How About Us?

ngiyaw · Sep 26, 2008

everytime I see nursing students I want to tell them and say "Run and shift to another course! Your lives will be ruined!" hehehehe...well the most pathetic course here in our country is the allied health course (nursing,doctor,PT,OT,caregiver etc) because every pinoy whenever they're sick, most of them won't consult a doctor yet until their case is worse. So the formula goes for the healthcare in our country (and most of you would agree with me):

Sick+no money= death

griffon · Sep 26, 2008

Hey! I was just wondering if the provincial hospitals can be an alternative to volunteering. I know that some have gone that route. I doubt their small salary would even cover your monthly expenses, but it beats volunteering where all of your money is coming out of your pocket. Not to mention the "training fee". And not to mention too, the bad treatment one endures from the stories we've heard.

This isn't the best choice after graduating, but it's the best alternative given the circumstances. You get experience working in a hospital and you are paid (more or less). Isn't that what the foreign hospitals are looking for - paid experience?

Anyway, I think cyberfanatic is simply putting to words what the nursing profession actually goes through. He is sharing his experience as they happened (getting treated poorly, being abused and being overworked and not paid and not recognized) which we can only hope doesn't happen to us as well. While we wish for things to get better for new nursing graduates, we also have to be proactive in trying to find solutions. If there are horrible scenes in the nursing profession in the bigger cities like Manila, San Juan, Makati, Mandaluyong, Cebu, Davao and so on, I think it could be a real alternative to go back to our hometowns and our provinces and work honestly and professionally, get treated with dignity and get paid as well.

If worse comes to worst and our own provinces are as bad, then I guess we have to go deeper into the jungles and boondocks of the Philippines. Good luck to us all.

ngiyaw · Sep 26, 2008

hey yoo jin, I wanna get out of this situation that we're in! It's like im drowning in a seafull of nurses here in our country.

If one foreign nurse would work in our hospital,then they would understand our healthcare system on how our govt "values" nurses, how we are overworked and underpaid, how we have to endure worse nurse patient ratio's and if we nurses get sick we have to pay our own bills, our beloved govt doesn't care about our benefits...and the list would go on.

Regarding the volunteer stuff. I refuse to pay those hospitals who charges volunteer fees. Why should I pay? I am giving my services for free for that matter. And for those who are volunteering right now and experiencing those "hard to take duty woes" = this is a form of payback time from the regular staff..coz during their time they also experienced this-when they were volunteering

I never imagined that this would be hereditary...lol

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Sep 26, 2008

Smoking was once tolerated in the US. Doctors and nurses smoked in the nurse's station and in patient's room. That is not tolerated anymore. In fact the hospital wants to stop smoking in your own car if on hospital property.

I say, you have to want to make your countrymen value health. Try a BP clinic for free and see who shows up. I see many opportunities, you all say you pay lots of taxes, where is your money going? Hold your politicians accountable!

What about large employers, much has been written about keeping a healthy work force, sell yourself as an occupational health nurse, request to get paid on a portion of the health savings!

Working conditions are bad, you say, how about organizing professionally. That is what has helped progress our countries.

suzanne4, RN · Sep 27, 2008

Hey! I was just wondering if the provincial hospitals can be an alternative to volunteering. I know that some have gone that route. I doubt their small salary would even cover your monthly expenses, but it beats volunteering where all of your money is coming out of your pocket. Not to mention the "training fee". And not to mention too, the bad treatment one endures from the stories we've heard.
This isn't the best choice after graduating, but it's the best alternative given the circumstances. You get experience working in a hospital and you are paid (more or less). Isn't that what the foreign hospitals are looking for - paid experience?
Anyway, I think cyberfanatic is simply putting to words what the nursing profession actually goes through. He is sharing his experience as they happened (getting treated poorly, being abused and being overworked and not paid and not recognized) which we can only hope doesn't happen to us as well. While we wish for things to get better for new nursing graduates, we also have to be proactive in trying to find solutions. If there are horrible scenes in the nursing profession in the bigger cities like Manila, San Juan, Makati, Mandaluyong, Cebu, Davao and so on, I think it could be a real alternative to go back to our hometowns and our provinces and work honestly and professionally, get treated with dignity and get paid as well.
If worse comes to worst and our own provinces are as bad, then I guess we have to go deeper into the jungles and boondocks of the Philippines. Good luck to us all.

Most definitely, they can be used and should be. The salary may be poor, but you will be getting experience and it will count as experience and not as a volunteer and you do not have to pay for it. And you may actually enjoy it.

There are so many things to do, there is big world out there. Best of luck to you.

suzanne4, RN · Sep 27, 2008

I have lived out of the US as well as had the travel itch to see other countries and experience things that are done there. I am very aware of what is happening in the Philippines, but that is still no reason that any of you cannot create your own jobs. There is really no other choice if you wish to practice in nursing at this time for you there and it can be done.

If you take the time to do some reading on the sticky at the top that I started, you will see responses by quite a few for what they have done or are going to be doing. There is absolutely no reason that you cannot do it. Setting up something does not mean that you are automatically going to get paid for it, but you are not paying to do it as you are in the volunteer setting in a hospital; and you may actually enjoy it. Facilities are always looking for people that are go-getters and look outside the box. It makes it easier to get hired in the first place later on, as well gives you good experience as well.

Your choice as to what to do, but complaining that there is nothing just does not work for me. There are many things that you can do if you take the time to think about it.

rn4ever? · Sep 27, 2008

If it is true that volunteering in Philippine hospitals would not really benefit you---in the sense that you cannot claim it to be an actual professional nursing experience so that you can apply abroad or elsewhere (add the fact that you even have to pay them to be "trained"), I would strongly suggest that you don't do it anymore. The reason why these hospitals take advantage of these trainees is because they "buy" the story that they can use the certification to apply abroad later on. The best way to find out is to ask the actual recruiter/employer-to-be. If they tell you that it doesn't count, then quit participating in it if you really don't want to. I think that with the retrogression, unstable economy, and all other issues, one will be better off working another type of job or perhaps working in a call center raking in decent pay than being "taken advantage of" (as claimed by some posters here) by hospitals. Afterall, later on, when things get better, as long as you have your license, you can always retrain---a nurse will always be a nurse.

13th stranger · Sep 27, 2008

to all those venting out, i sympathize and i understand and i strongly agree!

yes, i'm a nurse, yes, i'm supposed to be compassionate and everything and make service the reason why i took up this course and everything..but hey..

i spent years of my life taking up this course so that in the future, i could be EMPLOYED, not EXPLOITED. and by employed, i actually mean a job that is somehow appropriate for a licensed professional...with the appropriate benefits, working conditions, etc. otherwise, i'd just have stayed home and trained to be a house helper.

yes, no one forced me to take up nursing, and no one is forcing me to be a volunteer now. but just because no one is forcing me doesnt mean that i can't have an opinion on what's happening to us nurses here.

yeah, just also venting. thanks. :)

woknblues · Sep 27, 2008

hi alex, i'll just respond here inline with your comments

i say, you have to want to make your countrymen value health.
problem is, people have to decide whether to feed their children for a week, or go to a hospital to pay for a biopsy of that growing hard mass in their breast. guess what they pick?
try a bp clinic for free and see who shows up.
these are all over the place in the philippines. in every community (called barangay). amazingly, they are highly ineffective, since most people cannot afford the expensive medical treatments that the assessment would indicate. high bp is a pretty big problem here actually, (physiology and diet, likely)
i see many opportunities, you all say you pay lots of taxes, where is your money going? hold your politicians accountable!
most filipinos don't pay taxes. the reason is that most work here is through networks of friends and family and community, all propping each other up. look at it this way, 90% of nurses "employed" in the philippines are either "volunteer", or stipend paid nurses. the "lucky" 10% are either staff nurses making 5,000 pesos ($100 usd) a month - 30,000 depending on the usual length of service, postion, private/public or are clinical instructors making 20k-30k. all of these people are paying a lot of tax by percentage, yes, but there are few of them. also, they are likely working 10 hour days, 6 days a week. politicians in america could learn a thing or two about dirty politics in the philippines. it is as if thy studied it, then turned it into an artform.
what about large employers, much has been written about keeping a healthy work force, sell yourself as an occupational health nurse, request to get paid on a portion of the health savings!
most places are not interested in keeping a healthy workforce. they simply demand that all applicants be between the ages of x and y. for example, an entry level position in a department store in the philippines would list as the requirements, "saleslady, 5'4"-5'8" in height, 21-26 years old, with bachelors degree in marketing and with pleasing personality and 2" x 2" picure with resume"
labor laws in the philippines are extrememly loose. nepotism is not "a" way, but the "only" way.
working conditions are bad, you say, how about organizing professionally. that is what has helped progress our countries.
professional organization requires a supportive government or accessible judicial system, neither of which is present in the philippines. they do have "people revolutions" here every few years, new governments installed with new promises, and same old story, year, after year, after year, ad nauseum.

i hope i don't come off arguementative. i just hope to bring a few couterpoints, not because yours are not valid or wrong. it is likely impossible, to describe how impossible it is for many highly educated, resourceful people to do everything right (work hard, go to school, be law abiding, etc) and yet get nothing in return for it. low/ no pay jobs, descrimination for not being someone's nephew, dark skin color, etc, chosing food over health for your family, etc.

i am not a filipino, but i see what they go through, day after day.

i am all for making opportunities for yourself, and that is going to be the only way that your average "juan de la cruz" will ever get ahead (or to "even") without help from an aunty in new york, white tinted skin, being over 5'8", a politician or landowner.

male_nurse22 · Sep 28, 2008

GOOD DAY EVERYONE!! I think cyberfanatic said it all he expressed all the accumulated feelings of tired and abused volunteer nurses. I know that somehow we should blame ourselves for taking this call of human caring thinking that our government can't even support our sick health care system. Well we just pray and do our best to health our nation.

male_nurse22 · Sep 28, 2008

I actually volunteered in our community hospital in the province before i moved in to this tertiary hospital its really very full filing serving at your own community aside from the lessened expenses:). In this hospital I experienced and learned about being a real nurse where in you actually conduct health teachings to your patients master all basic nursing skills and being treated as staff nurse. Even they don't pay you, you are offered free food. :wink2:hehehe

mark22 · Sep 28, 2008

Thats true, very sad experience to get involve to a hospital as a Volunteer, or pay the hospita for training which there were lots of pending applicants b4 you.