Rep

Right now, I see myself spending the rest of my life here in the USA. It has been three years since we left the Philippines. My children have all adapted living here. Though they still speak Tagalog to us but they converse more in English among themselves. I miss the country very much and I am hoping I can visit there next year. My wife and my youngest child were able to have a short vacation there last year. Well, got to save enough money to go there. Nice to hear from you guys!

Suzanne, Happy Birthday!!!!:balloons::balloons::balloons::bdck: Rep

I graduated nursing in 1991, back then it is one student to one patient, as students we did everything in terms of total care but be we were not allowed to do IVs, foleys or NGT. I worked for a year as a volunteer nurse, I didn't do foleys nor NGTs because in the hospital I worked aides do the foleys and residents do the NGTs. After that I worked as a pharmaceutical sales rep because I see no future in myself there as a nurse. In the early 2000's the US started hiring again and then I decided to pursue nursing because I want to give my children a better future by migrating to the US. I moved here in 2006. It is only here in the US that I was able to do things that nurses should do. I know there are some hospitals in the Philippines where they allow nurses to do everything but they are a rare. I develope my nursing skills here and I am proud of it. Day by day is a learning experience. I do make mistakes but I learned from it. I do not believe that as a Filipino we have the monopoly of being the best nurses in the world and foreign hospitals sought us because of that. We can find bad apples in all nationalities. Blame it on the recruiting agencies. They just want to pump our ego. Blame it on our government for allowing new nursing schools to open and not regulating them. If our government will only allow the schools that has been operating since the 80's then we as Filipino nurses will not encounter nurses from other countries questioning our abilities. Then this thread would not have started at all. For those Filino nurses who have dreams to work in foreign lands, work on it, build your skills while at home, if you have to volunteer for the experience and to gain skills then go for it. Dreams can come true.

Green card holders can join the US service anytime. But to be a military nurse, US citizenship is required. I am not sure on the Natioanal Guard.

What do you mean by that? That we foreign nurses are second rate to US trained nurses. I am a foreign trained nurse that means I am Tonto and the US trained nurse is the Lone Ranger. Regardless a nurse is foreign or US trained, there is no difference at all. We are all nurses here. No one is above the other. Saying that we are behind US nurses is pure ignorance.

Both parties are to blame, the man who is crazy enough to put a canister of his rectum. And the medical personnels who had a good laugh and video the procedure which is an invasion of privacy. Now, about talking about dignity, think first before one put something behind his butt. The moment the person put that thing in his rectum he loses all the symphaty he could get from a "conservative" society that looks at gays as clowns. As a nurse, I could not even think if I can do that much less get a camera to video the procedure without the patient's consent. Patient privacy is one of the most important things in caring for my patients. And I always respect a person's sexual orientation.

Go to Camp Aguinaldo and look for building Bulwagan Valdez, that is the building where the Army Nurse Corop is located. The office is in the 2nd floor according to my sister. But the location may change since my sister resigned more than two years ago. Best of luck!

:bowingpur same here, i usually don't take my 15 minutes break especially if i have a full load. i rather spend it by completing my charts and i really:angryfire hate it when we are busy and people can still find time to go on a coffee break and leave you with all the work. sometimes, i would do the work of the unit secretary and the cnas so that my patients can get their newly ordered medicines right away or have their butt clean. inspite of this, i still :redbeathelove:redbeathe my work but there are days that i think isn't not my day and i wished i called in sick.. lol

Take courage! There is a shortage of working nurses here in the USA and your time will come even with the backlog ahead of you. Don't mind what other people say who does not agree of the current shortage. To tell you the truth, nursing here is stressful unlike in the Philippines. What more if you are on a medical surgical floor. We have American student nurses with us and when I asked them about their plans in nursing, most of them they answered that onced they get their license they would immediately applied to specialty areas. In the hospital where I worked here in CA , Filipinos are the majority on the med surg floors and more Americans on ICU, Labor , OR and ER. I don't want to generalized here but just want to give a clear picture where we Filipinos are needed most. And those Filipinos nurses are foreign trained. So this is the specialty that will be in demand here that is medical surgical. Get experience in other countries while waiting for your turn for the immigrant visa. With the projected shortage, sooner or later the US government will do something about it. Anything can happen anytime and the most valuable thing to do is to prepare for it because once the door is open for foreign nurses and visas are current you are there already.

It looks like that hospitals in our country are taking advantage of the nurses who are in active for many years and want to get back into hospitals. And for sure these hospitals will charge those "inactive nurses" for the training. I think it is all within the individual nurse who wants to to go back that she/he don't need those paid trainings. I for one have never worked as a nurse in the Philippines though I volunteer for a year right after graduation in 1991. When I moved here to the US two years ago, I learned everything on the floor on an Interim Permit before I passed the NCLEX. I see no reason for inactive nurses with current license to go into this program. Might as well to volunteer work because you will learn at the same time with no payment behind it. Just my honest opinion.

I will asked her how she applied. Then I will let you know.

Because people believe in rumors and to them it is the truth. A lot of nurses were waylaid in their plans to go to the USA because they were not well informed or in some cases relied on rumors.

Wow, back in 1991 we were only 20,000+. And some of us got stucked because the US has stopped hiring nurses.

last halloween, i passed by the landlord's office to drop my check and the secretary asked me if i were dressing as a doctor. nope, i am a real nurse, halloween or not....

Maybe if I can save a million dollars then I will go home and stay for good in the Philippines. I will tell you once you arrive here and work as a nurse, there is no turning back because life is good here than in the Philippines.

Eight months? My sister was a Philippine Army nurse for several years. At most, basic training is only three months and the training was light because they are not combatants. Not sure of the 8 months which I know for sure when a cousin joined the Marines that communication was not allowed for during the training. Two other cousins of mine who went to boot camp for two months where not allowed to communicate until they became PMA cadets. Pay is pretty much better plus the benefits of being an officer. I think you have stay with the military for six years but that is better than doing volunteer work in the hospital plus the retrogression.

i already met suzzane and a couple of posters here are in my friendster list.... merry christmas to everyone.....

Their visas expired three years ago, they have ample time then to apply for green cards or adjust their status. At that time there were available immigrant visas for nurses. I wonder why they never thought of that. The government is enforcing the law and I hope they would enforce it fairly to everyone else including the 12 million illegals here. I feel sorry for them.

Their visas expired three years ago, they have ample time then to apply for green cards or adjust their status. At that time there were available immigrant visas for nurses. I wonder why they never thought of that. The government is enforcing the law and I hope they would enforce it fairly to everyone else including the 12 million illegals here. I feel sorry for them.

I worked in a sub acute/LTC before and work currently in Med-Surg. Working in LTC is lighter than in med surg, you do a lot of work and patients tend to have more problems and so demanding. Also you have to be more knowledgeable because patients will asks everything they can under the sun. If you do fine in LTC , you will do good in med surg. Good luck!

You can take an LPN course there and it may be credited to the state where you will be working. BUT you can't just get your BSN via online when programs here have to start from LPN then to RN and then BSN. It is more convenient for you to get your BSN in the Philippines and then come here as an RN. Just my opinion.

If your heart is in it, go for it. In the orientation program I had been in here, a lot of new nurses are in the 40's and a couple in 50's.

Why not apply for the Nurses Corp instead. The pay is really good. The army needs nurses right now. My sister was in Phil Army nurse before she came here. She spent several years with the AFP.

To complicated to answer. Just take the opportunity that US hospitals are hiring foreign nurses to fill the vacuum.

When it comes to shows, responsibility has nothing to do with free speech. Late night shows here are full of racist remarks.