Filipino nurses emigrating to US

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Is there any reason that there seems to be lots of RNs trained in the Philippines that come to the US to practice?

I just wonder because I never hear of nurses from other countries coming to work in the US as much as I hear of Filipino RNs. Does it have to do with the similarity of their training compared to RNs in the US?

I was just browsing allnurses.com and found this post - very interesting.

I am a foreign graduate from the Philippines. At 21, I am already a nurse in my country, at 22 a nurse in the state of New York.

To enlighten you fellow nurses:

Nursing in the Philippines.

We have to get our BSN degree first before we take the national exam, no Assciates degree, No LPN – straight BSN then RN. That is why all Filipino nurses who were educated in the Philippines and working here are BSN degree holder. It is a 4 year course.

Gradeschool- 6 years

Highschool- 4 years

College- 4 years (BSN degree)

My experience when I was still in college pursuing nursing:

I was already on my HANDS-ON CLINICAL EXPERIENCE by 2nd year 2nd semester. By hands-on meaning – assisting and delivering a newborn, injecting hundreds of vaccines to children, doing public health nursing, assisting the surgeon during Operating Room surgery, doing assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, evaluation. Rotation involves – MEDICAL SURGICAL FLOOR, ICU, PEDIATRIC, ER, OR, OUTPATIENT, RADIOLOGY, PSYCHIATRIC, LABOR AND DELIVERY. 8 Hours 5 days on a school year. Summer time 8 H for 2 weeks

By the end of our school year we have to make sure that we

Assisted – 5 deliveries

Delivered – 5 deliveries

Assisted (OR) – 5

Circulated (OR) – 5

1 Evidenced-based study / research.

EVERYTHING HANDS-ON. We interacted to our patients, made sure that their needs are being met, and understand every purpose of our actions and do charting on patients chart.

One of my rotations was on a public maternity unit while the physician was assisting the delivery and I was on her side ready to handle the newborn after the delivery she told me to exchange position with her and to PULL THE BABY OUT, imagine a 3rd year nursing student going to pull out a baby – she instructed me what to do and how to do it and it was such a fulfillment!!!

And one of my OR rotation, I assisted a brain surgery related to MVA, witnessed a mother deliver a conjoined twins and many more.

At an outpatient surgery, most of the time it’s you and the surgeon doing the work, while the STAFF RN is doing the circulating nurse job – yes, they let the student nurse handle every case and they want the student TO LEARN THE REAL DEAL!

Our HANDS-ON experience starts at the middle of our 2nd year (some 1st year or 1st semester of 3rd year) with a total of 2500+ hours – if you are wondering how my school did this ( we had 1 month LECTURE CLASSROOM, 1 MONTH – RELATED EXPERIENCE or CLINICALS.

As far as I could remember my OR surgery cases were – mostly THYROIDECTOMY, appendectomy, spinal surgery, bone surgery, Cesarian Section and many more, me, the OR nurse, Circulating Nurse and my ‘dutymate’, surgeon, anesthesiologist and whoever wants to observed the ongoing surgery is allowed inside the operation room as long as the ‘obervants’ wont touch the patient and whatever is sterile since STERILITY IS STRICTLY IMPOSED. I remember that if my surgical gloves are bloodless then my partner - OR RN will let me assist and pass to the surgeon the needed instruments. Surgical handwashing, gloving and assIst the surgeon in EVERYTHING – PUTTING ON HIS Sterile scrub, gloving, etc. Assisted angry surgeons- who can throw instrument and can kick you out of the OR room if he is not satisfied with your work, friendly surgeons who are willing to teach you every detail on what is going on.

During my 4th year or clinicals – I had the opportunity to act as a CHARGE NURSE in the station I was assigned for 2 weeks 8 hour a day. Transcribing medications, calling the attending physician if anything happens and so on that a Charge Nurse should do.

That is why when I came here to pursue more oppurtunities, I was disappointed when I found out that the clinicals here are way different than ours. I witnessed by myself, when my Aunt was about to deliver my cousin at a city hospital – then a nurse did not let the student nurse touch / go inside the delivery room, I was shocked. Then I asked her if it is really like this here and she said yes. I did not tell her that I am a foreign nurse. I did my observation while my Aunt was delivering my cousin and right there an then, I told myself – THANK GOD, I AM A FOREIGN NURSE, TRAINED AND EDUCATED IN A COUNTRY WHERE YOU LEARN AND EXPERIENCE THE REAL DEAL.

Plus, our attitude and dedication to our chosen profession. Those not-so-good news about Filipino nurses in a foreign country are nothing compared to the positive news, report that MOST FOREIGN CLIENTS have for my fellowmen.

I know someone who works as a CNA at a private facility nursing home and he was told this exact word ( I DON”T KNOW ABOUT YOU FILIPINOS, WHY YOU ARE SO DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS? WORK ETHIC, PROFESSIONALISM, RESPECT, COMPASSION ETC.) this and there are more positive remarks about Filipino workers. It’s not all about the training, experience etc., I believe that it’s the attitude, compassion.

And if there’s more foreign nurse in your floor/ unit, it’s not them who is responsible why they are there. Go ask your nursing manager/s if you have the guts to do so. It’s not their fault that they are more ‘hireable’ than you, more competitive than you.

I respect every foreign nurses, job-seekers who are seeking employment outside their comfort zone, because nobody but us knows how hard it is to compete with others yet we chose to be competitive and challengers. And I believe that it is more enjoyable to work in a diverse culture with different types of people, that’s how you learn. And also, your patients are not only AMERICANS/ CANADIANS, if you are in a diverse community then you should expect diversity of clients and workers.

Let’s drop the inferiority and racial issues, and be open-minded and enjoy the learning we can gain from each other J

Peace and love to you all!

and BTWm it's FILIPINO not PHILIPPINO.

THANK YOU!!!!

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So in other words, one has 10 years of primary schooling, 16 year old children then go onto a university, and we have 17-18 year old's that then become meshed into a unit with hands on critical care. Then they have 2 more years and get a BSN--when in fact they have a sophmore in high school education? Really interesting. And to graduate high school in many states, one has to pass a very complicated general education test in order to get a diploma. THEN 4 years in college. This is an exact reason why the education in general is NOT comparable. We have multi year nurses who have been right in the midst of the trenches now that lack a 4 year degree (and this is after 12 years in a primary school) that have tremendous experience who are losing their jobs. In America, we also have vocational schools that also have a work/schooling set up as well, but story for another day--and in lack of the general ed component of the situation, sounds like the same type of thing. There are multiple threads on experience vs. education (which one could equate the clinical practice portion to what an LPN is trained to do--mostly bedside care, no matter how involved that may or may not be). Moving on...

Bottom line--Imported workers from other countries may be clinically savvy, "better" at nursing, whatever spin one wants to put on it-which is all subjective data-but we have multiple hundreds of thousands of displaced nurses right here. And the time, effort and money to import instead of supporting our current work force should not be right. We all have mouths to feed and other financial obligations. We need to stop taking on other's perceived entitlement and work with who we currently have in our own backyards.

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So in other words, one has 10 years of primary schooling, 16 year old children then go onto a university, and we have 17-18 year old's that then become meshed into a unit with hands on critical care. Then they have 2 more years and get a BSN--when in fact they have a sophmore in high school education? QUOTE]

Beat me to the punch when I saw "six years of grade school"......So the first two years of "college" are actually junior and senior years of American (and European) high school. Add on two years and you have a very well trained Practical Nurse.

That, and can we PLEASE knock of the arguing about immigration and who is and is not a real American? Folks, no matter WHAT country you are from, somewhere back in the family tree people people left the "Fertile Crescent" of the Nile and Euphrates rivers and set up shop somewhere different. What DOES matter is reasonable control of immigration in the 21st century. Not everyone who wants to move to the USA (or Australia, or France, or Cananda) brings value to the new county. That is why civilized nations have immigration laws about who can come, how long they can stay, and what criteria they must meet.

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why is it that any time a race or being black, or socioeconomic class is ever mentioned, everyone freak the hell out in this country? as an resident person (green card) who graduated high school and university in US (lonestar state), this is a very weird phenomenon... overly sensitive and way too easily offended just by mentioning one of the above.

as for philipinos and indian nurses, I mostly had good encounters, hard working people and did their jobs, never killed anyone, and that's what matters as far as job is concerned.

Of course, I did meet rude, incompetent nurses from all over the place who didn't give rat's rear about job and just came to collect paychecks. Some were from india, philipines, Nigeria, kenya, europe, etc etc you name any country. Yes some were black, some white, some asians, some hispanics, some etc etc. you name it. everyone needs to drop the whole race, gender, color thing. It's not what the person is, but who the individual is and how he/she was brought up.

I think it has something to do with the inherent culture of this country. Horrible acts of Racism, sexism, ageism, prejudice, and unfair socioeconomic treatment are not just RECENT history but it is still a present and reoccurring theme. I believe we are a passionate opinionated group of people who seeks the best and not okay with accepting mediocrity or being passive in regards to what we perceive to be unjust. If it were not for these attitudes, we probably would not be as far along as we are now. We influence government. We are "the land of the free and the home of the brave." Not the oversensitive.

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Specializes in ICU.

Nurse emjao exemplifies the Filipino nurses that I have worked with. Smart with an excellent work ethic. Frankly it's refreshing to work with younger nurses who have a positive attitude and a desire to work.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

We've had a few filipino nurses where I work, but the hospital system actually recruited from India. We had a large group of Indian nurses and they were all experienced. In fact they actually came in handy when we had patients that speak Urdu from Pakistan because they usually knew several languages besides english. The only downside like someone mentioned was when there were several of them they would speak in their native language in front of you and you were then the odd person out.

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Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.

For the entirety of my career, I've been one of maybe 2 non - Filipino and non - Indian nurses on my unit each day. Some days 100% Filipino + me.

At my new job, I'm the only anglo, with 2 Mexicans and 9 Filipinos.

I think it varies regionally.

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So technically,an ADN in America is equal to the Filipino Bsn?

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I was just browsing allnurses.com and found this post - very interesting.

I am a foreign graduate from the Philippines. At 21, I am already a nurse in my country, at 22 a nurse in the state of New York.

To enlighten you fellow nurses:

Nursing in the Philippines.

We have to get our BSN degree first before we take the national exam, no Assciates degree, No LPN - straight BSN then RN. That is why all Filipino nurses who were educated in the Philippines and working here are BSN degree holder. It is a 4 year course.

Gradeschool- 6 years

Highschool- 4 years

College- 4 years (BSN degree)

My experience when I was still in college pursuing nursing:

I was already on my HANDS-ON CLINICAL EXPERIENCE by 2nd year 2nd semester. By hands-on meaning - assisting and delivering a newborn, injecting hundreds of vaccines to children, doing public health nursing, assisting the surgeon during Operating Room surgery, doing assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, evaluation. Rotation involves - MEDICAL SURGICAL FLOOR, ICU, PEDIATRIC, ER, OR, OUTPATIENT, RADIOLOGY, PSYCHIATRIC, LABOR AND DELIVERY. 8 Hours 5 days on a school year. Summer time 8 H for 2 weeks

By the end of our school year we have to make sure that we

Assisted - 5 deliveries

Delivered - 5 deliveries

Assisted (OR) - 5

Circulated (OR) - 5

1 Evidenced-based study / research.

EVERYTHING HANDS-ON. We interacted to our patients, made sure that their needs are being met, and understand every purpose of our actions and do charting on patients chart.

One of my rotations was on a public maternity unit while the physician was assisting the delivery and I was on her side ready to handle the newborn after the delivery she told me to exchange position with her and to PULL THE BABY OUT, imagine a 3rd year nursing student going to pull out a baby - she instructed me what to do and how to do it and it was such a fulfillment!!!

And one of my OR rotation, I assisted a brain surgery related to MVA, witnessed a mother deliver a conjoined twins and many more.

At an outpatient surgery, most of the time it's you and the surgeon doing the work, while the STAFF RN is doing the circulating nurse job - yes, they let the student nurse handle every case and they want the student TO LEARN THE REAL DEAL!

Our HANDS-ON experience starts at the middle of our 2nd year (some 1st year or 1st semester of 3rd year) with a total of 2500+ hours - if you are wondering how my school did this ( we had 1 month LECTURE CLASSROOM, 1 MONTH - RELATED EXPERIENCE or CLINICALS.

As far as I could remember my OR surgery cases were - mostly THYROIDECTOMY, appendectomy, spinal surgery, bone surgery, Cesarian Section and many more, me, the OR nurse, Circulating Nurse and my 'dutymate', surgeon, anesthesiologist and whoever wants to observed the ongoing surgery is allowed inside the operation room as long as the 'obervants' wont touch the patient and whatever is sterile since STERILITY IS STRICTLY IMPOSED. I remember that if my surgical gloves are bloodless then my partner - OR RN will let me assist and pass to the surgeon the needed instruments. Surgical handwashing, gloving and assIst the surgeon in EVERYTHING - PUTTING ON HIS Sterile scrub, gloving, etc. Assisted angry surgeons- who can throw instrument and can kick you out of the OR room if he is not satisfied with your work, friendly surgeons who are willing to teach you every detail on what is going on.

During my 4th year or clinicals - I had the opportunity to act as a CHARGE NURSE in the station I was assigned for 2 weeks 8 hour a day. Transcribing medications, calling the attending physician if anything happens and so on that a Charge Nurse should do.

That is why when I came here to pursue more oppurtunities, I was disappointed when I found out that the clinicals here are way different than ours. I witnessed by myself, when my Aunt was about to deliver my cousin at a city hospital - then a nurse did not let the student nurse touch / go inside the delivery room, I was shocked. Then I asked her if it is really like this here and she said yes. I did not tell her that I am a foreign nurse. I did my observation while my Aunt was delivering my cousin and right there an then, I told myself - THANK GOD, I AM A FOREIGN NURSE, TRAINED AND EDUCATED IN A COUNTRY WHERE YOU LEARN AND EXPERIENCE THE REAL DEAL.

Plus, our attitude and dedication to our chosen profession. Those not-so-good news about Filipino nurses in a foreign country are nothing compared to the positive news, report that MOST FOREIGN CLIENTS have for my fellowmen.

I know someone who works as a CNA at a private facility nursing home and he was told this exact word ( I DON"T KNOW ABOUT YOU FILIPINOS, WHY YOU ARE SO DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS? WORK ETHIC, PROFESSIONALISM, RESPECT, COMPASSION ETC.) this and there are more positive remarks about Filipino workers. It's not all about the training, experience etc., I believe that it's the attitude, compassion.

And if there's more foreign nurse in your floor/ unit, it's not them who is responsible why they are there. Go ask your nursing manager/s if you have the guts to do so. It's not their fault that they are more 'hireable' than you, more competitive than you.

I respect every foreign nurses, job-seekers who are seeking employment outside their comfort zone, because nobody but us knows how hard it is to compete with others yet we chose to be competitive and challengers. And I believe that it is more enjoyable to work in a diverse culture with different types of people, that's how you learn. And also, your patients are not only AMERICANS/ CANADIANS, if you are in a diverse community then you should expect diversity of clients and workers.

Let's drop the inferiority and racial issues, and be open-minded and enjoy the learning we can gain from each other J

Peace and love to you all!

and BTWm it's FILIPINO not PHILIPPINO.

THANK YOU!!!!

I have no issues with inferiority or race. I just believe that qualified nurses in this country should have priority when it comes to employment. I'm sorry if that offends you.

And if there's more foreign nurse in your floor/ unit, it's not them who is responsible why they are there. Go ask your nursing manager/s if you have the guts to do so. It's not their fault that they are more 'hireable' than you, more competitive than you.

Very insulting and uncalled for. It has nothing to do with "not having the guts" to talk to a manager. We have no control over what administration chooses to do.

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This notion that only Filipinos strive to work in the ICU because it impresses their families is ridiculous, do a poll at any given nursing school whether it be adn or bsn and you will find many nursing students who want to work in such and such department to get respect from their family, or because thats where their mother worked, or because thats where their grandmother worked....you dont have to be Filipino for that to be your motive; there are easily many black, white, spanish, etc, students who would all fit the bill. Granted not all nursing students have that as their motive for desiring a certain job out of graduation, but to say its based on race, or only occurring in one culture is ludicris.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Float Pool Nursing.
This notion that only Filipinos strive to work in the ICU because it impresses their families is ridiculous, do a poll at any given nursing school whether it be adn or bsn and you will find many nursing students who want to work in such and such department to get respect from their family, or because thats where their mother worked, or because thats where their grandmother worked....you dont have to be Filipino for that to be your motive; there are easily many black, white, spanish, etc, students who would all fit the bill. Granted not all nursing students have that as their motive for desiring a certain job out of graduation, but to say its based on race, or only occurring in one culture is ludicris.

That isn't what we said. We didn't say that only filipinos dream of working in intensive care. What we said was that filipinos are exceptionally drawn to the ICU because of a cultural component. Of course other people want to work in the ICU, but filipinos strive for it was a specific drive.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Just to clear things up: the Philippines' 10 year curriculum is the same as in the US/UK, depending on the school. I know because I applied to and was accepted in three ivy league schools after high school and wasn't required to attend two additional years of high school (it was just so expensive, with the tuition and housing and all!). I have former teachers who are now leading a major advancement in the curriculum of some schools in Texas, and what they just recently helped implement there is what these teachers have been doing in the Philippines for 10+ years prior to moving to the US. It's just compressed to 10 years (I have a niece in the Philippines, she's in 3rd grade and what they're studying is the same as what my 5th grade niece is taking up here in California. The 3rd grader can throw hoops around the 5th grader, mind you). Now, the BSN curriculum is also the same, just with additional units for Community Health Nursing, and hands-on practice (deliveries, assists, major and minor OR cases). Even the number of students per instructor (8 to 10) is the same. AND no, the first two years of college is not equivalent to grades 11 and 12. A student in the Philippines, who finished 1st and 2nd year of college can continue his/her studies in the US without having to start over (again, and I have to stress this, provided that that student is from a reputable school). So also no, Philippine BSN is not equal to US LPN. That is the standard. Now, understand this standard is not implemented strictly so only those schools that care about their integrity adhere to this, and only those students who are qualified can enter the program of those specific schools. As a result, we all get to encounter nurses with subpar knowledge and skills, and they **** the hell out of me, too. Don't even get me started on those who fake documents.

Now, why are there more Filipinos than other nationalities coming to the US? Because the Philippines was acquired by the US when Madrid sued for peace during the American-Spanish war (RE: Treaty of Paris), but note that as early as the 1800s, there was already a documented presence of Filipinos in the United States (RE: Manila men of Saint Malo village, Louisiana). The Philippines has a long history with the US. If you have time, here is a great article about the history of Filipino immigrants: ASIAN JOURNAL a San Diego original. The 1st Asian Journal in Ca,USA. A Filipino American weekly. Online | Digital | Print Editions.

"Since the early pensionados did not experience much prejudice and discrimination, they came back to the Philippines with glowing reports and unrealistic views of mainstream American culture. These false impressions gave false hopes and expectations to the second group of immigrant laborers known as the “manongs” (old timers)."

Why do US hospitals hire immigrants rather than homegrowns? Remember the process for work-based visas take years so it might just have been a matter of timing. They were probably hired years ago and were just able to finish the process now. The salary is the same, except maybe for those privately owned nursing homes that hire undocumented workers who, of course, these employers can get away with paying less. Other than that, maybe it has more to do with qualifications? There are Filipinos (and other nationalities) who are just as qualified. After all, there are world-class hospitals in the Philippines, 4 are JCI-accredited (but then there are also the severely poorly-managed ones I'd-rather-die-on-the-side-of-the-road-than-be-treated-in. LOL.). I'm sure there are a lot of skilled American nurses (both my aunts are US-educated nurses) and new grads and it may seem like the immigrants are "taking away" the jobs simply because there are so many competing for it.

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