WILL TOMORROW OFFER FUTURE?

April 7, 2010

               “After graduating and passing the board exam, where will I go?”

                This is the unstoppable question that disrupted my circadian rhythm several nights prior to our graduation which led me to sleep deprivation.       The anxiety I am having even worsened when I accidentally eavesdropped my fellow graduates’ stories about their ate’s and kuya’s becoming a tambay for almost a year now after graduating and passing the Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE).

                I did not study hard and spent much for four years in my college education just to enter and welcome myself in the world of the bums. I am longing for a career that would promise me financial security as well as professional and personal growth.

                These concerns, I guess, are also the things my fellow batch mates are keeping in their minds.

 

Employment for Nurses

                Nursing education in college-degree programs, proficiency in English communication and government’s statement that deemed Philippines to be an ethical source of nurses made Filipino nurses in great demand internationally.

No country other than Philippines produces great number of nurses that are needed in their own health care systems at a level of education which meets the requirements of developed countries.  This has what made Philippines to be recognized as the primary exporter of nurses around the globe having United States, United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia as its main points for nurse exportation.

                Many families have regarded nursing as a means to improve their quality of lives. They sacrificed to send their children to nursing schools being optimistic that if they passed the NLE, this would serve as their passport to high paying jobs abroad.

                The total supply of registered nurses was 332,206 according to data provided by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC). Of these, it is estimated that only 58 percent were employed as nurses either in the Philippines or internationally.

Despite Filipino nurses’ high competence in their chosen profession, several factors affected their employment rates both locally and abroad.

First, due to the global financial recession, United States in particular which has more than 50% of its foreign nurses coming from the Philippines, became strict with regards to health worker migration that affected US employment for Filipino nurses.

Second, the brain drain left Philippines deficient for its expert and skilled health care workers causing the closure of several rural health units and district hospitals in some remote provinces of the Philippines. The closure of these health care facilities left the younger generation of nurses nowhere to earn their working experiences and to practice their chosen profession since urban hospitals can not accommodate the large number of neophyte nurses.

Third, earning necessary period of working experience needed to apply nursing jobs abroad has become difficult. It is because of the tough competition due to the great number of new nurses.  Filipino nurses are highly in demand in the Middle East, like Saudi Arabia as well as in the United Kingdom and Germany in Europe. The problem is most of the applicants are not qualified because they do not have actual work experience, like the two years required by foreign employers. Most of the applicants, although highly qualified, only have volunteer work to cite as their experience.

                Philippine economic instability and poorly funded health care systems made too few jobs for its nursing population. This is the reason why the majority of employed nurses (84.75%) were working abroad. Among the 15.25 % employed in the Philippines, most were employed by government agencies and the rest worked in the private sector or in nursing education institutions.

According to Bureau of Employment and Labor Statistics (BLES), the unemployment rate for nurses steadily increased from 8.4 percent in 1990 to 12.7 percent in 2003. Even for those with jobs, conditions are difficult. One out of every five employed workers is underemployed, underpaid, or employed below his/her full potential.

 

Challenging the Twilight

Graduation is not the end rather it is the initial step to the long, rocky and winding journey of our career as nurse professionals. And as nursing graduates, we are opted to uphold the delivery of quality health care both domestically and abroad primary to the financial reward it could give us.

Based on production and domestic demand patterns, the Philippines has a net surplus of registered nurses. Together with the global financial recession and strict migratory conditions of developed countries, the surplus of registered nurses becomes bigger yearly. Hence, surplus registered nurses contribute to the unemployment rate in the country. This is the reality. And this is the challenge, we, fresh nursing graduates should face.

Fresh nursing graduates should be like the bamboo seeds. Bamboo seeds compared to other seeds generate slowly. Other seeds have already sprouted above the soil where they are planted but still, the bamboo seed has not yet shown its young leaves. Have you ever wondered why bamboos despite of their slow generation from being a seed are able to grow and become one of the tallest of the grasses and trees?

                The long period the bamboo seed has been under the soil to generate represents the time it spent struggling for greater and stronger foundation, ensuring that once it stood above the soil, it would reach higher than what the other seeds have achieved.

                If after passing the board exam yet no vacancy for post graduate trainings or employment in hospital or community settings, why not venture to a part-time job to fund your masteral education?  

                In the US for example, nurses who have master’s and doctorate degrees are more preferred for employment. Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNA) even has a higher salary compared to family doctors.

                The competition becomes tighter, and it is only by strengthening our competence and education through proper attitude could we win the game.

 

The Dawn

                The aging population of developing countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and the Saudi Arabia as well as the corresponding aging population of their health care workers leaves young fresh nurses optimistic of their brighter future in the nursing profession.

The UK reports a shortage of 20,000 nurses and the US has a 1.2 million shortfall for the next ten years. There are similar shortages in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. Contracts in the UK last for two years with over a million pesos annual pay after passing the six-month adaptation period.

The low interest of the Whites for taking nursing as their profession and the lack of nurse educators and sufficient learning facilities would risk the health care delivery in the United States which would drive them to more persuading recruitment systems for foreign nurses specially Filipino nurses whose competence in their profession has already tested for long years Filipino nurses has spent as member of their health care team.

Like the bamboo seed, we fresh nursing graduates should struggle for greater and stronger foundation in nursing profession by enhancing our formal education from simple certification to  master’s or doctorate degrees and by earning significant and relevant work experiences. So that when the proper time comes, like the bamboo, we would be able to reach higher than what others have achieved.

With the increasing global demand, aging population of developed countries and boosting salaries for nurses tied with our strengthened competence and enhanced formal education through proper attitude, the darkness of the twilight will pass to give way for the light of the dawn.

And, fresh nursing graduates do have a brighter future tomorrow.

For tomorrow will offer us the future. Soar high as the bamboo!