Demand for Nurses Abroad

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Demand of nurses abroad is one of the hottest issues nowadays.:nurse:

Could somebody give me an update regarding the current demand of nurses abroad specifically in US, Australia, Japan, Canada and London.:nurse: According to some articles there had been a decline in the demand of nurses abroad. Enrollment in the BSN program has also declined in a lot of nursing schools in the Philippines. A lot of newly licensed nurses are reviewing for NCLEX, CGFNS etc. and most of them are underemployed or unemployed.:scrying:

By the time they pass foreign examinations and earned two years of hospital experience will Filipino nurses still be in demand abroad? :scrying::nurse:

Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Can I remind people to stay to topic and not attack each other.

Debates

We promote the idea of lively debate. This means you are free to disagree with anyone on any type of subject matter as long as your criticism is constructive and polite.

The OP asked opinions and some was given that wasn't accepted by others, unfortunately it happens.

I too have worked with some good and some bad nurses from the Philippines in the same way I have worked with some good and bad nurses who trained in the UK. However when we see people posting that there is 10-20 students to a patient how on earth can you gain appropriate experience and skills to work as a nurse. When a hospital is willing to assist a nurse move from one country to another they will have some expectations, because you are a nurse, you should be able to perform a lot of basic skills and work safely. The hospital will accept there must be some sort of adaptation but to start training nurses in something which they should know isn't fair on both the hospital and other working colleagues. No one is saying that they expect a high standard of nursing care what is expected is good nursing care. Yes coming from a 'third' world country to a 'first' world country will have things which will be different but the 'third' world country has a lot more nurses and nursing schools than it can provide for and we are seeing more and more people posting on the lack of skills and not just in this forum, how will it fare if more and more countries request nursing experience before they will allow license in their country and you can not gain that experience and become stuck in a country which is already overflowing.

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Specializes in Acute Psych.

"can't we all just get along?" :p

------

"let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

"that in all things, god may be glorified."

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I agree with the Fiona59, no one wants to be used as a stepping stone. All our parents immigrated to our home country, my family worked hard fought bigotry and where proud to become Americans. No one wants any one to just to immigrate and send all their extra money home, it does not help our own economy.

As far as demand, for foreign nurses, as the economy slows there will be less demand. In the 80's and 90's foreign nurses were given housing, transportation and additional training. US Health care is running lean so that there are not the funds to support foreign nurses. Hospital can

have a hard time orienting newly licensed nurses, newly licensed nurses can be taxing on the seasoned nurses since they can't carry a full assignment, you can't asked seasoned staff to carry the load of new nurses and foreign nurses since they will burn out.

It would be helpful if foreign nurses could do an internship or bridge program similar to other countries, that is if retrogression lifts, I forsee this being a way for foreign grads to find employment in the US.

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So, my health authority should be expected to pay for remedial eduation for professional nurses who have limited skills? Who when faced with the day to day reality of working in North America flat out state that the skills we take for granted were performed by the doctors back home?

That we should have to have nurses with work experience tell us that they have never inserted an NG or a foley? Removed sutures or staples? Have performed routine vitals and assessments? Have a hard time managing total patient care on more than two patients when the existing staff are expected to carry a five patient load?

I have never claimed to be a great nurse. My patients do that in the letters they send my unit manager after being discharged home. I've also had patients that you couldn't please for trying your damnest.

What I am saying is that the greatest level of arrogance about being the best nurses in the world appeared on this forum earlier this year by numerous nurses in the Phillipines seeking employment in Canada when they were no longer able to obtain working visas for the US.

Canada is an independent nation made up of people from around the world who chosen to live here for the most part. We don't take kindly as being used as a stepping stone to enter the US.

The truth hurts and I tend to speak the truth.

If the Canadian Health authority is willing to pay the remedial education for nurses,then why not? It's not your money! They choose this because they have there reasons!!!

You might be speaking for the truth (the hell I Exactly Know!!!)???? I dont even know where you come from!!!

All I know is that your very offensive with your post that speaking as what you say was "truth" defeats its purpose!!!

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I think you are missing Fiona's point,she is from Canada and I think she will speak her mind, and it is her tax money!

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I think you are missing Fiona's point,she is from Canada and I think she will speak her mind, and it is her tax money!

Everybody pays taxes yet not everybody speaks like what she does!

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I think you are missing Fiona's point,she is from Canada and I think she will speak her mind, and it is her tax money!

I do have great respect to the people in this forum. If you would just read from the very top of this thread, it's not me who's missing a point. I can sense you're making a point, thank you for your concern.

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Everybody pays taxes yet not everybody speaks like what she does!

I pay a lot of taxes in Alberta. My patients pay a lot of taxes. And the patients are speaking out about their care by the "student nurses" on our floors. They are unhappy that some have difficulties in doing their wound care, bring the wrong meds (plain tylenol opposed to Tylenol 3s and 4s). The patients are writing to the management of the hospital.

We've explained that the new nurses are getting used to working in a new system and you know what? Most of them don't care. They read in the papers that the region was recruiting experienced nurses from overseas. The public knew that they would pay for a "nursing in Canada" refresher type course. What they don't know and we didn't expect is that some of the nurses are doing the course two and three times, their orientation is stretching out longer than expected.

All in all not good value for money. Especially when earlier this year these threads were full of posts from nurses claiming that they were coming to "save our system" and they were the "best nurses in the world". Training differs around the world and province to province over here, but I'm yet to meet a Canadian nurse who has stated they are the "best in the world". Even some of the nurses who migrated here in the 1990s are wondering what happened.

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Specializes in Oncology, Medical.

Fiona59, you are right on this. As a new RN that have witnessed the current nursing education here, I must say it is poor in terms of skills foundation. Theoretical foundation is still ok but not the same with skills. I guess it needs more practice and time to hone those skills. I am sad for fellow Filipino nurses that the reputation as being the great nurse, etc. no longer holds for the newly produced Filipino nurses nowadays. Gone were those days. And it would take some time for some to take this in.

Demand for nursing will still be there but there will be some changes that one might experience. Now that the US is on retrogression, Canada would be the next destination. As I have seen here, more foreign posters are now asking about licensing in Canada.

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capital health reps came to the philippines last november 2007 and july 2008 to recruit filipino nurses known for their caring touch, determination and willingness to do hard work. these reps from capital health who i believe are nurses too visited top private hospitals in the country as well as big government hospitals. they did occular inspection so to speak of these facilities. they were made aware of the level of nursing care the filipino nurses do from personal interviews they conducted and from what they have observed during those "inspection trips". they were also given a review and thorough breakdown of the nursing curriculum of the 3 nursing schools (out of about 100 in the country) they visited. my point is that the filipino nurses in alberta that are now giving their utmost best to prove their worth were chosen to be good and capable nurses based on capital health's criteria. in fact, capital health is scheduled to come back again in january 2009 to recruit more nurses! why do you think???

how long exactly was the orientation period given them? there must have been a mismatch of skills to the nursing job they were assigned to.

please be kind about your remarks because as you have pointed out this forum has worldwide circulation and filipino nurses reputation is put at stake. that is so unfair!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

This is a volatile subject and I must again remind members to debate without personal attacks on members.

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Specializes in CVOR, General OR.

I admit that the quality of nursing education in the Philippines is really declining (let's face it!). I think one of the reason was since nursing is in demand, many schools (could I specify computer schools as well) added nursing as their program just to earn money without even knowledge and facilities on it. But still got an accreditation from the government. One thing are the nursing instructors. I heard that there were newly grad and newly trained nurses who were hired by the affiliated schools to teach their students in the hospital. I know in our time, before you become an instructor, you have to have tons of working experience and a masters degree. Where are they now? Of course, abroad and earning more than what the employees cant pay for the best quality of service they give. And to top it all, those nurses who go abroad without any experience, fake their working experience and then were hired by foreign agencies. That is the reason why some of foreign nurses are complaining on the quality of work Pinoys have.

But on the other hand, that particular nurse who comment on this forum and targeting how filipino nurses work should not generalized and be judgemental. This will reflect on their personality as a person. And if one does not agree that Filipinos are the best nurses in the world, one does not have to get mad. Everybody can say that. That's only the attitude of us showing patriotism in our own country. Being a racist is a no no and that will give a bad impression in your country.One thing, blame it on the recruitment agency in your country not the Filipino nurses.

I live in Seattle. Me and my husband was about to go to that nearby country. I was very excited coz it will be my first time but was turned off because of what I read in this thread. We will still go and hoping to meet nice people there.

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