6-Month Community Service Requirement

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I have a niece in the Philippines who became a board-certified RN in 2007. She has been working for about a month so far at a government hospital. It was disheartening to learn that she would have to work without pay or even allowance for 6 months, but we just accepted that that's the way things are done in PI. In fact, they charged her P500 for the privilege of working at the hospital.

However, yesterday a surgeon I know who works in the Philippines told me--and I'm trying to determine if he's correct--that the 6 months without pay is a pay-back program that only applies to nurses who received government assistance for their education. My niece received no government assistance. I paid 100% of her educational costs.

The doctor was telling me that she appears to be the victim of corruption, bamboozled into thinking that the 6-month community service applies to ALL new nurses, including ones that paid their own way. He said the hospital could be shut down if such practices were reported to the DOH.

Is he correct about it only applying to recipients of government financial help? And if so, is it possible to "fight city hall" and rescue her P60k+ salary of six months? :o

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Does anyone know if it's true what I heard from a surgeon in PI that, specifically in the Philippines, the requirement that a nurse's initial 6-months be without pay applies only to nurses who received financial assistance from the government, whereas nurses who paid their own way through school are supposed to get paid a full salary from the start? I'm trying to determine whether it's by corruption that my niece's initial P60k is being kept from her.

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The requirement for repayment for the training in a government facility is at least two years, not just six months.

We have seen everything happening over there, but sounds like your niece is speaking of one of the training programs or volunteer programs that the nurse actually has to pay to take. And the cerificate of completion that they get does not mean anything to employers overseas, as it was just training and not actual paid work experience for them.

If you want specifics as to that particular hospital, suggest that you send the name of the facility to me via pm and I will try to find out for you. Do not post the name here.

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Congratulations on your niece's hard earned BSN and Licensure. Unfortunately here in the Philippines she is in the midst of a huge surge in the number of BSN's that are licensed to practice. The hospitals here are taking advantage of this by letting nurses "pay for training" if they want to be considered for employment later on. This tactic has worked well for the hospitals as there are tens of thousands of recent graduate nurses all trying for a very few paying positions at hospitals.

Your quest for justice will most likely fall on deaf ears, as the competition is so fierce for paying jobs, that the average salary is still just about $200.00 / month for a BSN degree nurse!! Currently there are in excess of 600,000 nurse students in the system, of which less than half will pass their licensure exam on graduation. Thats still a lot of bodies out there trying to fight for the few pitiful paying jobs so the hospitals are reaping the benefit of a huge over supply of talent to fill in the demand.

The "good" news is that turnover is indeed very high in the hospitals as nurses are flocking to open jobs in countries in the middle east, Australia, Canada etc....

In the meantime, her hope for permanent work will depend on how she performs in her "pay for training" period and if she can get the support of Nursing management and physicians to employ her full time. Its a terrible game to be caught up in, but that is the reality of 400 nursing schools churning out tens of thousands of nurses each semester.

Unless your niece can get into a foreign program of hiring outside the Philippines, she will be forced to accept low pay and hard work as her reward for staying in the profession. The facts are that most call centers and med transcription service centers have more BSN graduates on staff than the hospitals do!!

Plan on the next 5 years of flooding of the system with graduating nurses until the system balances itself out with a huge trimming of the student nurse population. This will indeed put those nurses who are truly dedicated to the "call of the profession" to the test of time. Its a terrible dilemma for your niece, but nonetheless the harsh reality of this countries appetite for grabbing the lucrative nursing student tuition!!

Hoss

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Thanks for the informative responses. Wow. It's a brutal situation for nurses. Not a peso to live on for a half a year. And so even though the 6 months without pay is not supposed to apply to those that paid their own way (e.g. through help from family), I guess it does anyway because they could quickly be replaced by another who is not expecting to be paid.

I have two more questions.

1. Is there much hope for retention of nurses who have weathered the 6 months and, although they have built valuable experience, would still cost the hospital at least P10k a month more than if they were replaced by a new graduate? It seems like hospitals might be motivated to just keep the revolving door spinning to save on nurse salaries except perhaps for nurses with stellar performance.

2. Someone suggested to me that if she were to find and marry an American guy and come to the United States soon without waiting for the 2 years to pass, her nursing career in the U.S. would hampered because important credentials would be withheld. Is there any truth to that? She has her diploma and her license. She also has her board certification, but I understand that only helps in PI and not in the US. Wouldn't she only need to take the NCLEX after moving to be off and running with her nursing career in the US, or are there some other needed documents/credentials she would be missing?

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If she is in love with an American, then marriage is a natural progression for her. However, if that is simply a means to an end, immigration only, then she is swapping a miserable marriage for a profit motive and will do her nothing but harm in the long run.

There are wonderful benefits to being a Filipino Nurse, they have a world wide reputation for excellent skills as nurses. She need not look just to the USA as the whole world recognizes her skills and offer opportunities that are not available to her in the Philippines. I would suggest looking into programs throughout Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East (Saudi, Dubai) and even Northern Europe/Scandinavia. The 5 year wait (if not longer) for US Immigration is not the end of her life dream. She can find good employment and gain valuable experience in other English language countries, or train in a new language, and make her career decisions based on her experience and job satisfaction....not just the ability to get married and gain entry to the US only.

Encourage her to spend time on forums like AllNurses and to ask questions directly to nurses in other countries that offer jobs and career advancement in Nursing. Also, since she is young and single, world travel should not be an obstacle to her future, but rather a stepping stone to greater challenges and education advancement. Look at the World Health Organization, United Nations, Project HOPE, and other such organizations that may offer new graduate nurses opportunities outside of the Philippines. Her passport gives her the means to travel, her education gives her the skill set for a professional career and her Filipina Heart and Smile will win a world of adventure for her.

Happy New Year and good luck in your efforts, Phil. The Adventure Begins!!

Hoss

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To marry an American for the sole purpose of getting a visa to work in the US will get her deported. They are going over every marriage with a fine tooth comb because of the retrogression.

Hoss has made some excellent suggestions to you, and is quite correct in what is happening in the Philippines right now. It is going to take several years for it to correct itself and get back to how things used to be there in the world of nursing.

Would recommend that you niece focus on passing her English exams as they are also required for any other country and then look at going to another country to get paid experience.

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Thanks for the informative responses. Wow. It's a brutal situation for nurses. Not a peso to live on for a half a year. And so even though the 6 months without pay is not supposed to apply to those that paid their own way (e.g. through help from family), I guess it does anyway because they could quickly be replaced by another who is not expecting to be paid.

I have two more questions.

1. Is there much hope for retention of nurses who have weathered the 6 months and, although they have built valuable experience, would still cost the hospital at least P10k a month more than if they were replaced by a new graduate? It seems like hospitals might be motivated to just keep the revolving door spinning to save on nurse salaries except perhaps for nurses with stellar performance.

- Unfortunately, this is what exactly is happening and why they even have the guts to even ask for "training fees" when it should be free. There is absolutely no guarantee that one will be accepted and we have to ask ourselves exactly how many are given contracts of at least 2 years. There are only a few hospitals to go around with what the volume of board passers are churned out every 6 mos. If there were real 2 year contracts being given out, then there should come a point where all positions should have been filled-up already and if it's a 2 year contract, there should not be any hirings (and therefore no "trainings") for about 2 years but there seems to be no stop to these 6 mos. "training programs". There should be freeze-hirings at some point. Why is that it never saturates ??

2. Someone suggested to me that if she were to find and marry an American guy and come to the United States soon without waiting for the 2 years to pass, her nursing career in the U.S. would hampered because important credentials would be withheld. Is there any truth to that? She has her diploma and her license. She also has her board certification, but I understand that only helps in PI and not in the US. Wouldn't she only need to take the NCLEX after moving to be off and running with her nursing career in the US, or are there some other needed documents/credentials she would be missing?
- She needs to apply for licensure to a Specific US State and take the NCLEX to be licensed just like any foreign educated nurse. Marrying a US Citizen would, however, waive the Visa Screen Certification and she also doesn't not need to be petitioned by an employer since she will be getting her Citizenship via another route (Marriage to a US Citizen). They do investigate all cases of Citizenship via Marriage to a US Citizen and is a deportable case if labeled as a mere "Marriage by Convenience" or "Fraud Marriage".
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