! (Scenic views, laid back life and the nice attitudes of Irish people).

Recently, I transferred here in US. With all the gas price hike, the going down economy, foreclosure of houses, I feel like going back to Ireland. But no!!! I chose to live here so instead plan ahead what will be good for me.

That is the reason why I am telling everyone, US is not the only place for Filipino Nurses. If you really want to go abroad, take the IELTS first before anything else.You can go anywhere with just an IELTS (as long as you pass the 7 band score). Do not waste your money spending on CGFNS or NCLEX. Even if you pass that, we cannot do anything if there's still a retrogression. That will take years I bet you. Let us not whine why life in the Philippines is very hard ( thats what I always read). Let us do something for ourselves. Positive attitude and a loving and supportive family will help a lot so we can achieve what we want in life. Good luck!!!

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

there are lots of hospitals here! you know where the problem lies???
the quality of education offered by some nursing schools, whom you know basis of employment, age discrimination, very low low low salary, and the milking of nurses of some hospitals to name a few...if only things change for the better....the question for us filipino nurses is simple, its what can we do today to make a change? tell you guys, im really passionate about the profession and it only saddens me of what i can really do to make just even a significant "dent" to this problem...and we have to start here in our country for that change....

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

hi there

I am an RN here in RP and just recently passed NCLEX and reading this thread makes me realize that its really hard getting some quality hospital experience here in the Philippines. I mean me and my friends have been trying to apply but to no avail. it seems that hospitals nowadays are resorting to some sort of "slavery" which is volunteer work without pay. I for one want to start my career here in our home country but it seems it really is hard to compromise between charity, service and self maintenance. Its such a shame this is happening to our country, especially with all the hoopla about having not enough medical personnel to service both urban and provincial hospitals because of the fact that medical institutions will not simply pay for what we are WORTH here. Its so sad.

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

There's just too many nurses and not enough hospitals to hire them. The schools here really plan to educate nurses for export and to fill the gap worldwide and now that there is not as much demand, nurses are forced to go into different areas of work unrelated to nursing.

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

As I see it (well, i may have blurry vision, but i do wear glasses) and have experienced it myself, the problem here is not simply because there are too many new nurses passing the board every half year. The main issue here is vacancy and for me, can be highly attributed to the refusal of "LEGENDARY" staffs (those who have been working for millenniums in the same position and has refused to accept growth professionally and personally) to give up their dusting seat for the new generations and end up there forever in antiquity and be hailed as an "institution" of overflowing knowledge.

Imagine having met a nurse who has been there for 25 years and has attained all the legendary recognition awards of all ages and has just bored herself for having done everything routinely and having been able to perform all sort of things without even the kick of adrenaline for knowing the turn around of events. Behold! THE LEGENDARY NURSE OF ETERNITY!

Amusing! Indeed, these people are worthy of all the loyalty awards there are to fit all standards. However, this is causing a tremendous back lag in the scale of expertise being highlighted in the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition. These antique nurses, given the century worth of experiences are still just a Nurse I...A position for prep/kinder/grade 1/novice/beginner/fresh/new. A POSITION THAT FITS PERFECTLY TO A NEWLY GRAD NOVICE NURSE.

Okay, I am there, there are no funds for promotion...then, consider this one. Why not challenge yourself/themselves to something newer or get their practice into the next level? Are those years not enough to have satisfied their/your thirst for quality service and try something that can generate new sources of purpose/will in work? They are more than fit to be called SKILLED WORKERS. They can even further their study and enter the university as deans or the administrative level. Why then remain in a position that would fully benefit new siblings? WHERE IS THE GENERATIVITY MASLOW? and stagnation is not good for your developmental growth old nurse! Isn't that too selfish? If this stagnant system will never cease, then, this maybe will be the very reason why new nurses will rot fresh. There is no turn over of positions happening. None at all. Most specially, in the most populated, most demanded, most toxic government hospitals. Most nurses there are as old as my granny who, at the moment, is already enjoying her pension.

A lot of opportunities is available with better compensation somewhere in the planet for these grannies/aunties/uncles whoever. but the very position they long so much for their own comfort and very selves are the only key for the development and training of new batches and new generations. there should be someone to at least give in...and that, if not yet obvious, will not be us, since we, at the utmost knowledge of the Divine Presence, are empty handed.

P.S. sorry for the play of words that put some exaggeration on the facts. I just maximized the massive amount of time I have...lolz

hmmm this is just another point I have noticed...something that can make the system be better if taken optimistically...well...not blaming here or whatever.

and sorry again, if this isn't in accordance to the topic, just in case. I just followed the trend in the thread.

IN TOPIC: suggestion: Make the gramp/aunt/uncle/dad/mom nurses vacate their position (where to put them? I duly think that they deserve something better than they have. If it can't be given by the hospital, then let them have the freedom to take advantage of what they've earned from their long years of practice ~make books, give seminars, give review classes, sponsor charitable programs like all of those mentioned in some threads here, teach, be hired as an adviser, be the chief nurse etc. As i have said, there are endless rooms to accommodate these highly trained well experienced beings for they are extinct. Such suggestions fit better to these people than those without any hospital experience. Imagine having a C.I. who just passed the board and entered the academe after some units of M.A.N. without any experiences and the WORLD WILL WONDER HOW EDUCATION SEEMS TO FALTER TREMENDOUSLY? SERIOUSLY? goodness!) so, after the long pause, as I was saying, vacate the position and let the newbies/noobs/newcomers/hatchlings and alike experience the world and make use of the training they have undergone as volunteers/trainees. let them practice what they have learned. if the hospital fears that they aren't competent enough to fill in the position of these legends, they better learn from Dr. Han and Dr. Owen Hunt from Grey's anatomy (another advantage of having seemingly endless vacant time ) that they will never get competent enough if they will not teach them how to. and they should fear more if these legends die without any duly successors. THAT WILL BE THE REAL DOOM!

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

Originally Posted by caycay

That is the reason why I am telling everyone, US is not the only place for Filipino Nurses. If you really want to go abroad, take the IELTS first before anything else.You can go anywhere with just an IELTS (as long as you pass the 7 band score). Do not waste your money spending on CGFNS or NCLEX. Even if you pass that, we cannot do anything if there's still a retrogression. That will take years I bet you. Let us not whine why life in the Philippines is very hard ( thats what I always read). Let us do something for ourselves. Positive attitude and a loving and supportive family will help a lot so we can achieve what we want in life. Good luck!!!

hi caycay what a story its inspire me to keep on fighting

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

How can it be easier in the Philippines when there are a lot of RNs who don't even get a job in the hospital because there are no job openings? As a result some volunteer but they can only do that for a few months because they don't get paid.

The irony is that there are a lot of RNs already but they are working non-nursing jobs because there aren't any available.

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

@ Caycay, I see your point. A very good one.

Here's a problem though, the Philippines has too much red tape in the nursing field. One major set-back that I'm going through is the IVTN which is a prerequisite for training. I don't understand why the hospital won't do it and has to wait for the ANSAP to host it. If it's a basic requirement then it should have been part of the curriculum in the first place. There are thousands of nurses waiting for this certification and we all have to call the 'trunkline' and travel distances just to attend a three day seminar of a 'basic prerequisite skill' and pay an amount 1/3 of what we would be earning as a regular nurse.

It's sad that the nursing system has been turned into money making powehourse. Please forgive my ranting but until there's a political will to fix how things are run in the system, making PH a 'better place' is wishful thinking. And yes, the legendary (otherwise, old) nurses must pave the way. No pun intended but there's a flood of new generation nurses with a new perspective and a new brand of challenges to answer that these old nurses simply do not see and perhaps, refuse to see. If they simply see things as it is, it would be easier for us new nurses.

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

cyberfanatic..

I don't think that's the ultimate solution to the problem. It just sounds downright rude for senior nurses to let them quit their current staff position just to give way to a novice nurse. I am a junior nurse at the hospital I am currently working in and the knowledge and skills that senior ("legendary" as you coined it) nurses have contributed to my growth as a professional was indespensible. Specialization takes years. Please be mindful of the things you write that might offend some people. They might not be promoted due to the unavailability of a new item.

(sorry for the moderators in advance, I can't stand someone who points fingers to others)

Re: Making things better for nurses in the Philippines

It is a labour offense to let go of the senior nurses-just to accommodate new grads and not a wise idea either. where will you get the mentoring aspect if you are as a fresh nurse work in the hospital you someone who is well experienced than a fresh grad. I am not a nurse nor a nursing student but i have interest in this subject. it sounds like some of the post here lacks maturity in their thoughts and I wonder why they become a nurse. I know for an obvious reason and I don't judge anyone if monetary or going abroad is your reason of becoming a nurse as it is the right of everyone to develop the many aspect of your, if you choose to enhance your purchasing power first by getting a nursing position that gives you more economic capacity , then I have no judgement. But I request to all posters that please don't show your immaturity because the world is reading this site and it is quite embarrassing for those Filipino nurses who have done their best to make a good impression about filipino nurses working abroad.

as a nurse you need maturity to assess all aspect that involves nursing issues including human resources. later you might be in interested in nursing recruitment or want to become head of nursing staff, and this kind of tone u demonstrate is no way land you to such position and if you do and indeed replaced senior nurses by low paid or volunteer nurse, in the Netherlands I assure you will be jailed and even loose your nursing license.

The Political maturity is lacking in the government, here in the Netherlands and in some countries i visited, hospital cannot just charge students if they clinical placement. Most hospitals (private or government) follow government directives. More so, in the country where I currently live, hospitals are required by law and hospitals followed it religiously to pay intern students, doing clinical placement. Of course in country like Phil. i do not expect that you can do and pay your intern students but congress should pass a law or the office of the president can pass an executive order prohibiting hospitals doing such activity, or maybe there is already something alike, need update on this please.

if you' re a new nurse and u find it hard to find a job do organise an activity for unemployed nurse and make a visible campaign to reform nursing issues, not only unemployment. Most of International Health NGO are interested in hiring nurses that has experience in conflict areas, do organise a signature campaign for intance to call for peace in mindanao. Nurses for Peace in Mindanao for intance, in this activity you will draw potential employer because you show not only that you are concern about other important national issues, but you show your creativity while looking for a job. So unemployed nurse you can do more for your country more than you think.

Peace and love to you all.