Showing posts with label nurses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nurses. Show all posts
152 RP nursing colleges warned of closure
Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman Emmanuel Angeles announced that 152 nursing colleges are in danger of being closed if the passing rate of their graduates do not improve. In the last five years, these schools posted lower passing scores than the national passing rate of 46.16% in the board exam. Next year, they will still be given a chance before facing the propect of being phased out in the business.
Nursing colleges with less than 5% passing rate of their graduates in three consecutive years will not be permitted to operate.
The most number of nursing colleges with poor performance are concentrated in MetroManila. Included n the list are: Arellano University-Manila, Arellano University-Pasay, De Los Santos-STI College, De Ocampo Memorial College, Dominican College, Dr. Carlos S. Lanting College, Emilio Aguinaldo College, J.P. Sioson General Hospital and Colleges, La Consolacion College Manila, Las Piñas College, Martinez Memorial College, Mary Chiles College, Olivarez College, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay, Perpetual Help College of Manila, Philippine College of Health Sciences, Philippine Rehabilitation Institute Foundation, Southeast Asian College, St. Jude College, St. Rita Hospital College of Nursing and School of Midwifery, STI College-Recto, the Family Clinic, Unciano Colleges and General Hospital, University of Perpetual Help-Rizal, and World Citi Colleges, Quezon City. Other erring schools are in Calabarzon, 23 schools; Central Luzon, 20; Ilocos Region, 16; Bicol, 14; SOCCSKSARGEN, 8; Northern Mindanao, 7; Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao Region and Cordillera Administrative Region, 6; Cagayan Valley and Central Visayas, 5; CARAGA Region, 3; and Eastern Visayas and Mimaropa Region, 1.--- Philstar (11/25/09, Ronda, R.A.)
The mushrooming of substandard nursing schools predictably produced half-baked graduates who have difficulty passing the board of examination. These colleges should not have been allowed to operate. Under the noses of education and labor regulators, schools nonetheless graduated so many nurses. The wastage of time, money, and effort was ignored until the despicable consequences were obvious.
Because of neglectful education planning and labor allocation, almost a hundred thousand licensure candidates are to take the next board exam at the end of November. A despicable scandal of the profession, many of them have dismal chances of landing a job locally or abroad.(Photo Credit: nursingpins.com) =0=
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Nursing board exam draws 95,282 examinees
On November 29 & 30, 2009, a record of 95,282 nursing graduates will take the board examination to be given by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC). By far this is the highest number of test-takers---- exceeding the 88,469 who took the PRC licensure exam last year. After many schools opened, a surplus of nurses developed---- pushing thousands of nurses in the ranks of the jobless and the underemployed.
Marco Antonio Sto. Tomas, a member of the Board of Nursing noted the sharp increase of nurses as more schools offered the course. The schools took advantage of the recruitment of health professionals abroad. The demand however was not sustained to provide jobs. From the almost 8,000 nursing graduates who sought employment after taking the 2003 licensure test, the examinees (potential workseekers) ballooned to almost 100,000 this year.
According to Sto. Tomas, in spite of the minimum competency tested in the board exam, thousands of candidates fail. Only about half of the examinees get licensed, prompting educators to suggest reforming the conduct of the course and closure of substandard colleges.
"The biggest number of examinees will come from Metro Manila (40,621 first-timers, 33 conditioned); Baguio (14,102 first-timers, 7 conditioned); Cebu (8,899 first-timers, 5 conditioned); Cagayan De Oro (3,045 first-timers, 2 conditioned); Davao (8,143 first-timers, 2 conditioned); Iloilo (6,020); Legaspi (3,070 first-timers, 1 conditioned); Lucena (3,444); Tacloban (1,145); Tuguegarao (2,322 first-timers, 1 conditioned); Zamboanga (1,609); Jolo (166); Pagadian (1,568); Angeles (179); and Butuan (898)." ---Inquirer (11/15/09, Uy, V.)
The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) says certain schools do not meet the standards. In the last five years, at least 177 schools have not produced a single graduate who took and passed the board exam. Such dismal performance points to a serious flaw in education and a waste of precious labor. (Photo Credit: SlavishTubeSocks) =0=
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Recession not the only reason for lack of nursing hires in the USA
The number of Filipino nurses seeking jobs in the United States fell 16% according to Trade Union of the Philippines (TUCP) secretary general and former senator Ernesto Herrera. The declining number of nurses trying to find work in USA was also reflected in countries like India, Korea, Canada and Cuba. NCLEX-takers who prepared for jobs in America showed a decrease.
“A total of 20,746 Filipino nurses took the NCLEX for the first time for the whole year of 2008 and Herrera said the number was lower by 3.5 percent compared to the 21,299 Filipino nurses that took the test for the first time in 2007.
Filipino nurses accounted for 37 percent of the 22,500 foreign-educated nurses who took the NCLEX for the first time in the first semester.”---Philstar (08/01/09, Maymalin, M.)
It’s hard to attribute the decline of hires to the economic meltdown alone occurring in the United States as Herrera explained. In the Philippines, factors such as unavailable visas for nurse applicants, lack of money to finance an expensive application, and preference to go to other countries or stay at home are significant reasons as well.
In the last 3 to 5 years, there is a current backlog of applicants waiting to be issued visas so they can work in the USA. The NCLEX and visa screens and other application fees have gone up. Many nurses have found alternatives in other countries like Saudi Arabia, Japan, United Kingdom and Australia as they impatiently wait for openings in USA.
For lack of jobs locally, thousands of nurses take employment in call centers, department stores and manufacturing. The staggering professional loss has not been addressed by the educational and labor departments.. With or without the recession, USA is still a preferred destination. Filipino nurses have very limited choices and many are willing to go anywhere and anyplace to find a job. (Photo Credit: Meijinmike) =0=
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32,617 out of 77,901 pass the June 2009 nursing board test
The Professional Regulations Commssion (PRC) announced that 32,617 out of 77,901 passed hurdled the recent licnensure for nurses. The result was released on Saturday The staggering number of successful test-takers represents 42% of the total examinees. was announced on Saturday, July 25, 2009.
Topping the test which was given in multiple testing sites in the country was Golda Manto Yap of the Felipe R. Verallo Memorial Foundation with a grade of 86.80. A Naga College Foundation graduate from Bicol Clarissa Leonor Tible Escobar placed 4th in the examination.
The successful examinees, just like their predecessors will be facing joblessness that remains uncorrected by the government. Many will try to seek jobs abroad or assume positions that are off the line of their professional training. The low 42% passing rate adds more strain to the nurses whose job prospects aren't good at this time. (Photo Credit: tsehqui) =0=
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80,000 nurses prepare to take the June board exam
Marco Sto. Tomas of the Professional Regulations commission (PRC) announced that nearly 80,000 nurses have filed their papers for the incoming nurse licensure test to be given in different testing sites on June 6 and 7, 2009. In spite of a decline of students taking the course, the number of nurses far exceeds what the country needs. The number of nursing board examinees for June 2009 could have been bigger if many graduates submitted their applications on time.
Because of the slowing of demand for domestic and international nurses, a flood of licensed healthcare workers is expected to jack up the number of unemployed professionals. The passing of the test is the first step to gain employment, but it isn’t a guarantee that a licensed nurse can land a job. Those who can’t find work go on to volunteer in hospitals and clinics without pay or they reinvent themselves in other professions.
For sometime, the government is urged to come up with a rational labor allocation plan to avoid the surplus of the country’s health professionals. Filipinos plead to open more work at home so that job-seekers will not be forced to leave and take dangerous jobs abroad. (Photo Credit: Glenmcbethlaw) =0=
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A large Florence Nightingale lamp lights up for a nursing board topnotcher
"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, It requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts." -- Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)
Overwhelming happiness must be what nursing board exam first placer Jovie Ann Decoyna feels. The farmer's daughter whose mother works as an OFW in Taiwan basks in the glow of honor after the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) released the result of the November licensure test yesterday.
Proud and admiring classmates from Baguio Central University came to gift the young professional with an extra-large Florence Nightingale lamp, a symbol of care and abiding commitment that nurses worldwide are known for. (Photo Credit: Andy Zapata/ Philstar)=0=
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The NARS program & the 39,455 who passed the nurses board exam
The Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) announces that 39, 455 successfully hurdled the nursing board examination given last November 2008. The successful examinees represent 44.5 percent of the total 88,649 who took the test. According to the PRC, Jovie Ann Alawas Decoyna of the Baguio Central University topped the examination with a grade of 89 percent.
With a high rate of joblessness among nurses due to a slump in job recruitment abroad, the addition of licensed nurses in the workforce creates more pressure to create jobs for the new professionals.
The government introduced a “stop-gap measure” versus unemployment by creating the Nurses Assigned in Rural Service (NARS) program which aims to send at least 5 nurses to each of the 1,000 poorest towns in the country. Applicants in the program will be paid a monthly salary of P8,000. Labor Secretary Marianito Roque invites interested nurses to file their applications at the nearest DOLE regional office or submit it online at http://www.nars.dole.gov.ph where application forms may also be downloaded.---GMATVNews (02/20/09, Tan, KJ)
With an estimated joblessness of more than 400,000, it is unlikely that the 5,000 NARS positions will have a dent in easing up the lack of local employment opportunities needed by by the licensed nurses.(Photo Credit: Lucindlunacy) =0=
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Job Outlook 2009: Nurses in USA still in demand, but not in the Philippines
Unemployment is rampant as the economic meltdown continues in America. The joblessness in the world's largest economy is in all time high and still rising. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) January 20, 2009 issue reports the discouraging job loss of 2.6 million last year. Yet, in spite of the alarming unemployment sweeping America today, healthcare sticks out as among the few bright spots in work opportunities. The US healthcare sector posted gains of 419,000 jobs, mostly for nurses in 2008.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the trend is expected to continue till 2016 as Americans grow older and need more medical services. Last year, registered nurses posted 168,000 job placements to cope with the nationwide shortage. The availability of health care jobs including those in home care and nursing homes proves that employment in this sector is relatively recession-proof. Expansion of work opportunities is expected in less intensive training courses like pharmacy and medical assistantships.
This could have been welcoming news for Filipino nurses who seek work opportunities abroad. But with current US visa restrictions and slowing of recruitment of foreign applicants, the need for local healthcare workers in USA doesn’t translate into more foreign nurses getting jobs at this time. There is an emerging nativist US sentiments sparked by the economic downturn which further dampens the interest in hiring nurses from abroad.
There are about 88,750 nurses who took the Philippine board exam in November last year. The 50% (more or less) who will pass and get licensed will add to the nurse unemployment problem which is currently estimated to number about 400,000. The high joblessness rate in the country opens more opportunities for exploitation among these professionals and the government seems inutile in solving it. (Photo Credit: AllwaysNY; Uberdoog)=0=
RELATED BLOGS: "As nursing jobs become scarce, 88,750 brace for the next board examination" Posted by mesiamd at 11/12/2008; "Job prospects for nurses decline" Posted by mesiamd at 6/02/2008
As nursing jobs become scarce, 88,750 brace for the next board examination
The nursing profession is often equated with tender loving care (TLC,) a trademark of compassionate service. In the Philippines those who are sick have reasons to be happy for they have more than the nurses they need. There is a surplus of nurses competing to take care of patients.Nurses are desperate to grab employment in the nation's crowded healthcare system. Four hundred thousand (400,000) are reported to be jobless; a wave of newly licensed professionals will join them after the next board exams. With the highest number of examinees in history, a total of 88,750 nurses will sit for the Philippine Regulations Commission (PRC)-administered licensure test on November 29 and 30, 2008.
Carmencita Abaquin and Marco Sto. Tomas of the Board of Nursing are happy about the advances in testing computerization. Having recovered from the cheating scandal in the June 2006 test, the exam administrators insist that the well-guarded computers will do the job. They promise that the conduct of the forthcoming licensure will be “leakage free.” Those who configure the computers aren't expected to rig the reault. They assume the machines and testing materials are tamper-proof.
Yet, there's a big problem that looms behind the effort to prevent cheating. Nurses are badly in need of work. Job recruitment has been slow. They can't volunteer in hospitals because there is almost no vacancy even if many hands are willing to work for free. Having spent time, talent and treasure to become professionals, the nurses don't have jobs mainly because of government indifference and neglect. Four hundred thousand (400,000) unemployed young nurses translate into a disgusting waste of labor capital. The staggering number is a monumental setback to those who offer their career for the country's most popular profession. In financial terms, this is a blow to the campaign to send workers abroad for more dollars intended to boost the local economy. The government seems disengaged, proudly slow to react to the problem.
As in the past, the blame and anger spread in all fronts, but nothing effective to correct the labor crisis has been done. The government's labor allocation policy has failed. Unable to protect the nursing profession, Philippine lawmakers, labor planners, school administrators, and licensure officials haven't acted to the satisfaction of the public.
Counted among the country's reliable cash cows, the poor silent nurses are mercilessly brushed aside now that there's little need for them inside and outside the country. The docile professionals, unable to vent their frustration, pathetically wait for the day when they'll be able to find work. Sadly, the day isn't coming anytime soon---for there's hardly anyone to help them. Together with the unemployed, a fraction of the 88,750 board examinees is about to rush for jobs that aren't there. (Photo Credits: glenmcbethlaw; uberdoog; allwaysNY) =0=
After the nurse, enters the chef
With the oversupply of nurses and ever increasing demand for Filipinos to leave the country, the new career craze is to be a chef. From just one culinary school in 2000, the country suddenly has 400 cook schools. If no regulations of these schools are implemented there will thousands who will be exploited, just like the mushrooming of 400,000 licensed nurses who have no place to work.
"Chefs are the new rock stars now. Everyone wants to be a chef. When I started, there were hardly any culinary schools here ... And there was no chef, it was just the cook. When I got back, there are culinary schools everywhere," said Ian Padilla a Filipino chef at Parisian restaurant Tailevent. Reuters/ABS CBN News (09/30/08, Francisco,R.)
About 8,400 kitchen workers left for jobs abroad and 5,500 of them are chefs and cooks. The chef’s compensation abroad can be as high as $4,000/month compared to the usual salary of average Filipino workers which is about $220-320/month. With unemployment rate above 7%, the temptation to be an OFW is strong.
However, potential for victimization of Filipinos is obvious here. The government is prodded to work hard to create jobs, reprogam its labor plans to suit the needs of the nation. Otherwise more and more people will be forced to follow an estimated 50,000 and 230,000 workers who left in 2007 to be employed as maids and seamen respectively. This is in addition to the countless number who work in menial jobs such as welders, waiters, carpenters, drivers, plumbers, upholsterers, and other construction workers. Photo Credit: wayneandwax) =0=
For safety, FDA monitors 20 drugs in the market
A 2007 federal law requires the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to disclose reports from doctors, patients, hospitals, nurses and pharmaceutical companies problems surrounding a particular drug---from simple drug labelling concerns to serious side effects. The list doesn’t automatically imply that the drugs are unsafe and patients don't necessarily have to stop their medications. Product Name:
Active Ingredient (Trade)
or Product Class----------------------------Potential Serious Risk/New Safety Info.
Arginine Hydrochloride Injection (R-Gene 10)----Pediatric overdose due to labeling
Desflurane (Suprane)----------------------------Cardiac arrest (heart stops working)
Duloxetine (Cymbalta)---------------------------Urinary retention
Etravirine (Intelence)-----------------------------Hemarthrosis (blood in a joint)
Fluorouracil Cream (Carac)
and Ketoconazole Cream (Kuric)---------------Adverse events due to name confusion
Heparin -------------------------------------anaphylactic-type allergic reactions
Icodextrin (Extraneal)---------------------------Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
Insulin U-500 (Humulin R)----------------------Dosing confusion
Ivermectin (Stromectol) and Warfarin---------Drug interaction
Lapatinib (Tykerb)-------------------------------Hepatotoxicity (liver toxicity)
Lenalidomide (Revlimid)--------------------------Stevens-Johnson syndrome
Natalizumab (Tysabri)----------------------------Skin melanomas (deadly skin cancer)
Nitroglycerin (Nitrostat)--------------------------Overdose due to labeling confusion
Octreotide Acetate Depot (Sandostatin LAR)----Ileus (bowels not moving)
Oxycodone Hydrochloride
Controlled-Release (OxyContin)-------------------Drug misuse, abuse, and overdose
Perflutren Lipid Microsphere (Definity)----------Cardiopulmonary reactions
Phenytoin Injection (Dilantin)----------------------Purple glove syndrome
Quetiapine (Seroquel)------------------------------Overdose due to labeling confusion
Tebivudine (Tyzeka)---------------------------------Peripheral neuropathy
Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Blockers----------Pediatric cancers
For the first time, a quarterly report covering January 1 to March 31 2008 is issued scrutinizing certain medicines for their safety. Once the result of the drug evaluation is out, whether the drug has adverse effects or is confirmed safe, it will be reported in the Adverse Event Reporting System (ARES)to alert the public. Part of a drug safety initiative, the report evaluates the seriousness of a side-effect or if there is something unknown for a particular medicine which can pose a health problem. Source: WebHealthNews (09/05/08, DeNoon, DJ/Chang,L)=0==========================================================
Supreme Court Courage Needed
"Intelligence can be inherited, education can be bought, expertise can be trained but courage is one thing that cannot be taught. And it is courage that is utterly lacking in our Supreme Court for a long time now. It a virtue Senators Diokno and Joker Arroyo had in abundance."---MyTy, Philippines
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Belying nurse surplus with unfilled 20,000 foreign jobs---a slanted view of RP’s unemployment problem
After Ruth Padilla, a commissioner of the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) announced there are 400,000 currently unemployed nurses in the Philippines, Jackson Gan, the vice-president of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters and his organization belie the excess of nurses because there are unfilled “20,000 job orders for nurses in the Middle East, Singapore, and Europe.” Inquirer (09/01/08, Uy, V.)By numbers alone, 20,000 jobs Gan speaks of don’t come close to 400,000 jobless licensed nurses that Padilla is referring to. Even if these foreign jobs are filled, there remain 380,000 licensed nurses who aren’t employed. Many more nurses are scheduled to finish their courses and take the boards, adding more numbers in the jobless pool. So how can Gan prove his point?
On Gan's admission many nurses are shifting to other jobs in computers, call centers, medical transcriptions, or other employment unrelated to their education out of desperation. Is this not a sign of an oversupply? The existence of foreign job offers abroad doesn’t negate the reality of joblessness at home, the place where Filipinos must be in the first place.Speaking for the manpower establishment (also maybe for the POEA as well,) whose main role is to fill in workers, Gan sounds condescending in saying that our nurses aren’t qualified for the job. This isn’t entirely true--- knowing that they went through standard accredited study and were licensed as professionals by the Philippine Regulations Commission (PRC.)
Almost everyone knows there is slowing in hiring coincident to the way-ward increase in the number of nurses in the supply pool. Contrary to Gan’s assertion, Filipino nurses want to go abroad even in countries other than the United States, but there are reasons other than the prejorative label of “not being qualified” that are keeping them at home
The lack of two-year experience in a 250-bed hospital is the reason Gan cites for the unfilled foreign jobs. But this is simplistic and misleading for the turn-over of nurses in big hospitals is brisk. Because of the US back-log (not enough visas are available,) many nurses who already passed the NCLEX are forced to wait for at least 2 years, just the right time for them to comply with the experience requirement. It is more likely therefore, the 20,000 foreign positions aren’t filled (if truly they exist) is because the jobs offered aren’t attractive enough--- the workplace can be “unsafe,” the terms of the contract may be unacceptable, there can be family issues that remain unresolved on immigration, or the offer of going abroad poses difficult cultural and language barriers that is hard to meet. Above all, many applicants may not have the cash to finance their foreign applications forcing them to work and save first before pursuing their plans abroad.
Reported in the news before, Spain wants Filipino nurses, but job-seekers need to learn Spanish---a task that has nothing to do with the nurse’s ability to care for patients in the hospital. Why will they learn Spanish when they are even struggling with the English language which takes them too long to master? Similarly, Belgium also needs nurses, but they have to speak in Belgian. Saudi Arabia may have jobs, but horror stories abound from nurses and overseas foreign workers (OFW’s) who worked in countries where the treatment of women and foreigners are different. There are scary reports of maids in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East who commit suicide because of maltreatment, rape, isolation, and intolerable working conditions.
Gan and people with his mindset need to simply look around to say what they are saying is lopsided, a cheap letdown against the nurses, themselves helpless victims of inept education and labor planning. He speaks from the vantage point of an astute labor-peddler whose interest is mainly to deploy workers in jobs without much regard of the welfare of Filipinos braving the uncertainties and hardships in the world outside. =0=
Nurse glut made worse by apathy & self-interest
Almost everyone knows it is coming. The nation produces about 100,000 licensed nurses per year. The joblessness of 400,000 board-certified nurses is expected as students enrolled in the course has surged to more than 450,000 since 2006 in the Philippines which can only employ 60,000.
But few people want to talk about the nurse problem---either they are apathetic or they just wanted to move ahead on their own. There has been inadequate public national debate on the issue, in the government and even among interest groups. Perhaps, they are intimidated.
The apparent lopsided popularity of nursing didn’t dissuade students against choosing the course, among them, second-courser doctors who wanted a shot at higher paying jobs abroad, even if they had to downgrade their positions in the healthcare ladder. Acceptable to many, they had their career plans on hold, wasting away time before they could be productive. They believe the situation was only temporary; once they escape their jobs for high paying jobs abroad, it would be OK.
But we’re seeing the full-blown effects of failure in planning and labor-allocation. The exceedingly high number of unemployed nurses translates into millions of lost productivity. Since overseas labor is a major leg that shores up the Philippine economy, the impact of joblessness is staggering.
The Education Department was slow in averting the mass unemployment when it recognized the folly of loosely permitting new schools to open until its ban 2004. Legislators sat on the side (even allowing their relatives to join the nursing tide) without coming up with solution(s) to the profession’s freak overrepresentation in the workplace.
In a matter of few years, positions filled up, leaving thousands without jobs. Like beached whales in the sand, nurses with plans to work as overseas foreign workers (OFWs) quietly looked at their situation with worry and trepidation, hoping the bottle neck of employment would ease up. For survival, others had taken local jobs in alternative professions. On their own, they wonder what the government could do to alleviate their plight.=0=
RP’s 40% drop in med school enrollment & the foreign doctors
It seems a good thing that doctors from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN,) a group of sovereign states in partnership with the Philippines, are coming to the country for study. This development is timely when at least 5,000 doctors have left the country since 2004 and about 6,000 have shifted to study nursing for jobs abroad. In the last three years, a staggering 40% drop in medical enrollment is noted. Asian Journal Online (08/26/08) An uncertain number of foreign doctors who come from Iran, India, Malaysia and Indonesia and other neighboring countries have sought training in Philippine hospitals, many in the provinces, even if no Department of Health (DOH) guidelines are existent to regulate them.
According to Philippine Medical Association (PMA) president Reynaldo Santos, M.D., the arrival of these foreign medical trainees attests to the high quality of education in the country. But this is doubted in the wake of a sharp decline of the number of hospitals, a marked rise in patient load for doctors and nurses, a low passing rate of Filipinos in the United States Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE,) an over-crowding of patients and trainees, lack of budget, equipment upgrade, and medical facilities in many hospitals. See related article on medical diploma mills below.
If the Department of Health (DOH) and the Education Department (CHED) don’t act fast, it will not be long before foreigners will be able to judge for themselves the quality of education and healthcare in the Philippines compared to that of their countries of origin. It is deleterious for the country to rely on foreigners to solve the shortage of physicians or seek them to shore up dwindling medical enrollment. Without infringing on the physicians’ rights, measures to reverse the brain-drain of local doctors must be high in the priority. (Photo Credit: Doctian) =0=
MEDICAL SCHOOL DIPLOMA MILLS
A disturbing article entitled Medical School for Sale? was written by Emil Jurado of Manila Standard on July 26, 2007. It's unclear whether the Department of Health (DOH) and school authorities (CHED) took satisfactory remedial action to prevent further erosion of credibility with the alleged proliferation of diploma mills in the country.
In concordance with the requirement of ASEAN's Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA)mandating to honor medical licenses and credentials among member nations, this highlights the need to write the long-overdue guidelines needed for the regulation, hiring, and training of local and foreign doctors in the Philippines. Here's a part of Jurado's riveting piece that needed verification plus action from the government:
“The Times of India, a very prestigious newspaper, published an article, “Now showing: Manilabhai MBBS*.” The article is very derogatory about our kind of medical education. The latest MBBS scam to appear on the medical scene in India is based in the Philippines. “And this one’s even less complicated than the others.”
The article says: “There is no entrance test for admission, now, will you need to attempt the screening test in return?” says Upveen Harpal, accounting executive, HCMI, which is sending students abroad.
The article adds, “So, anybody with 40 percent in Class XII examination and who could pay Rs 16 lakhas (about P1.6 million) upfront could head for the Philippines for an MBBS and come home to practice. No questions asked, and Harpal claimed that this was a three-party tieup among HCMI, a medical school in Manila and a medical school in Tamil Nadu, India.”
To add insult to injury, Yogesh Sharma of Gujarat Global News Network, Ahmedabad wrote an article entitled, “The Philippines dangles carrots to Gujarat students: Be doctor for Rs 20 lakh.” The article implies that there are no more requirements to enter an MBBS program in the Philippines since the title gives the impression that all one needs is Rs 20 lakh or P2,000,000 to become a doctor, courtesy of fly-by-night or spurious Philippine medical schools, and diploma mills for sale. “ *N.B. M.D. in the Philippines is equivalent to MBBS in India. Manila Standard (07/25/08, Jurado, Emil; Photo Credit: PaulCooperBland)
Hungry Filipinos, Release of 16 Innocent Prisoners And Cholera Death Toll In Mindanao
14.5 million----Is the estimated number of Filipinos (representing 2.9 million households) who experienced involuntary hunger between April and June 2008 according to a SWS survey. The occurrence of severe hunger rose to 4.2% which corresponds to about 3.3 million people in 760,000 families.
34----Of the 67 prisoners attended to by the Justice on Wheels in Caloocan City, Philippines, 34 were released. Nineteen of them finished serving jail time while 16 were found innocent of their crime. The incredibly crowded Caloocan City jail keeps 1,500 prisoners in a facility that's intended for only 500.
21---Death toll of the cholera outbreak in Sultan Kudarat in Mindanao between July 27 to Aug 6, 2008. Residents became ill in what experts believe to be linked with drinking contaminated water. As of Aug 6, 2008, 147 individuals are suspected to harbor the disease.
10,000---From January to June 2008, the total number of Filipino nurses who took the licensure examination in the United States. The number is 107 shy of the total number of nurses who took the same test in the same period last year. Almost 500,000 students are currently enrolled in nursing in the Philippines today.
20
----The number of Filipino girls rescued from illegal recruitment by human trafficking syndicates recently. Coming from poor towns in the provinces, the girls are locked up by their recruiters while they wait for assignments abroad as OFWs, mostly in the Middle East as domestic workers. Some of these girls end up being abused by employers and they seek help from the Philippine embassy.
12.2%----Inflation rate of the Philippines in July 2008. Exceeding the previous inflation rate of 11.4% in June, this is the highest in 16 years. Inflation rate averaged 8.3 percent in the first six months of the year, surpassing the government’s original forecast of 3 to 5 percent for 2008
P2.50-P3.50----Price of pan de sal this week after a 50 centavo rise. Correspondingly, the price of a loaf bread went up to by P3 and now runs at P50-55/ loaf.
66%---The percentage of Filipinos who are scrimping on food, said Pulse Asia in a survey conducted last June and July 2008 in response to high prices of commodities. The same survey disclosed households consume and spend less on electricity, cell phones, transportation, water, and medicine.
90%----The percentage of disabled persons who are poor, according to Geraldine Ruiz, president of the Organization of Rehabilitation Agencies. As per World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, 10 to 15% of the Filipino population has some kind of disability.
1,536
---The number of families (with a total of 6,547 individuals) that are displaced due to a new wave instability and chaos perpetrated by the secessionist group MILF in Midsayap and Aleosan towns alone. Burning of houses, destruction of plantations, looting of properties and cattle rustling, among others are the reasons why civilians are forced to leave the troubled spots in Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines. =0=
The essence of being a nurse, a P10 million bribe, an OFW's complaint against RP officials in Saudi Arabia, & Dolphy's secret of being young
"Palagay ko, it's my job. Kapag nasa linya ng comedy, wala akong iniisip kung hindi katatawanan at puro comedy ginagawa ko. Making people laugh is fun talaga. It's better sa buhay."---Dolphy remarks on his secret of being young at age 80.
"Considering our depressed condition and lowered people’s morale, it is clear that uncoordinated, quickie and populist projects will not work and be just a waste of time, resources and goodwill,"
---Former Pres. Fidel Ramos on the dismal policies of Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo
“Should we worry? There will be pain but maybe worrying too much is too much. We will survive this eventually.”
---Dr. Cayetano Paderanga Jr., a professor at the UP School of Economics on the deteriorating economy and lack of morale of the people.
"More than three million children between the ages of 6 and 15 are now out of school. What is her administration going to do about it? Judging from her SONA -- nothing, other than hand out a few scholarships,’’ ---ACT-UP Chairman Antonio Tinio asks the government on what to do with children who can’t afford to go to school.
“My advantage of being half-Filipino, half-German is having an exotic beauty which I think is not common with other people. But for me, it’s my multi-cultural values which set me apart because these make me a better and stronger person.”
---Princess Uhrig, a mixed-race candidate in the Miss Limburg-Belgium beauty pageant to be held in September.
“Promoting an NFP-only policy goes against our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, which targets increased access to reproductive health services and contraceptive prevalence rate -- covering both modern natural and artificial methods -- to 60 percent by 2010 and 80 percent by 2015," ---Ramon San Pascual, director of the Phil. Legislator's Population and Development Foundation Committee, airing objection to the Roman Catholic Church stand against artificial contraception.
“So, they were talking of a win-win situation, which meant offering P10 million for me to give way to Justice Reyes. I politely declined that offer and told the emissary that it was not only a matter of principle but that it will [also] affect the integrity of the court. Before he left, he told me that they were still hoping that I could see it their way,”
--- Court of Appeals Justice Jose Sabio bares a scandalous bribery offer he got from someone whom he believes to be an emissary of Meralco.
“Palitan n’yo na lahat ng nakaupo mula sa ibaba hanggang sa itaas. Imbes na sila ang makatulong sa amin, sila pa nagpapahirap sa amin"---OFW Armando Navarro who said while calling for the replacement of Philippine Consular officials in Saudi Arabia.
“I regret what I did. I'm ready to face any punishment because he is my son,"
---says a desperate man of Legazpi City who stabbed his three month old baby for he can’t care for him any longer.
"When you decide to become a nurse, you have to have passion to serve and to care. The essence of nursing is to care for the people,"
---Nurse Board topnotcher Aira Therese S.Javier said. She believes going abroad must not be the primary motivation of her colleagues in the profession. =0=
Employment Prospects For Nurses Further Dim As 27,765 Pass Licensure Test
Nursing, the Philippines’ over-represented and most popular profession has recently added 27,765 to its roster of board examination passers when the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) released the names of successful examinees on July 25, 2005. The number represents 43% of a total of 64,459 examinees who took the June, 2008 licensure test. The new nurses are expected to further clog the bottle-neck in foreign (OFW) and domestic employment which is experiencing a slump in job recruitment.
Hiring is expected to tighten owing to oversupply and lack of demand. The government needs a rational strategy to solve the growing joblessness among licensed nurses and those who fail to pass the board exam in the country.=0=
Job Prospects for Filipino Nurses Decline
The law of supply and demand has caught up with the nurses again. As the 65,000 board exam takers fend off anxiety brought by the test given in June 1 & 2, 2008, a gloomy cloud hovers over their job outlook. Employment is reportedly down. And there’s a bottleneck which impedes hiring of nurses at home. Against the rosy job predictions of the past, there’s slowing in work recruitment. The chart shows fewer jobs are available abroad, hopefully just a transient trend that will go away. In 1999, there were 27,000 student nurses in various schools nationwide. The number ballooned to 453,896 in the next 7 years---an incredible increase, in response to the bright prospects of a nursing career, in spite of the ban against opening of more schools, for fear of diploma mills.
The expense of pursuing the four-year course isn’t cheap. It’s about 300,000 pesos. The amount doesn’t include the bells and whistles of nursing: pocket-moneys, reviews, licensure tests, language proficiency exams, NCLEX, CGFNS certifications, and visa screens which could easily double the price of the country’s most popular course. Would-be nurses spend generously for the requirements, mostly to prepare for jobs abroad. Yet, in spite of the prohibitive cost, the Commission of Higher Education (mindful of the deteriorating quality of education) wants to extend the nursing curriculum for another year.It’s the promise of green bucks and the lure to live overseas which drive many Filipinos into the profession. They're motivated to work and immigrate in alien places, dreaming of situations different from what they have at home. Encouraged by the government, a huge number of them join the country’s army of willing workers who are relied upon, by their dollars, to shore up the nation’s economy.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) the government agency which oversees the assignment of workers abroad isn’t happy with the southward retreat of jobs. Though probably the numbers are inaccurate since a good number of nurses sneak outside the country outside POEA's purview, the agency’s data have nonetheless revealed a compelling picture:“The POEA data show a decline in deployment of new hires. From a high of 13, 822, deployed new hires in 2001, deployment decreased to 8,528 in 2006. Significant drops in deployment of new hires happened in the following receiving countries--- Saudi Arabia: from 5,626 in 2004 to 2,886 in 2006; United Kingdom: from 800 in 2004 to 139 in 2006; US from 373 in 2004 to 133 in 2006; Kuwait: from 408 in 2004 to 191 in 2006; Qatar from 318 in 2004 to 38 in 2006.” Abs-cbnNews.com (06/01/08, Romero, P.)
Passing the boards is a requisite for local employment. If about half of the number of test examinees (32,500) passes the licensure test, many of them would find it hard to land a job. There are those who're way ahead in the pile waiting for vacancies even in non-nursing jobs such as in call centers, medical transcription and computer technology. They're likely to default on the time-table to be productive and miss the opportunity to assist their loved ones who are heavily invested in their future. ==0==
Hippocrates, Maimonides and the Perfume Canister Incident
“What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.” ---Oath of Hippocrates (400 B.C)
Removal of lodged foreign objects in body orifices is expected in medical practice, but it occurs quite uncommonly. Whether it’s a little boy crying with a corn kernel trapped on his nose, or a grandmother in pain with a spiky fishbone stuck in her throat, or a homosexual humiliated with a light bulb caught in his butt, doctors and nurses always remove them. It’s their duty. Knowing their role, they defer judgment and blame. In these situations, there’s no cause to make fun of the patient.
We know there’s nothing more heart-rending than the sight of a patient in pain. We feel lucky not to be in the patient’s shoe. The doctor’s instinct is to allay suffering. They often do anything to help human beings in distress.
The nurses don’t invite on-lookers to break the dictates of hospital privacy. As a general rule, nobody is allowed to take pictures on patients having treatments. Hospital workers are expected not to gossip on patients in the corridors. They must earn trust. Patients can’t imagine a hospital where they can be put to shame.
Like the sin box of neighborhood churches where confessions are heard, our hospitals are supposed to be sacred grounds for respectful patient-doctor relationships. What goes on in the doctor’s room is protected by confidentiality and trust. Yet regrettably, at times, something goes wrong and we start asking why.
Primum non nocere. (trans. First, do not harm.)
That’s the first lofty ethical advice that doctors and nurses remember. We expect our care-givers to heed the holy caveat of comforting the sick first before they institute cure. Thy must abide with this rule similar to the pledge of the great physician Hippocrates and the prayer of the rabbinic philosopher-physician, Moses Maimonides (1135-1204 A.D.) which, in part reads:
“Grant that I may be filled with love for my art and for my fellow men. May the thirst for gain and the desire for fame be far from my heart. For these are the enemies of Pity and Ministers of Hate. Grant that I may be able to devote myself, body and soul, to the children who suffer from pain.
Preserve my strength, that I may be able to restore the strength of the rich and the poor, the good and the bad, the friend and the foe. Let me see the sufferer the man alone.
When wiser men teach me, let me be humble to learn, for the mind of man is so puny and the art of healing is so vast. But when fools are ready to advise me or to find fault me, let me not listen to their folly. Let me be intent upon one thing, O Father of Mercy, to be always merciful to thy suffering children.”
The ancient aphorisms embody what ethical medicine must be for all of us today. But we couldn’t fully understand why the clear moral norms set in medicine had been violated in Cebu’s government-run Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
A group of doctors and nurses assisting in the removal of a perfume canister in a patient’s rectum were caught jeering in glee and making fun of the patient during the procedure. The disgraceful footage landed in cyberspace’s You Tube embarrassing the patient, the nation, and the whole world.
Although there are tenets in the Hippocratic Oath and the Maimonides Prayer which aren’t strictly followed today (partly because medical practice has evolved through the ages,) humility, respect, and mercy for patients remain integral in the great physicians’ core exhortation. For their truism, such rule of conduct has been adhered to since pagan times.
The perfume canister controversy made us reassess our moral values. The overwhelming majority who learned of the incident thought it was sickening and downright wrong. Many condemned the hospital personnel’s arrogant indiscretion and blamed them for brushing aside the golden rule:
“Do unto others what you want others to do unto you.”
For the infamy we earned, the Department of Health (DOH) called for an investigation and planned for a disciplinary action. A priest-spokesman of the Archdiocese of Cebu laid blame on the victim’s behavior and opined the incident shouldn’t have occurred if he didn’t engage in bestial sex. While others recommended those involved be stripped of their licenses, the priest asked for a review of the ethics curriculum under which the hospital personnel were taught.
Swept with emotional trauma, the patient, a florist, sued the hospital, a move that could have easily assured him of hefty damages if the case happened in a different country. Friends of the erring doctors and nurses however believed those involved don’t deserve punishment for they already “suffered enough for their misdeed.”
Ladlad, an irate group of lesbians and homosexuals plus the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan disagreed and demanded full disclosure of the doctors’ and nurses’ names---something the authorities often won’t ordinarily do for reasons that weren’t justified. But they did it anyway for this case.
There were those who couldn’t forget the protests incited by ABC’s Terri Hatcher’s suggestion in a TV sitcom that our doctors aren’t competent. According to them, the incident proved that Terri was correct after all and we have little basis to whine. Some were convinced it would be hard to keep the world supporting us if there had been other evidence that cast doubt on our medical professionals’ integrity.
Yet, whatever the outcome of this case, the need to upgrade our medical ethical standards is self-evident. By any means, our mistake isn’t tenable and a re-calibration of our moral compass is required.
Hippocrates and Maimonides still speak to us on ethics and moral behavior that have applications outside the hospital setting. But the hideous perfume canister incident makes us wonder if similar incidents would happen again.=0=
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