Hi! I'm a registered nurse in one of the training hospitals in the metro. I got a stint there as a staff nurse for six months and then i left because of the workload. most of the time i just want to cry:bluecry1: during my shift because i have 10-12 patients - some have BTs going on, some have to under go BT, then some has to go to the operating room or to the CT scan, and to top it all off, i still have admissions to attend to! and not to mention you have to constantly check their IVs, give their medications on time, cater to their needs, do the doctor's orders, and write the charting in SOAPIE format for all of them!! Sorry for ranting, i know this is normal in the Philippine hospital setting, but is it okay that i quit my job? i'm telling you guys, i don't even want to open my eyes when i know i'm going to work..
I love nursing and i love to be nurse, but do this environment really exist in all of the hospitals here?
thanks guys... i just want to be the best nurse that i can be:heartbeat..
Some big hospitals or teaching hospitals do have unions. The unions here are not the same as the unions in the US. Unions here cannot dictate salaries, benefits or safe nursing ratios. The bottom line is being a third world country means being limited on what can be done. The bar cannot be raised.
Yes. that's the problem with the third world country like us. But I know, if some high ranking officials will just listen to us and do something about it, we can't reason out that we're a third world country and that we can't do this and that because we're this and that....
Billions of pesos are going to their pockets. BUt if these billions goes to public health, though we're a third world country, we can improve our lives.....
I am aware that I am enjoying the fruits of the nurses unions here in America that have fought for better working conditions, better staffing and better pay. When I started my nursing career here in the U.S. in th early 1980's, plumbers and carpenters, both male dominated jobs, earned more money than RN's! Through the years, various nurses' unions fought very hard for better pay, and now at least here in California's major cities RN's enjoy salaries that provide comfortable American-style standard of living. Nurses' union leaders in the Philippines, stand up and fight for the rights of Filipino nurses!
I know of one major nurses' union here in California whose members were one of the lowest paid nurses in the state. Their nurses were over-worked due to poor staffing, and working conditions were worse than comparable hospitals with a different union. In the last 10 years or so, we noticed that that this particular union began to fight for better wages, staffing and working conditions. They used strikes and information disseminations to fight for what they think their nurses rightfully deserve. Now their nurses are one of the highest paid RN's in California and possibly the whole of the U.S.A. Their senior staff nurses are earning more than $65/hour. Even the RN's in our own hospital have become quite restless and want to dump our current union and our nurses have campaigned to join this other union.
My point is that this union I'm talking about acquired a new a group of smart and agressive leaders who are not hesitant to use job actions like strikes to fight for the rights of its members. For the record I am not a union leader, I am just a union member.
Reading the sad stories of nurses in the Philippines make me think that the nurses over there need to find leaders willing to fight for Filipino nurses' rights. Inaction and timidity will lead to nowhere.
The Philippines has produced many bright citizens many of whom have become nurses. I believe that enough of those nurses remain in the Philippines to be leaders of the profession and will fight for the Filipino nurses' rights for better wages and working conditions. In the end the patients are the prime beneficiaries of what the Filipino nurses will gain in the future through safer delivery of nursing care.
Sorry for ranting, i know this is normal in the Philippine hospital setting, but is it okay that i quit my job? i'm telling you guys, i don't even want to open my eyes when i know i'm going to work..
lawrence01
2,860 Posts
Some big hospitals or teaching hospitals do have unions. The unions here are not the same as the unions in the US. Unions here cannot dictate salaries, benefits or safe nursing ratios. The bottom line is being a third world country means being limited on what can be done. The bar cannot be raised.