PhilG

Our niece graduated from Tacloban and became a licensed, board-certified, RN in 2007. She started working off her required 6-months of volunteer work at a hospital in Lucena. After working about 4 months, she relocated to Tacloban, Leyte. She has now resumed her effort of working off her required volunteer time, except that she has been informed by the hospital she is now working at that she has to total one year of volunteer time, not just six months. :uhoh21: It's already beyond words that nurses have to work 6 months without pay, but now is this sudden jump to one year something that's happening to many or just to her? Is it perhaps a case of the hospital taking advantage of the fact that she relocated before finishing her 6 months? By the way, as a side note, a heart surgeon currently practicing in the Philippines told me that the volunteer requirement actually only applies to nurses who received financial help from the government to get through school, whereas our niece paid her own way 100%, with our help. Phil

Ok, so it's true then that when a brand new graduate becomes a licensed board-certified RN, at that point they're still only able to give oral meds until they obtain specific training later, on administration of IV meds. It's interesting that a board-certified RN cannot yet administer IV meds. Thanks.

In the Philippines, does it sound plausible that a new licensed, board-certified RN is only able to give oral meds and must take a P2k class during the 6 months of community service to earn a separate license to be able to administer IV meds, which is of course a required skill in any hospital? Our niece is a nurse in PI and we're hoping she's leveling with us about needing P2k for a 3-day training class that will result in a special (needed?) license for IV med administration. So far we have people telling us it's probably not true, so we're just curious.

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?

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.

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?