"The PNA has appealed to the Department of Health (DOH) and private hospitals to increase their hiring of new nurses to help new nursing graduates find work."
"Even with an "oversupply" of nurses, the current nurse-to-patient ratio in the country is 1 nurse to 160 to 180 patients."
More than 89,000 nursing graduates across the country took the Nursing Licensure Examination on Saturday, a record number according to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC). The PRC Board of Nursing said the number of examinees is the largest in the country's history.
Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) president Dr. Leah Paquiz said they are expecting a 43 percent passing rate for this weekend's examination, or an estimated 38,000 new nurses by January 2009.
The only problem, Paquiz said, is how these new nurses would find work in the country.
She said the Philippines has an "oversupply" of nurses, while its Asian neighbors such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan, as well as European and North American countries, are in short supply of nurses.
Paquiz said the Philippines could help these countries in addressing their nursing problems, but for Filipino nurses to go abroad they should first have two years' experience in the country - which now poses a problem, since both public and private hospitals do not hire new nurses regularly.
Even with an "oversupply" of nurses, the current nurse-to-patient ratio in the country is 1 nurse to 160 to 180 patients.
The PNA said this is an alarming situation because this could affect the performance of Filipino nurses.
The PNA has appealed to the Department of Health (DOH) and private hospitals to increase their hiring of new nurses to help new nursing graduates find work. -- With a report from Apples Jalandoni, ABS-CBN News
I don't like the idea of 'new nurse hiring' because I have friends who somehow managed to get spots in hospitals..they fought hard for it and now they are threatened to be "replaced" by "new nurses". It's sad that they were promised to be trained as "dialysis nurses" only to find themselves in various units in the hospitals (but they stayed thankful that they have a job), they are placed on "mini-contracts" that can last as short as 3 months. If someone calls off, they have to work a double for the person who called off and not be paid overtime (then the person who calls off will just work a double shift too). How are nurses supposed to grow if they are only hired for 3 months??? It's just unbelievable. Why are filipino nurses putting up with this?? Put some dignity in our profession!!! We are not slaves!!!
And how sure are you of these things? You speak as if you know everything about the nursing situation in the philippines? And for your information, there are a LOT more countries out there that would appreciate filipino nurses.. We don't need you, wherever and whoever you are.
These nursing students worked hard to get their degree. So what if they did come from "cookie cutter nursing schools"?! as you blatantly put. As long as they pass our nursing boards.. I am sure that you have your own "mushroom-sprouted" nursing schools in YOUR country! And SURELY there are ALSO nursing graduates from your country that are incompetent, taught by equally incompetent nursing instructors. When given the chance, these graduates CAN and WILL be the best they can be in doing their job! Outperforming even YOU people in Nursing! So you might want to think about what you're saying. True, the philippine nursing situation is quite in the gutter right now. But I asure you it will BE resolved, maintained and improved.
Yes I agree there are a lot of cookie cutter nursing schools in the United States...what happens to those cookie cutter nursing schools? They get put on probation for underperformance on the NCLEX, and if they don't bring up the stats, then they eventually get shut down. Why? That's because there are standards that need to be followed and the undesirables need to be weeded out. But here in the US (Cali in particular) you just can't go be a nursing instructor, you have to have years experience as a floor nurse before that happens. You have to go through a backgorund check and your education is looked at through a microscope. You must be nursing board approved before you can go be an instructor. It's not an easy process and can take a few months to complete. They don't hire you fresh out of nursing school to go teach students about a subject they just learned about.
BTW, the best nurse that took care of me was FROM THE PHILIPPINES!!!!! She has been in nursing since the dinosaurs roamed and is still in practice. She is very sharp and I go to her with questions and she has the answer. But that was back in the day when nursing education over there was superb. I've worked with many experienced Filipino nurses and they are awesome. I've also worked with Canadian nurses who are equally awesome, and I've worked with American nurses just the same. I'm sorry if what I said you don't like, but it is what it is :) With that, I'm going to continue to keep saying what I want to say and if you don't like it, I encourage you to skip over my posts. Negative or positive, it is what it is.
If there are countries who would appreciate Filipino nurses. By all means, go there, if they will take you with open arms, I encourage you all to go. I don't mind foreign nurses at all, but their education needs to be up to standards with that of the US because they're going to be practicing nursing here in the US.
I have to agree that these graduates from the Philipppines did indeed work hard for their degree. Just because they worked hard for their degree doesn't mean that they will be able to meet the standards set forth by other nations.
As stated before, the Philippines needs to quit relying on other countries to employ their graduates.
Just this December 11, 2008 my niece finished her BSN course in Sacramento, California. During the "pinning ceremony" the members of the school's faculty were presented to the audience and they posses awesome credentials. Many of these professional nurses turned professors have doctorate degrees in nursing and related fields.
I say "pinning ceremony" because female U.S. nurses no longer wear nursing caps. Many Philippine nurses still wear the traditional nursing caps along with their traditional white uniforms.
The graduates in my niece's graduating class were described as students with "Type A" personalities and "High Achievers". A few have Master's degrees in other fields. A few are teachers, one a veterinarian and quite a few have served the poor in Africa and South America.
This excellent Sacramento, California nursing class cannot be compared to the many classes in nursing schools in the Philippines that have unqualified nursing instructors in their faculty and admit unqualified student nurses to their schools. Stop and try to digest this little information for a minute, folks.
Having unqualified and inexperienced nursing instructors in the faculty is like a blind person leading another blind person. It is so sad to learn that the Philippines that was once a respected nation in nursing education has gone so low. Oftentimes the truth hurts.
True, there are still jewel nursing schools in the Philippines that provide top notched nursing education, but when the incompetent Philippine government allow the many sub-standard nursing schools to operate then everybody's reputation is affected including the best nursing schools in the Philippines.
The Philippines churns out tens of thousands of nursing graduates each year while there are already about 500,000 unemployed nurses in the country. You add the greedy Filipino hospital administrators in the picture that use "nursing volunteers" to save money, then they don't have the inclination to hire more Filipino nurses. Some of the hospital administrators have the nerve to charge the poor nursing volunteers for the chance to volunteer in their hospitals. Where is their conscience?
I call on the Filipino nursing leaders to be more politically active. The leaders of the Philippine Nursing Association should double or triple their efforts to pressure the hospitals to hire more nurses. They should relentlessly campaign for more nursing jobs to open in the Philippines.
I have been a nurse who graduate 1977 and the last time I worn my cap was graduation day. You bring up and important point, nurses have move on from the image of the passive cap wearing nurse to an more assertive patient advocate. I wonder how much a patient advocate I could be in a system where they have nurses volunteer their time and jobs are only give to people under 30. I would be frighten if I made waves I would be asked to leave.
Is this a correct assumption? Is this another cultural difference?
I think that wearing the cap is cool..I think the students that still currently wear them look sharp...but it's true regarding the pinning ceremony...and congrats to your niece...
I stand with those of you who are deeply critical of the abysmal education that 70% of the nursing schools offer here in the Philippines!! It is a FACT that out of 400 nursing schools, only 30 or so schools are consistently demonstrating 75% or better passing rate for the NLE. CHED and the PRC list this data after each NLE exam and show what schools each examinee graduated from. Now CHED is powerless to shut down poor performing schools (less than 50% passing rate), even those schools who year after year have 20% or less passing rates!! Why is that?
ITS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!! The **** poor schools crank out un-educated or poorly trained graduates and open up the cash register to suck another 50,000 P for semester fees from a whole new batch of unsuspecting students.
It is no wonder that major recruiting areas like the USA, Canada and now Japan and others make passing the NLE Mandatory for hiring. The rest of the world is acutely aware of the fact that there are FAR MORE BAD SCHOOLS than good ones. Additional competency exams and interviews are going to be much tougher in the future in the hiring countries...
I am sponsoring 4 nurses (3rd year) at a well regarded school here in Baguio, but I have taught my children NOT TO ACCEPT POOR TEACHING PERFORMANCE...I have encouraged them to stand up in class and respectfully demand proper materials, proper training or they will take the issue up with Administration!! I am deeply concerned that the "non confrontational" shyness prevents bright students from making waves when they KNOW that something is amiss in their teaching. Students know and respect those instructers who really "walk the talk" with their nursing backgrounds, versus the new graduate who is NOW a clinical instructor!!
I can cite many anecdotes of transferred students who left programs where they were forced to run like children down a hall way and fight to grab the case of the day!! Or worse, the CI getting under the table payment to steer a case to students who pay.....God help the poor student who cannot afford the graft.
Those nurses who built the reputation of the Filipino Nurse during the 60's 70's 80's and 90's would be shocked and very angry to visit some of these so called "schools of nursing"!! I hope the experienced and dedicated professional nurses who trained and worked all their lives to build that great reputation will help pressure the government and medical community to correct this problem NOW.... If for no other reason than for the sake of the young students who admire and love the profession!
You know, there is an ongoing trend I've seen in this forum among Americans taking the position that the USA doesn't owe anything to the Philippines with regard to employment, etc.
As an American who is living here I beg to disagree.
If you research the history of the Philippines you will find American government intervention on multiple occasions. After the USA bought the Philippine Islands from Spain (yes, bought) it was a misguided religosity from the sitting Secretary of State which kept the Islands into one large group rather than allowing them to separate as they chose.
It was a military planning machine that placed undue stress on the Philippines throughout WWII leading to the slaughter of countless men and women.
It was the promises of numerous government officials from the USA which led the migration of Pinoys working in the USA.
Yes, the USA DOES owe a lot to the Philippine people and the US Government has made certain promises throughout the 1950s until the 1990s that are yet to be fulfilled.
The Japanese have helped the Philippines improve infrastructure and build mass-transit systems. The Spaniards left behind institutions of learning and have returned to place more.
I'd like for the USA to do something other than fighting an ongoing war that the Spanish started in the 1500s with the Moros.
I believe the focus of this thread was the PNA's plea to get the Philippine Gov't to hire the very nurses it allows to graduate in enormous numbers each year. I totally disagree that the over abundance of nurses is a USA problem! Regardless of past history of Spain, US and Japan, the real problem is two fold:
1. The Philippine education authorities have turned a blind eye to the proliferation of very poor quality nursing schools which damage bright students and their future as nurses; and patients of the future nurses, who are much less prepared than their predecesors, who set an EXCELLENT record of quality education and service to the community.
2. The Philippine Govt is failing to invest in needed health care delivery and infrastructure, and is refusing to hire the very nurses they "lure" into the profession and then them flounder for years without work in their chosen profession.
If the Billions of Pesos being wasted on projects like the ZTE Broadband deal, and rail systems to nowhere were spent on healthcare....this thread would be a moot issue!!
Yes Hoss, you're 100% correct. The problem though is that the political structure in the Philippines is so corrupt that not one penny is spent on a program unless a politician has found a way to benefit from it. That's why they spend more than 12 million pesos monthly to promote a "charity" lottery that provides less than 1 million pesos monthly to people who really need help. Because it provides the politicians with nearly 60 million pesos monthly in income from the promotions!
And you think these are the people who are going to do anything to help the nurses? Please... as far as 90% of the Politicians here are concerned people are a disposable and renewable resource. There are so many that it doesn't matter if you kill them and there are more being born every day.
That's the position of these so-called "leaders" and the core of the reason why labor practices are so corrupt.
If this happened in any other country you'd be hearing about the cruel government on the TV news every day but then again there are dozens and dozens of multi-billion dollar companies in the US which make a hefty profit from exploiting cheap labor here and other countries so the problems here will never reach the ears of the American people unless they come HERE and go outside the tourist zones.
Someone asked me why it is that I see this stuff and other foreigners living here don't get it.
The simple answer is that I got married to a woman who rejects materialism and encouraged me to embrace a life outside the condo zone. I got out of tourist mode less than 6 weeks of living here. I have met other Americans who are still in tourist mode after 16 years.
I'm thankful to my wife for encouraging me to live like an ordinary Pinoy so that I could really see the impact of American businesses on this country and how little Americans really know about the realities of living here.
Going back to the issue at hand, nobody in the Philippine government is going to do a damn thing to help nurses here. The USA has made promises for decades regarding employment and immigration to the Philippine people that have been broken time and time again.
THAT is why I say that there is something owed by the USA to the Pinoy nurses. These schools didn't start pushing nursing in the USA out of nowhere, it came as a direct result of generations of promises by insurance companies, corporate hospitals and of course our wonderful US politicians along for the ride.
Can the Philippine nursing educators elevated nursing education, for example they could adopted standards and become accredited the NLN. Many foreign hospitals are Joint Commission get approved. Why not Philippine schools who wish their graduates to practice in the USA? That would end the debate about Philippine nursing education since they would meet a International Standard. Also if the clinicals were in Joint Commission Hospitals once again the debate would be ended.
Also I could not find any International Nursing Honor Societies listed, that would also be a way to show the the education is at a very high standard.
1. The Philippine education authorities have turned a blind eye to the proliferation of very poor quality nursing schools which damage bright students and their future as nurses; and patients of the future nurses, who are much less prepared than their predecesors, who set an EXCELLENT record of quality education and service to the community.
I feel sad, there's also proliferation of nursing schools that used to be excellent, but got blinded by money-making opportunities, and are now producing graduates of a substandard quality.
What's even more sad is the students are the ones who are affected...They studied hard, they sacraficed so much and are continuing to do so by paying to do some volunteer work just so that they can get experience...It's very sad because most of them have the passion to be a nurse and all they wanted to do was to be educated and then get a job afterwards...Now there's a surplus of nurses in the Philippines and they can't find employment there. But the fact remains, were they fully educated clinically the way they deserve to be educated?
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wishiwereanurse, BSN, RN
265 Posts
I don't like the idea of 'new nurse hiring' because I have friends who somehow managed to get spots in hospitals..they fought hard for it and now they are threatened to be "replaced" by "new nurses". It's sad that they were promised to be trained as "dialysis nurses" only to find themselves in various units in the hospitals (but they stayed thankful that they have a job), they are placed on "mini-contracts" that can last as short as 3 months. If someone calls off, they have to work a double for the person who called off and not be paid overtime (then the person who calls off will just work a double shift too). How are nurses supposed to grow if they are only hired for 3 months??? It's just unbelievable. Why are filipino nurses putting up with this?? Put some dignity in our profession!!! We are not slaves!!!