The Dreams Of Being A Working Nurse Turns Sour -Ticket Canceled

[Call me bubba]

An article in the BBC news online

discusses how the Dreams of many Nursing Graduates and soon to be have turned very SOUR since the global economy has changed,

Hopefully someday soon this will change so they can go abroad& get that job they have studied, trained for

below is the article ,

If you go into an American hospital,

a Japanese elderly care centre, a British hospice or

even the clinics at the centre of the recent violence in Libya and Syria, you are likely to find a nurse from the Philippines working there.

Filipinos' reliability and high level of English, coupled with the fact they are willing to accept jobs almost anywhere in the world, have proved a lifeline for many countries in need of nurses and care-workers.

It is an arrangement that has always seemed to work well for the Philippines too.

Not only is nursing a highly respected profession here, it has also been traditionally viewed as a passport out of poverty for many.

But in recent years, this dream has turned sour.

There are far fewer jobs than there once were, leaving tens of thousands unemployed.

Many rural folks had to sell their carabao - their water buffalo - and even their property just to send their child to nursing school”

Catherine Castaneda Commission on Higher Education

At the beginning of this year, more than 200,000 registered Philippine nurses could not find work, and an estimated 80,000 are graduating this year to join an already saturated job market.

"It's so disappointing," said Tina Siuagan, who has been looking for a nursing position since she left university three years ago.

"You can't help but question: 'What's wrong with me, why can't I get a job?'"

'Not hiring'

When she started her degree, Tina could not have foreseen the global events that would mean her qualification would change from being a pathway to a good career into one that would probably not lead to a job at all.

But at the end of her four-year course, it was already painfully evident.

"When these nurses graduated, it was exactly the time the global economy went into recession," said Alvin Dakis, president of the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders.

Tina Siuagan sings at a bar because she cannot get a position as a nurse

"Western countries were not hiring, so they're all now stuck in the Philippines."

To make matters worse, many countries have recently been trying to train more of their own nurses and therefore discouraging the hiring of foreign staff.

As a consequence, visa requirements - especially in the US and Europe - have gotten much tougher, restricting Filipinos to job opportunities in their own country.

And with so many applicants for every job, Philippine hospitals are only recruiting those with many years of specialist experience, leaving most graduates with nothing.

Lucrative jobs

A decade ago, it all seemed so simple.

Would-be nurses, most but not all of whom were female, studied and worked for a few years in the Philippines before taking up far more lucrative jobs abroad.

Such jobs not only meant the nurse was well provided for, it often meant that the money he or she sent home to the Philippines would provide for the rest of the family too.

"For almost 10 years, nursing was flavour of the year. Everyone went into nursing," said Catherine Castaneda from the Commission on Higher Education.

"All the parents wanted their children to go into nursing. Many rural folks had to sell their carabao - their water buffalo - and even their property just to send their child to nursing school."

It's very difficult - at my age I should be the one helping my family, not them helping me”

Angeline Veraga Nursing volunteer

Nursing schools opened up all over the country, and especially in the capital, Manila, to cash in on this demand.

And even now, many of these schools are still operating, churning out yet more graduates every year.

'No regrets'

Given the changing economic climate for nursing graduates, both the government and education providers are actively trying to stem this tide of unemployed nurses.

According to Ms Castaneda, the Commission on Higher Education has drafted strict rules for all nursing schools.

"Out of all the fields of study in the Philippines, the most monitored one is nursing," says Ms Castaneda.

The exams have got harder - only about half the students pass - and any school with below average results for more than five consecutive years is asked to close.

Government ministers repeatedly tell students who are thinking about studying nursing, even those partway through a nursing degree, to look at allied courses like medical technology and pharmacy instead.

And many nursing graduates are encouraged to find jobs in the call centres which are springing up around the Philippines. Some of these are taking advantage of their medical knowledge by offering back-office services for hospitals and clinics.

Angeline Veraga has been working as an unpaid nursing volunteer for the past three years

But despite the statistics and the newspaper headlines, there are still many young Filipinos who remain determined to go into nursing whatever the cost.

For the past three years, Angeline Veraga has been working as an unpaid volunteer in the cancer unit at Manila's East Avenue Medical Center.

She is a nursing graduate, and she has also done several short courses in certain specialist areas, but she has still not found any work at home or abroad.

For someone who studied nursing with the aim of being her family's main breadwinner, it is a bitter pill to swallow.

"My parents feel like I'm still going to school because they give me some money every day," she said.

"It's very difficult. At my age I should be the one helping my family, not them helping me."

But Angeline still has her heart set on a career on nursing.

"I don't regret being a nurse. Every time I go home I feel so blessed at being able to help someone, even though I don't get anything in return."

Despite all the difficulties, with that level of dedication, perhaps the Philippines will still be known for its nurses in years to come.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18575810

[Ashanti]

Sad yes, but I also believe charity begins at home ………….

In our area, jobs are rather scarce. Many young people are suffering and couldn’t get any jobs at all. Even going to college sometimes doesn’t help as some college courses are pulled out because of lack of funding. Bugger you if you got caught in the crossfire. Your only alternative is to change course or to move to a different area where there’s a college that offer the course you already started which would obviously cost you.

A friend of mine has 2x young adult sons who are going nowhere. Both sons got thump with their college courses and the eldest ended up working part time in a supermarket. The younger son went to PI and work as a fashion model and as professional PI footballer (?!).

As we all know, that is not exactly a real job – well the kind of job that feed a family. So my friend is actually subsidising his stay in PI but they are happy to do it as it saves the boys sanity rather than staying here (West) and going nowhere.

On the bright side, the boy who went to PI seems to have grown overnight. I was quite impressed with his blogs and postings in FB where before he went to PI, it was just plain rubbish.

[FlyAway]

Typical supply and demand. Many traditional Full Registered Nurse (RN) duties are now shifting towards less paying Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) or Medical Assistant. Schools can turn them out in less than 18 months.

I feel their pain and frustration. After getting out of the US Air Force in 1987 I attended a vocational technical school for electronics engineering technology. There was a major shortage of electronics's technicians at the time. We now see pretty much everything is throw away now, not worth the labor to fix here. Plus most of a technicians job has shifted to overseas factories.

Days of staying in one job or career all your life is over. There is no such thing as job security anywhere as far as I am concerned.

[JJReyes]

In discussing my "Overseas Retirement Care" project with Philippine healthcare provider companies, they expressed opposition to the hiring of unemployed registered nurses (RNs). They prefer certified nurse assistants (CNAs). The reason given is RNs want overseas deployment. Terminating employment is considered an embarassment in Philippine culture. The employer therefore does not receive the customary two weeks notice. The RN simply does not show up for work. They are already on an airplane to Saudi Arabia or elsewhere before the employer finds out they are gone. CNAs are a more stable group because the overseas demand for their services is less.

Overseas employment for nurses is not as lucrative and glamorous as it is portrayed at home. Filipina nurses are assigned tasks the locals won't do, like cleaning bedpans. The pay is mostly minimum wage for a highly skilled worker. The employers claim they spent money for visa processing and airline tickets as the reason for the pay discrepancy. Still, it is a job and a good paying one compared to how much they can earn at home.

Edited July 5, 2012 by JJR

[i am bob]

There is a neat little thing on the Canadian government site that will help people determine if they are eligible to come to Canada for the purpose of working... There are several different nursing certifications on it - ie: RN, etc... If anyone is interested, you can find it here:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/app/ctcvac/english/index

Canada is in the process of upgrading their Immigration procedures as well as eligibility requirements... They are suppose to be getting easier for Filipinos but I can't say for sure as I haven't looked that closely yet. And, yes, Philippine citizens will require a Visa to come to Canada.

[JJReyes]

Canada is in the process of upgrading their Immigration procedures as well as eligibility requirements... They are suppose to be getting easier for Filipinos but I can't say for sure as I haven't looked that closely yet.

Canada was considered the most sought after destination for Philippine nurses even if they had to work as "unskilled" domestic caregivers for families with elder parents, family member with disabilities or small children. What Canada received were highly skilled workers willing to work for less than minimum wages. What the Filipina nurses wanted above all was Canada's open door liberal immigration policy. Other family members could eventually migrate to Canada and with that came the promise of better salaries, housing and education.

The difficulties started when several Filipinas complained about the long hours, low-pay and lack of benefits working as caregivers. This was a mere handful, maybe six or eight, and my assumption is they had valid reasons to complain. The rights advocacy groups jumped in and started making demands, including one day off a week, overtime pay, paid vacations, and minimum wages based on the standard requirement per province. Canadian employers (families) started facing exorbitant increases. They had second thoughts about hiring caregivers from overseas. The number of new hires plunged. The Filipina nurses already in the pipeline couldn't find family employers willing to hire them. The system is a bureaucratic nightmare with families having to send all kinds of reports and track the number of hours and minutes their "employee" spent on the job.

This is another case of government interference with unintended consequence.

Edited July 6, 2012 by JJR

[Mike S]

Interesting topic ..... I was married to an RN (not Filipina) for quite a few years ..... we both worked in the healthcare industry in Florida and Georgia ..... first off there is a vast difference between the duties and responsibilities between a RN ... an LPN and a CNA ..... I don't know how they do it here but in the US when a new nurse graduate from the Philippines comes to be employed in the US they are not board certified no matter what their Phil diploma says .... sorry Filipinos but they are vastly unqualified and can't pass the state board exams given in the US .... so yes they do have to wash bedpans and give sponge baths etc. until they have the training and experience to take and pass the state boards in the US ..... and no they aren't paid a high salary but then the hospital has to absorb the cost of their training and the mistakes they make ...... it can take up to two years before they are able to pass state boards ...... and unfortunately some never do ..... it used to be 20 or so years ago that many hospitals looked to sponsoring nurses and would pay all costs in bringing them to the US and would put them up into dormitories but that has vastly changed I've been told .... and a great many hospitals ..... especially in Florida will no longer do that ..... it seems that their qualification levels have changed and look to hiring US trained nurses .....

But hey ... who knows ... maybe be with Obamma-care it will all change ..... I'm sure they are going to need tons of new nurses and if they can't qualify for nursing they can always get a job with the IRS and other government agencies that this new venture will create .....

[brock]

My Missus is a nurse, She is going to Cebu City today to look for a job doing most anything she can find, She is one of thousands :(

[i am bob]

The difficulties started when several Filipinas complained about the long hours, low-pay and lack of benefits working as caregivers. This was a mere handful, maybe six or eight, and my assumption is they had valid reasons to complain. The rights advocacy groups jumped in and started making demands, including one day off a week, overtime pay, paid vacations, and minimum wages based on the standard requirement per province.

The problem was that there were these employment groups bringing in Filipino care workers for almost $2 an hour lower than the Canadians were being paid - and then the employment groups were pocketing a portion of the pay again! Very hard to live in Canada on that pay! Stupidly the employment group bid on and won a contract position that was union regulated and tried to get out of paying the union rates. Once both sides (union and workers) found out what was going on, the union went after the administrators and the workers demanded they be given the union rate - and that's when the shiza hit the fan and the government stepped in.

[TheMason]

Canada is in the process of upgrading their Immigration procedures as well as eligibility requirements... They are suppose to be getting easier for Filipinos but I can't say for sure as I haven't looked that closely yet.

Canada was considered the most sought after destination for Philippine nurses even if they had to work as "unskilled" domestic caregivers for families with elder parents, family member with disabilities or small children. What Canada received were highly skilled workers willing to work for less than minimum wages. What the Filipina nurses wanted above all was Canada's open door liberal immigration policy. Other family members could eventually migrate to Canada and with that came the promise of better salaries, housing and education.

The difficulties started when several Filipinas complained about the long hours, low-pay and lack of benefits working as caregivers. This was a mere handful, maybe six or eight, and my assumption is they had valid reasons to complain. The rights advocacy groups jumped in and started making demands, including one day off a week, overtime pay, paid vacations, and minimum wages based on the standard requirement per province. Canadian employers (families) started facing exorbitant increases. They had second thoughts about hiring caregivers from overseas. The number of new hires plunged. The Filipina nurses already in the pipeline couldn't find family employers willing to hire them. The system is a bureaucratic nightmare with families having to send all kinds of reports and track the number of hours and minutes their "employee" spent on the job.

This is another case of government interference with unintended consequence.

I see it as the government stepping in to end indentured servitude. Nobody in the first world should have to have a rights group intervene on their behalf to obtain 1 day off a week, it should be a basic right.