Fillipino nurses, their way of doing things abroad

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I have been looking for threads on this topic,so far all of these threads get closed up (locked). That is a sad thing because as a non-filipino nurse we need a place to go to talk about this.This doesnt mean necessarily in a negative way. I dont dare say one thing or my thoughts because it will be closed. I will say this my new, first job it is apparently a Filipino hospital. I assumed it was an American one. I was hired by the one of the handful of Americans. Already I see the standards are different and there are other noticeable differences as well. Reading the other threads on this topic was a tremendous help. As an American we are accustomed to a high quality of care being given, good amount of honesty & integrity, cleanliness, compassion for the patient as a living human being. I chose to work here because of all the experience I would have but I want to learn the correct way. Also not all but most of these nurses seem not to welcome outsiders as Ive already been forewarned. These are the ones that either throw their credentials in my face without being asked or act so mean and disagreeable and write up another nurse without so much as a simple warning first. I am glad that I was able to find other nurses at allnurses willing to talk about this and that I am not the only one noticing these things. There are other foreigners but there are not as many as the filipinos. Things are not all hearts and flowers, this is a nursing board where we need to be able to be open to discuss our experiences. Commenting on this is not biased but based on the fact of personal experiences. Evidently USA healthcare standards are decling based on this and what can you do when those in charge are filipinos.

I think a lot of people forget that foreign people and graduates must overcome a great deal just to walk through that door in the hospital. They leave their family and friends behind, their food, their culture, their language and even their weather. Take that fact, mix it in with youth (that I feel crosses all cultural and ethnic boundaries) and there is bound to be a learning curve, (hopefully a manageable one)to be sure.

I don't really think that the OP was trying to be racist. If we talked openly about problems before they came to become actual problems, I suppose we would not be in the messes we are in. OP, have you tried addressing your problems directly with the "offending parties"? Have you "wiped the slate clean" over the trivialities so that you could start over with people? You might find that changing your perspective will serve you better in the long run. Things are not always as they appear, and believe me, the grass is ALWAYS greener. Your first job right? I have never met anyone who really got the hang of their "first job", or felt situated or acclimatized to it. It is a learning experience like many more that we will face in our careers, and that we all face.

I have not addressed the offending party because Im hoping that as time goes on, we can get down to the business of teamwork as nurses. There are always difficult people, just happens the facility where I work is dominated by nurses that are filipinos.

I appreciate your saying that if we talk openly about problems we can hopefully make things better. I was caught off guard by what I saw and heard. I find it very difficult to believe people are actually as mean and uncaring as they may appear to be even if I know some people are. Im still not understanding why many of them stated their credentials to me and stated what they thought were mine when I did not ask nor were we discussing this topic.

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Looks like this changed from an antiFilipino thread to a proFilipino thread. Nice :)

Just want to correct you. This was not started as an antiFilipino thread. This is allnurses a place for nurse to ask questions, vent and discuss their personal experiences and is what I was doing. What is wrong with that?

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Just want to add that a filippino charge nurse brought in alot of food. She projected her voice to say, "this is for filippinos only". She went slow on annunciating the filippino part, I was sitting right there, she didnt need to project. They ate, never offered or shared anything with me. This has nothing to do with nursing but just shows a little of the attitude and nastiness that Im referring to. I could add so much more ... My friends, fillipino included tell me to get my experience at this particular facility and then leave.

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The Filipino nurses I have worked with have been awesome. All of the ones I have worked with had bachelors degrees. They have all been experienced, professional and compassionate. It surprises me that the OP thinks that there are many nurses out there who share her negative opinion of Filipino nurses. In my experience everyone I know likes working with Filipinos. Furthermore, why should it matter what nationality someone is? OP, I see that you are a new grad--you probably have a lot to learn from your coworkers. Be sure not to turn them off with your racism.

Im a racist you say? I am not a racist. I am expressing my personal experiences at the facility where I work. A filipino nurse where I work told me that in order to become a nurse in their homeland, they are required to get the bachelors. Not everyone is nice, professional and compassionate. I happen to work with quite a few of these. Could it be at all possible that some filippino nurses may be racist? All people have prejudices and it is a very different dynamic when the fillipino nurses are in the majority in such a huge way as where i work, believe me. It matters the nationality in this case because this is a visually filippino dominated facility. I say some or most, you remove these words to just say filippino nurses, that was not what i meant at all...because to remove that one word would mean all of them. I was not saying ALL of them nor do I believe ALL of them are as some in this facility

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Specializes in Lactation Ed, Pp, MS, Hospice, Agency.

OP I have felt your pain!

I want to tell u my own personal experience: in my former hosp I dreaded & HATED having to give report to many of the n/s Fil. nurses. I felt as if I was going into battle nearly everytime. When I attempted to discuss this I only got ignored. I was made to feel stupid (I was a new grad), inadequate & incompetent. Sadly, I wasn't the only one. A sweet d/s Fil. nurse quit b/c of this very reason. I'll never forget her saying "these r my own people & they make me feel like I am an inadequate nurse" (she had 20+yrs experience). Yes, nurses do eat their young. And in my own experience it wasn't the American nurses that were trying to eat me. :sniff:

BTW: My d/s co-wker Fil. nurses were wonderful & helpful!

God I'm glad I don't wk there anymore!

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what's after this thread... complains against whites? or blacks? this posting is irresponsible it needs to be closed....:smokin:

This is my point, if any group of people dominate a facility and proceed to mistreat others (staff that are not of their nationality and patients) , it needs to be addressed. In my case, it happens to be some filippino nurses at the facility where I work. It doesnt feel good and I have feelings too that matter. They need to understand this as they would want anyone else to if it were them.

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Funny thing though, I have filippino friends that are nurses when I spoke to them about my situation they (4 of them incl 2 I work with) agree with me and were understanding about this. I have even had after a few days not only other nurses but a nurse superior warn me about their behaviour in this environment. She even told them in front of me, "treat her right because we dont want her to leave".

OP

Do you think this is a nursing culture instead of Filippino culture misunderstanding? How about can we say "eating the young" ?

It almost seems like you were primed for misunderstandings.

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Just want to add that a filippino charge nurse brought in alot of food. She projected her voice to say, "this is for filippinos only". She went slow on annunciating the filippino part, I was sitting right there, she didnt need to project. They ate, never offered or shared anything with me. This has nothing to do with nursing but just shows a little of the attitude and nastiness that Im referring to. I could add so much more ... My friends, fillipino included tell me to get my experience at this particular facility and then leave.

That's simply incredibly rude and mean, no matter the ethnicity. And given the your Philippino friends are telling you to leave tells me that this is a couple of nasty brats, not something endemic to Pinay nurses.

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just want to add that a filippino charge nurse brought in alot of food. she projected her voice to say, "this is for filippinos only". she went slow on annunciating the filippino part, i was sitting right there, she didnt need to project. they ate, never offered or shared anything with me. this has nothing to do with nursing but just shows a little of the attitude and nastiness that im referring to. i could add so much more ... my friends, fillipino included tell me to get my experience at this particular facility and then leave.

i am not calling you a liar, but i can just hardly believe this. i have never walked past a filipino who was eating i knew who did not say "let's eat!" (and mean it, seriously, as in, pull up a chair and eat my food with me). it is completely part of their culture, as far as i have known and experienced first hand. this group you are in with seems to be crazy. err, get out?!

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As a student i have met some lovely nurses and some down right nasty nurses but some of the nicest ones i have met have been those of different origins to myself. I am currantly at a mental health placement and there is 3 phil nurses who have welcomed me and helped me out so much by pointing me in the right direction, supported and prompted me throughout the placement. They taught me the routine of the place.

The nastiness that i have experienced has been from the native british nurses and its evil, there is no better word for it as nursing is hard enough as it is without a group of people making it harder.I have also witnessed nasty behaviour towards the foreign nurses from the native nurses.

As for the person who said about the potlucks-Oh yes they are fantastic and i have been given a set of recipies from one of the phil nurses and boy are they yummy. I adore cooking and always on the lookout for new things to try.

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I am not calling you a liar, but I can just hardly believe this. I have never walked past a Filipino who was eating I knew who did not say "Let's Eat!" (and mean it, seriously, as in, pull up a chair and eat my food with me). It is completely part of their culture, as far as I have known and experienced first hand. This group you are in with seems to be crazy. Err, get out?!

I have nothing to prove to you. It was said period. Hard to believe, well dear, I was shocked but pretended not to hear and proceeded with business as usual. I have already seen this one's actions on the floor...w/that this shouldnt have surprised me but it did.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Geriatrics.

I can't believe this ignorant topic still remains. I have just as much of a problem with a thread that attributes all positive behaviors to one group of people as all negative behaviors. I have worked with many Filipino nurses over the years and just like people of other races there are some who were nice, hardworking, etc and some who were not.......does that really need to be said?

Apparently so.

What the OP does not understand is that she has taken her negative experience and attributed it to her co-workers ethnicity/nationality. THAT is why this thread bites. Personally I suspect that a lot of her experiences are directly a result of her own personality flaws/inherent prejudices.

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