Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

Very well said all my fellow nurses. Volunteer nurse is now a trend here in our country and i think that is inevitable as long as there are a lot of nurses that are unemployed. A lot of us newly grad nurses will still be doing whatever we can to pursue our career and be able to use our licenses without a compensation. I suggest that keep on going you know whats best for you and for your future careers.

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

I would rather call it a "forced trend" an "exploitation trend" and of course "slave labor". According to your board of nursing you're competent enough to practice nursing your country with pay. You should NEVER be foreced to train without pay unless it's a commission based position. I encourage you all to fight back against these places. The employed nurses are getting paid for doing almost nothing, while you're doing everythinig for free.

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

The employed nurses are getting paid for doing almost nothing, while you're doing everythinig for free.

I agree

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

I would rather call it a "forced trend" an "exploitation trend" and of course "slave labor". According to your board of nursing you're competent enough to practice nursing your country with pay. You should NEVER be foreced to train without pay unless it's a commission based position. I encourage you all to fight back against these places. The employed nurses are getting paid for doing almost nothing, while you're doing everythinig for free.

This is exactly why so many Pinoys want to go to the USA since there are labor laws in place to provide them all with better work environments and they will gain the respect they deserve based on the skills they have worked hard to attain.

Many are also fighting the system here to make it work better for the people but with the current administration in place perpetuating the high levels of corruption there isn't much hope for a change without something radical happening.

I sincerely hope that whatever the radical change is that it can occur in a non-violent way.

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

Originally Posted by Hushdawg

This is exactly why so many Pinoys want to go to the USA since there are labor laws in place to provide them all with better work environments and they will gain the respect they deserve based on the skills they have worked hard to attain.

Many are also fighting the system here to make it work better for the people but with the current administration in place perpetuating the high levels of corruption there isn't much hope for a change without something radical happening.

I sincerely hope that whatever the radical change is that it can occur in a non-violent way.

The American nurses fought hard to get proper working conditions. While I am not a big organized labor person, that is what happened in the 1960's when nurses banned together. US conditions did not improve by nurses moving to another country.

I too hope for a non violent solution to any problem. The Pinoy nurses should ask for Nursing schools to stop admissions until the nurses are employed. Why crank out thousands of nurses only to have them unemployed.

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

Originally Posted by MedSurg32RN

... The Pinoy nurses should ask for Nursing schools to stop admissions until the nurses are employed. Why crank out thousands of nurses only to have them unemployed.

I totally agree! Nursing schools are increasing their admission of new students every year and by the time those students graduate, where will that leave them?

And really, those employed nurses who are working in hospitals that take in "volunteers" are getting paid by just nagging the volunteers to do this and do that for them. If they get lucky, there are students too who are doing their clinical rotations which leaves them with nothing to do at all..

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

Originally Posted by MedSurg32RN

The American nurses fought hard to get proper working conditions. While I am not a big organized labor person, that is what happened in the 1960's when nurses banned together. US conditions did not improve by nurses moving to another country.

I too hope for a non violent solution to any problem. The Pinoy nurses should ask for Nursing schools to stop admissions until the nurses are employed. Why crank out thousands of nurses only to have them unemployed.

Although I totally agree, I think the schools are only after one thing and that's $$$$$$ because it makes the world go round. IMO, money is the devil, people have an obsession with money and that's not a good thing. I'm by no means rich, but even if I have a little bit of money and a friend needs it, and it's my last $50.00, I will loan it to them if they need it to pay the electric bill, gas for their car, food for their kids, as long as I have it, I'm bank of cubanita LOL.

I believe the are still excellent schools in the Philippines that produce some excellent nurses. As there are bad schools, who suck in unsuspected people. If you pay money for an education then you deserve to get that education and nothing less.

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

Originally Posted by NurseCubanitaRN2b

I believe the are still excellent schools in the Philippines that produce some excellent nurses. As there are bad schools, who suck in unsuspected people. If you pay money for an education then you deserve to get that education and nothing less.

Agreed which is why I consistently encourage prospective nurses to look at the PRC statistics and choose schools which routinely rank with high numbers of local board passers.

Some universities here only get 10-15% of their graduates to pass local boards while others are passing at 80-90%.

Unfortunately with the government corruption as high as it is in RPH; CHED (the governing body of higher education) has no teeth to enforce any sort of standards among universities.

Ultimately it will come down to PNA deciding to stop straddling the fence and actually endorse quality levels to take things out of the hands of an inept and uncaring government.

PNA may not be able to shut down the bad schools, but if they establish a level of quality for thier own endorsement then prospective nurses could just look for PNA certification before deciding to study in a certain school.

Unfortunately the high levels of poverty also have a lot to play. Many nurses WANT the best education but end up having to settle with whatever they can afford and hope that they can work hard enough to be among the 10% that actually pass from that school.

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

Originally Posted by Hushdawg

Agreed which is why I consistently encourage prospective nurses to look at the PRC statistics and choose schools which routinely rank with high numbers of local board passers.

Some universities here only get 10-15% of their graduates to pass local boards while others are passing at 80-90%.

Unfortunately with the government corruption as high as it is in RPH; CHED (the governing body of higher education) has no teeth to enforce any sort of standards among universities.

Ultimately it will come down to PNA deciding to stop straddling the fence and actually endorse quality levels to take things out of the hands of an inept and uncaring government.

PNA may not be able to shut down the bad schools, but if they establish a level of quality for thier own endorsement then prospective nurses could just look for PNA certification before deciding to study in a certain school.

Unfortunately the high levels of poverty also have a lot to play. Many nurses WANT the best education but end up having to settle with whatever they can afford and hope that they can work hard enough to be among the 10% that actually pass from that school.

I am sorry that there is so much corruption and such poor working and living conditions in the PI, but the citizens of the PI could change that if they really wanted to and worked together (instead of focusing all their time and energy on leaving for a lucrative job in another country). Working conditions and educational standards are what they are in the US because people have worked and fought for them, and refused to tolerate less.

Re: Volunteer Nurses: Counted as a Work Experience?

I think the government should increase funding for gov't hospitals so that they would have the resources to hire more nurses here. Plus, admission to nursing schools nowadays should be limited until the thousands of unemployed nurses here find a job. There's too much of a surplus of nurses here, & adding more to it just makes the problem worse.