RP nurses have no reason to be jobless

[breech]

An exerpt from www.gmanews.tv

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/124572/RP-nurses-have-no-reason-to-be-jobless

MANILA, Philippines - A former health secretary said aspiring overseas Filipino nurses who recently passed the board exams but have remained unemployed in the country were not resourceful enough to look for job vacancies.

Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, a professor at the University of the Philippines College of Public Health, said there is no reason for Filipino nurses to feel that there are no job opportunities for them when there remains a high demand for Philippine health workers overseas.

"Resourceful nurses go to the Internet where they can apply and be immediately interviewed through the webcam," Tan said.

Unfortunately, said Tan, even the best nursing schools in the country have not taught resourcefulness among its students.

[kyckerz]

Let's put it this way. He wants to make the Filipinos who are now abroad "secured" for their children, families, relatives and friends who are finished or still taking their studies as nurses. "Secured" to the point that there is really nothing to worry about "us" who are still here in the country, hungry for health care jobs.

If only he could hear me, I would like to answer some of these questions:

1) Are you aware that over a hundred thousand nurses are unemployed/underemployed? Can you do something with it, like what you did in the previous years?

2) Have you imagined yourself taking up nursing and squeeze yourself in this number of RNs? The catch is, WITHOUT USING CONNECTIONS, WITHOUT ANY EXPERIENCES, WITHOUT RESOURCES

3) Can you closely monitor the incidence of enrollees for every school, in every city, and every province of the country, to minimize such happenings?

4) Can you be a voice for use nurses if you really do care about us? Or it's just a publicity "stunt"?

5) Do you have any interests of running for a slot in the 2010 Presidential elections?

6) Do you want to enter our jungle and see what really is happening inside?

[pinkroyalty18, LPN, LVN]

"I think the Philippine government should raise the standard of nursing education in the Philippines so that only the best students are accepted in nursing schools. The diploma mills must be closed and only the best nursing schools are allowed to operate. We may not see the result right away, but in the end the quality of nurses from the Philippines will once again become the envy of the world. Easier said than done in a country where corruption is rampant."

Exactly...These poor performing mushroom schools should be closed.They produce instant nurses in a flash,making things worse for all of us. Can you imagine that these schools even hire unexperienced ,unqualified clinical instructors?I know because I know some of them.They dont have the clinical experience to boot so i dont really know what they teach their students...So the blind is leading the blind and the result all shows in their NLE ratings....I hope that CHED and PNA should be very vigilant on the performance of these nursing schools..

[mercermom_rn]

Hey guys,

that remark by Dr. Tan is news to me. I am a second career second degree nurse here in NJ USA (BS Industrial Engineering, U.P. Diliman 1987:D). took my BSN here in NJ passed NCLEX on July 2008 on first try. I have been looking for work since then, yet I still have to get an interview:cry:. THERE IS A MAJOR GLUT for new graduate nurses even with US credentials like me, especially here in the east coast. So the chances of new grads from overseas with no experience are highly unlikely. I could probably get a position in some ultra rural facility, if relocation were an option. But be forewarned, the new nurse glut is real, and the shortage is geographic and skills based. Meaning if new nurse grads are willing to accept low wages in some rural town in the boondocks of the midwest, perhaps they can get work. While skilled nurses who have at least a year of ACUTE CARE experience can get any job anywhere...

[Daly City RN]

Hey guys,

that remark by Dr. Tan is news to me. I am a second career second degree nurse here in NJ USA (BS Industrial Engineering, U.P. Diliman 1987:D). took my BSN here in NJ passed NCLEX on July 2008 on first try. I have been looking for work since then, yet I still have to get an interview:cry:. THERE IS A MAJOR GLUT for new graduate nurses even with US credentials like me, especially here in the east coast. So the chances of new grads from overseas with no experience are highly unlikely. I could probably get a position in some ultra rural facility, if relocation were an option. But be forewarned, the new nurse glut is real, and the shortage is geographic and skills based. Meaning if new nurse grads are willing to accept low wages in some rural town in the boondocks of the midwest, perhaps they can get work. While skilled nurses who have at least a year of ACUTE CARE experience can get any job anywhere...

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Just be patient, that first nursing job can be elusive. As you may already suspect, hospitals would rather hire an experienced RN rather than train a new grad that they know will cost the hospital tens of thousands of dollars, and there is no guarantee that that newly hired RN will stay after the training period.

In years past I was involved in the hiring process and we always preferred to hire an experienced RN over a new grad. The only exceptions were when our medical center budgeted substantial amount of money for our new grad training programs. I remember those times were the periods of extreme short staffing.

Once you get hired and acquire at least one year of acute care hospital experience, preferrably in a busy medical center, then you as an experienced RN will become a desirable job applicant to other hospitals. I advice that if you like your place of employment, then stay there for as long as you like it there. In my case, I stayed in the same U.S. hospital for 27 years. I had worked part-time in other acute care hospitlas to get added experience and I even tried being a night nursing supervisor in a skilled nursing facility. I was surprised to find out that I actually liked working in a SNF.

Since there are so many new grads in the U.S. looking for their first nursing job, I am not so sure whether U.S. hospitals in substantial numbers will still be hiring nurses from outside the U.S.A. American nurses are already outside their doors.

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[Ginger's Mom, MSN, RN]

Hey guys,

that remark by Dr. Tan is news to me. I am a second career second degree nurse here in NJ USA (BS Industrial Engineering, U.P. Diliman 1987:D). took my BSN here in NJ passed NCLEX on July 2008 on first try. I have been looking for work since then, yet I still have to get an interview:cry:. THERE IS A MAJOR GLUT for new graduate nurses even with US credentials like me, especially here in the east coast. So the chances of new grads from overseas with no experience are highly unlikely. I could probably get a position in some ultra rural facility, if relocation were an option. But be forewarned, the new nurse glut is real, and the shortage is geographic and skills based. Meaning if new nurse grads are willing to accept low wages in some rural town in the boondocks of the midwest, perhaps they can get work. While skilled nurses who have at least a year of ACUTE CARE experience can get any job anywhere...

I know you are a permenent resident, but what advice would you give a fellow nurse from the Philippines who's goal is only to work in the USA?

With retrogression for at least 5 years, how employable will they be with a 5 year old degree and no experience. Do you forsee a position for them?

[spongebob6286, BSN, RN]

no reason to be jobless are only for those experienced nurses. agencies prefer applicants with 2 or more yrs of experiences.

[Daly City RN]

I know you are a permenent resident, but what advice would you give a fellow nurse from the Philippines who's goal is only to work in the USA?

With retrogression for at least 5 years, how employable will they be with a 5 year old degree and no experience. Do you forsee a position for them?

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This coming from a Fil-Am registered nurse who was actually involved in the hiring process of nurses in our hospital...

If I am made aware that the applicant graduated 5 years prior to the interview (assuming that that nurse is lucky enough to land an interview) and NO experience, then the nursing knowledge that that applicant posses may already be stale. I know, Filipino nurses don't like to hear this, but remember hospital management doesn't owe you anything, and they don't have to hire you. You, as a foreign nurse applicant, must make yourself extremely marketable to the hiring hospitals.

The U.S. economy is slowing down, and Americans see nursing as a "safe" job in these hard economic times. If you don't know it yet, there are waiting lists in most nursing programs all over the U.S., and there are thousands of American new grad nurses looking for the same U.S. hospital jobs that Filipino nurses dream about. Who do you think American hospitals will hire first?

If I were still involved in the hiring process I will only hire Filipino nurses from the top schools from the Philippines, provided our hospital is still hiring foreign grad nurses. I am very aware that there are many substandard schools of nursing in the Philippines and if you graduated from one of those schools, I say you need lots of luck.

Filipino nurses listen up. There will be hundreds of thousands of unemployed Filipino nurses in just a few short years, how will you get that crucial hospital experience?

The U.S. has retrogression. Western Europe is closed to nurses coming from outside their borders. Try Australia and New Zealand but their combined population is relatively small, so they cannot absorb the "tsunami" of unemployed Filipino nurses. The Middle Eastern countries now require at least 2 years of hospital experience.

That sucks. Pardon my French.

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[NurseMich.Elle, BSN]

Try to be in our position and let's see if you can say that again, Dr. Tan.

[Nurse_PUKYAW]

honestly call center jobs are abundant no reason to be jobless

[ross_diadame]

@ Nurse PUKYAW: I think everyone is referring to actual nursing job.

I graduated 2006. Can't find a job for months so I volunteered in a Rural hospital for a year. Taught CNA for 2 semesters with a very very low salary. Volunteered for another year. While applying non-stop to agencies, POEA personally and through the internet until I landed a job in Saudi. But to think that I got an paid job after years of sacrifice is not being "resourceful" makes me want to shove all those pain I went through in his face. Now I'm back in the Philippines and even with the experience I got from abroad, I can't even get hired. My only choice is to go back ad work abroad.

I have a friend who volunteered for 2 years and yet was not absorbed. My friend, being male is more difficult to get a job in Saudi plus volunteer experience is not honored. Is his sacrifices not resourceful enough? Now he's working as a call center agent and I know this is not what he wants but what can you do if you have mouths to feed?

What's happening to nursing now is sad. And more depressing because our government won't even support us.

[spongebob6286, BSN, RN]

i beg to disagree. he should do his research. many nurses are not in the medical field but in the call center businesses unlike some hospitals who ask for a fee for the nurses's services to them.

[mizafiro18]

it's easy for this dr. tan to say this not-so-good statements to us nurses because of the fact that he is a "doctor". what does he know about us for him to say that we're not resourceful?? hello!!! as far as being "resourceful" is concern, nurses are the most resourceful people that i know! besides, its easy for him to say that because he is not in our situation! pity him, it looks like he says that just to get attention from other people.