Overworked And Underpaid

[bakaldude]

Hello everyone.

I just registered to allnurses.com and have been going through the

threads in the Filipino Forum, being, of course, a Filipino nurse.

After going through several threads, I found out that as usual,

there are no complaints regarding how much the nurses in the

Philippines are getting.

As usual, most of the threads are about going abroad. It's ok to

post threads on going abroad, but why aren't there any threads about

the salaries that the nurses receive in Philippine hospitals?

WHY DON'T PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IT?

Why should Filipino nurses in a hospital setting in the Philippines

STOP complaining about their salary? I'm sure, UNTIL NOW, they are

not getting enough. I used to work in a private hospital in Cebu

City in the mid 90s and they were giving me below basic. OVERWORKED

AND UNDERPAID. I got out after almost a year and went to work in

Manila and worked in sales.

Now, I have my own business and I still see the disappointment I

felt years back, in nurses that I have come to know who are still

working in the Philippines. Some nurses in the Philippines are

getting salaries slightly higher than that of a foreman in a

construction site...a construction for a house, mind you, not a

building. And some get lower than what carpenters get on a daily

basis. I'm sorry if this is my comparison, but I needed one.

IT IS NOT CHEAP TO GET A NURSING DEGREE. And it is hard work to get

the degree. But in the Philippines, some nurses are still getting

below the basic salary mandated by the law. Let me rephrase

that...MOST NURSES ARE STILL GETTING BELOW THE BASIC SALARY MANDATED

BY THE LAW.

WHY?

Why aren't the officers of the PHILIPPINE NURSES ASSOCIATION or the

OPERATING ROOM NURSES ASSOCIATION OF THE PHILIPPINES doing anything

for the salaries of their members throughout the Philippines?

I have attended too many nursing conventions in the Philippines,

that, really, costs so much, and really is a lot of crap. They talk

about a lot of things, but nothing that is of importance. They

should start talking about how to get a salary increase in a

hospital in the Philippines. They should start talking to hospitals

and think of ways to increase the salaries of everyone in the

nursing service.

I want to understand what the PNA and the ORNAP is for. I am a

member of both organizations and have yet to see them do something

for their members aside from collecting annual dues, selling bingo

tickets and soliciting for something or the other.

The way I see it, in a hospital setting in the Philippines, the

higher you go up the heirarchy of positions, the bigger your salary,

the closer you get to the administration, the lesser your complaints

are, if at all you have any, regarding salaries.

Supervisors and Nursing Directors take the side of the

administration with regards to salaries and wages of the nursing

personnel.

WHY?

A lot of why's that will probably remain unanswered.

And the exodus continues.

[nxt777]

i am a volunteer nurse at govt hospital. i dont mind doing it. in fact, i love every minute of it. i work with a lot of volunteer nurses who have been there for years now. the hosp relies so much on us and we like that. i think there are those (me included) who do not care about salaries as long as they get the respect (esp from the doctors) they truly deserve and are happy with what they do. this is what keeps us stick with this hospital.

how did i start as a volunteer nurse? since agencies and employers in the us insist on apllicants to have actual experience in a hosp setting before being considered for a us job, i had no choice but to look for a hosp that would accept me. believe me, there's very few of them. i consider myself lucky to be even accepted by this hosp bec the others had to pay for their volunteering. (pity, pity) but more than this, i love this job, i love this hosp.

getting an employment is hard. there are more nurses now than are hospitals that is probably why nurses are at their mercy. and for as long as this situation doesnt change, we dont expect a change either in the treatment of nurses here. i wish that us employers not be strict on hosp exp requiremnt so nurses can opt not to work esp if the salary is too low. but thats just a wish...

you mean you're doing a volunteer job as a work experience? i thought the former can't be consider as the latter in your resume if you're applying a job in the us. because if that is a volunteer job the hosp can't make you accountable/responsible for your nursing actions since you are not being paid by them.

and if anyone has an idea if the good samaritan law applies for those doing a volunteer job? (since they dont receive compensation for their nursing services)

[purplecotton]

To jon 29- keep up the good work!! At least you have tested your devotion to nursing and this will see you through the high and low points of your nursing career. Many may get into the profession but eventually the "genuine ones" remain. Curious though, how are you coping with living expenses, etc.? As for the resume bit, surely you can put down the skills you acquired while you worked for that hospital. That should account for something...although, i am suprised because there are many hospitals and clinics that are open to nurses (even the new ones) even if the pay is pathetic. But getting a job here shouldn't be a problem. About the resume, I encountered a similar problem while revising mine because i was employed by a hospital and then had to stop to care for my mother with leukemia. I couldn't use the title of PDN because i wasn't "formally" employed as one even though i pereformed the bulk of the nursing duties- blood transfusions on an outpatient basis and not in the main hospital where she did her induction and consolidation, selected chemo. (depending on the policies of the hospital) and i had special arrangements with the hospitals, doctors, etc. So, it was safe for me to do these things..and my mom was a doctor. I just noted down those skills i utilized under "additional experience". I learned that i couldn't use it as "clinical experience" in itself though.

I know the training here is very different from the training in the US (or other country for that matter) and we have to pretty much start from scratch (yeah, our certificates for BLS, IV therapy, etc. won't be useful to us when we get there) but what we working RNs do here in the meantime is still a meaningful experience! Kudos to you and people like you!!

[ibinezz]

truth of the matter is our home land, sad as it may be, is NOT a place where you can grow professionally. its not just about what you earn here that's a problem. there is no avenue for progress. the government has forgotten about the people a long long time ago. basically, and i truly believe it, that MOST of the people have seen politics as an extension of their BUSINESS enterprise. its all about money and power for them.

very sad considering that there's a lot of potential for the people. filipinos aren't dumb. they were simply "dumb downed" by the government. through the years, filipinos got complacent.

so sad really.

[share1507]

when we talk about the salary of nurses here all we get is disappointment, you've been paid as low as a janitor's salary yet your overworked and sometimes you'll be the one to absorb the anger of your superior..... as well as the patients and their relatives. it is so frustrating and devastating and depressing......

[ryerye]

...then lets all get out of this messed country :nclr:

we are always overworked:pumpiron:

and overstressed:flmngmd:... yet underpaid

[potatomasher]

I second to this...

I too have entered a Post Graduate Practicum for Nurses in a local government hospital and we were made to pay a BIG amount for that! Plus the numerous miscellaneous fees for contributions for ID's, case studies etc...It makes my heart bleed that we have to pay the hospital for giving our service to them!

But it's a very rewarding experience...I've learned a lot from my ongoing training there. They have very approachable staff and a nursing administration that really sees to it that we make use and maximized every learning experience we have. :-)

I love it!