Nursing Career in the Philippines

Who could tell that the Philippines is leading in exporting nurses all over the world? I would. In fact, Thailand is also exporting their nurses to other countries. Well, you can't really say that the country itself pushes students to choose to take the nursing course. It is in the student him/herself. Back in the year 2002 (I think but I am really not sure), when the career nursing became in demand since most nurses who have gone to other countries were fortunate since they were paid more than they were expected, and that Filipino nurses were almost the most favorable nurse for each patient in the other countries. Filipino nurses in the other countries were known as very caring, understanding, flexible - well all the good qualities a nurse SHOULD harbor when rendering patient care. Notice the word "should" - off course, we nurses are expected to be what a nurse should be - caring, understanding, patient-centered. So going back to the in demand line, nursing was a source of wealth for most Filipinos. I admit, I too, fell for it. Yes, practicality. We all want to be on the top, to be rich, to afford and have all the things that we wanted. We Filipinos care for our family that much, and we never failed to look back and think of our family in terms of decision and ways to success.

As for the present, nurses are still in demand to other countries, but everything changes. Everything has an end. Since it is in demand, there are almost a lot of schools lately that have been opening and accepting nursing enrollees. Some of these schools were already ordered by the CHED to shut down due to poor student academic background as reflected in the percentage of each schools who passed the local nursing board. Reason: to maintain the quality of education which means to avoid students wasting money!!

The result of the nursing career being in the demand to other countries overcrowded Philippine hospitals. No nursing job was available to new nurses. Since these new nurses are desperate to get a job abroad, they accepted to work as a volunteer. Since hospitals cannot really accommodate all these volunteer nurses, they could accept more but one thing - they have to pay. Some institutions use this for funding these volunteer nurses but I guess the money that they pay doesn't really benefit the volunteer nurse. This now led to nurses being exploited. Off course, nobody wants that! So some order was passed down to these hospitals that they should never accept any payment for volunteer nurses. OK the exploitation was solved but how about the volunteer nurse? A part of the order that was mentioned is that the institutions are supposed to pay off these volunteer nurses but let's face it, our country is facing poverty. Hospitals cannot really pay off these willing volunteers due to lack of budget. Since no budget - they can't accept volunteers. There is no open  job for nurses, where should all these new nurses go? (Including me? *sigh)

 Now that the nurse volunteer is over, there is a program that accept nursing jobs - the RN Heals program by DOH and DOLE. For most of you who tried to apply, it is difficult to get yourself hired to that job. They said that they prioritize the previous nurses who were volunteers but come on, as long as you have a strong links and connection to the personnel in that program, even though you are a fresh board passer, you can be hired as soon as possible. Application today to that program is also crowded and a few are selected.

New nurses really can't wait for the number of newly nurse grads to decline so they have to accept other types of jobs, mostly non - nursing related.. More and more students experience these each year.

I graduated BSN, a local RN board passer and now a registered nurse. So what happens now? I am currently facing unemployment. I wanted to pursue what I finished. In the first place, I haven't planned taking up nursing. But there's no turning back. After all, when I started studying, I developed my passion for it. I don't want to end up doing a job that I have not pursued for. I want to be a successful nurse. The minute I took and finished this course, I will make and find a way to make the most of it. Its not the reason that I might be wasting the four years effort I laid in this career but I developed my self to be a part of it. Nothing, not even unemployment can stand in my way.

To all our nurses out there like me, don't loose hope. This endless nursing issues isn't forever. Let's finish what we started and altogether we will be getting what we really deserve. We're nurses right? and shouldn't we be flexible? off course we can!!