88,750 Nursing students soon to be RNs

suzanne4, RN · Nov 15, 2008

There are already more than 500,000 unemployed RNs in the Philippines. What is there not to understand?

And we keep seeing posters from there wishing to go to nursing school as a second courser. What in the world are they thinking? Sorry, but without a chance to get experience, how are you ever going to work as an RN anywhere?

Take the US off of your list as it is not going to be happening here for years. And without any work during that time as an RN, then the chances of actually getting a visa or an employer to hire you are going to be nil.

Working as a volunteer in the Philippines is not considered as work experience as a start, and does not meet requirements of most employers as well. What is anyone going to do when the local license as well as two years of full-time paid experience is going to be required by all countries?

We can already see the writing on the wall. The CGFNS exam in the past was used as a weeding out exam, expect to see the local license to be used as such not too far down the line, and then the work experience. The US is about the only place that is not currently requiring it for immigration but expect that to change.

Instead of focusing about these additional 88,000 RNs to the eventual rosters of the unemployed, effort should be made to curtail these programs that do not have any passers with the first go around of the exam, as well as close any others that do not have at least a 70% pass rate on this exam. Every other country has strict requirements where it comes to accrediting programs. If they do not put out, then they are closed. Simple as that and this is what needs to be done in your country. Or being accredited there does not mean a thing.

quackmoonstar · Nov 16, 2008

Well they can stop offering nursing careers in schools. . . but i doubt it. They are making us thier cash cows.

I couldn't agree more!!!! The nursing school where I graduated from doesn't have entrance exams or battery exams at all. When I started my freshman year in nursing, there were about 5000 of us. The numbers would slowly decrease because some students shift to other courses since they couldn't handle the pressure. In my senior year 2nd sem, there were still a whooping 3000 of us. It is only at this point that the school gives out the so-called comprehensive exam. Only those who pass get to graduate. For those who failed, they have until 2 removal exams (of course they have to pay a big amount to take the exam). Then for those who passed, another exam (qualifying exam) would be given to sift the nurses of who will be allowed to take the local board exam. In my batch only half of us passed the Compre exams and one-third passed the qualifying exam.

Most schools are only venturing in the nursing industry for money. :down:

mheyflower · Nov 16, 2008

yes I've seen this on the news lately.. I couldn't see the government doing anything about it because as far as everyone is saying here they are just making money out of nursing. One of my senior nurse told me this has happened few years back, 1981 she said that almost everyone took nursing.

bummer83 · Nov 16, 2008

I certainly agree with that i graduated from a private school and we have to be atleast 85% of average from high school to be able to take the entrance exam in a nursng school and a battery test every now and then although we started 200+ in our batch we graduated 60 and i can say we have been through a lot and exerted too much effort and only 3 students didnt pass the NLE but my point is, other students have to go thru such difficulties to earn the Nursing degree while the government just allows the mushrooming of nursing schools from nowhere and they get their BSN degree with just half as much what other schools are going through, there should be a standard and passing rate to meet just exactly what Ms. suzanne's opinion.the government should consider the vast unemployment for Nursing graduates.

NurseCubanitaRN2b, BSN, RN · Nov 16, 2008

I couldn't agree more!!!! The nursing school where I graduated from doesn't have entrance exams or battery exams at all. When I started my freshman year in nursing, there were about 5000 of us. The numbers would slowly decrease because some students shift to other courses since they couldn't handle the pressure. In my senior year 2nd sem, there were still a whooping 3000 of us. It is only at this point that the school gives out the so-called comprehensive exam. Only those who pass get to graduate. For those who failed, they have until 2 removal exams (of course they have to pay a big amount to take the exam). Then for those who passed, another exam (qualifying exam) would be given to sift the nurses of who will be allowed to take the local board exam. In my batch only half of us passed the Compre exams and one-third passed the qualifying exam.
Most schools are only venturing in the nursing industry for money.

OMG, 5,000 nursing students? How do you get your clinical experience? There are only so many hospitals and so many patients. To me 5,000 nursing students in one area is a bit too much. I would definately question the clinical rotation on the floor if I were a state reviewing education and application for NCLEX. I would definately make RN's from the Philippines take a competency exam before issuing a license. These are peoples lives we're dealing with. You have to be competent in order to give excellent care. I'm not saying that you're not giving excellent care, but if you lack the clinical experience, how can you provide the best care for your patient?

marslarks · Nov 16, 2008

this is really a big issue that our government needs to address..in my point of view the issue is not the poor rated school, the ched or whatever..everyone has their reasons for taking up nursing..and who are we to stop the dreams of those who want to take it?yes, i think that alot of schools and institutions are taking advantage of the high rise of enrolees for nurses but maybe in their point of view business is business..the bigger problem actually are the graduates who will eventually pass the exam and be unemployed..hospitals are also cost cutting thats why they freeze hiring..in fact there is a big pile of resumes on hrds..few nurses are getting out of the country..in short there are more supply of nurses than the demand for them... :bugeyes: its really a roller coaster ride for the :uhoh3:nurses..

Aelith · Nov 16, 2008

And to add to the suggestions mentioned, I think they should also start informing the public of the true situation of nurses in the Country and abroad. That mainly the nurses from PI need to have some experience first before they can even try it out in another Country and that in PI there's just too many nurses who doesn't have jobs at all. Then maybe, just maybe, many parents will not push their kids to study nursing hoping they can use them to migrate to a different country.

And sadly, instead of opening the eyes of many, the government encourages the people more by giving them false hopes about the jobs available for nurses out there. :cry:

I really feel bad for those families who literally sold almost everything they had just so their daughter/son can finish nursing only to be unemployed or volunteer in the end. The schools really needs to be regulated!

tobby_walter · Nov 16, 2008

How is it going to be solved? It is only getting worse and worse and students are suffering because of it. Over 500,000 unemployed nurses there now and more on the way.

FYI it is not true that there is 500, 000 unemployed nurses but indeed the number of nurses who passed the licensure exams way back up to recent.

100,000 RP nurses unemployed

November 10, 2008 14:42:00

Veronica Uy

INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines -- A member of the Board of Nursing on Monday belied news reports that the number of unemployed Filipino nurses was more than 400,000, and that number was more likely between 80,000 and 100,000.

Marco Antonio Sto. Tomas told INQUIRER.net that a review of statistics with the Department of Labor and Employment, showed that the 400,000-plus figure was "not logical" and probably referred to the number of registered or licensed Filipino nurses.

"From 1952 to date, the country has so far registered or licensed 480,992 Filipino nurses out of the 523,272 who actually passed the Philippine Nurse Licensure Examinations. The 400,000-plus refers to the actual cumulative stock of Filipino nurses, not unemployed nurses," he said.

http://www.inquirer.net/specialfeatures/nursingmatters/view.php?db=1&article=20081110-171314

Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN · Nov 16, 2008

I wonder if he is including nurses who are working but not in nursing. With all the nurse in th PR I would think you population would be getting wonderful healthcare.

jp_db07, LPN, LVN · Nov 17, 2008

i wrote in an earlier post that i read in inquirer about the 400,000 unemployed nurses. when i saw tobby_walter's post from inquirer stating that there is only 100,000 unemployed nurses, i checked again where i saw the article i mentioned before. it was an article from the philippine star. here are some excerpts:

88,750 to take nursing exam

by mayen jaymalin [color=gray]updated november 11, 2008 12:00 am

a record number of nursing graduates are set to take the second licensure examination on nov. 29 and 30, the professional regulation commission (prc) said yesterday.

marco sto. tomas, prc's board of nursing (bon) member, said the number of examinees in the nursing licensure examination (nle) this year reached 88,750, the biggest in prc's history.

"manila alone has 40,310 examinees," sto. tomas said.

---

the prc reported that about 400,000 licensed filipino nurses are jobless, despite the high demand for health workers abroad.

here's the link:

http://beta2.philstar.com/article.aspx?articleid=414308&publicationsubcategoryid=63

suzanne4, RN · Nov 17, 2008

The verbage that we are seeing here in the US directly from the Philippines and in the Philippine papers is 500,000 that are unemployed.

Whether it is 300,000 or 500,000; that number is just too high and there is absolutely no reason for it. And there are still more students in school and those that still wish to go to nursing school knowing that they will probably never get a job as a nurse or even out of your country.

That just makes no sense to me at all.

Even 100,000 is way too many and to know that there are so many that are still enrolled in programs now.

Just because there is a demand for nurse overseas, it does not mean that all of those countries have needs right now and most of them require at least two years of paid experience so that takes many from your country out of the running before they can even try.

quackmoonstar · Nov 17, 2008

OMG, 5,000 nursing students? How do you get your clinical experience? There are only so many hospitals and so many patients. To me 5,000 nursing students in one area is a bit too much. I would definately question the clinical rotation on the floor if I were a state reviewing education and application for NCLEX. I would definately make RN's from the Philippines take a competency exam before issuing a license. These are peoples lives we're dealing with. You have to be competent in order to give excellent care. I'm not saying that you're not giving excellent care, but if you lack the clinical experience, how can you provide the best care for your patient?

5,000 students on the first year but our number was decreased to 3,000 during our third year. We only start our clinical rotations during the third year. That is another problem with overpopulated nursing schools. It's hard to get cases or good exposure to an area.

Mrs. Pacquiz (PNA President) or CHED or the PRC BON should address this problem immediately. I can't believe they haven't done anything about this issue yet.