NURSING jobs are simply not there for thousands of Filipinos hopeful of going to the United States. At the moment.
“The US still needs nurses but it’s not giving out visas for nurses now. It needs to legislate to provide additional work-related permanent visas for nurses,” says Dean Josefina Tuazon of the University of the Philippines Manila-College of Nursing.
Observers believe visas for foreign-trained nurses will be issued again next year when the US Congress, upon the urging of patients and the health-care industry, approves the quota for foreign-trained nurses that has already been filled up.
“Although the US still needs more nurses, in view of the recent US recession and financial crisis, working nurses there now put in additional hours while others are going back to nursing, thus local nurses are filling local demand.”
Instead, for the first time, she says, Canada is aggressively recruiting Filipino nurses to the extent of even going here for direct hiring. Called “provincial nominees,” nurses are now a priority there. “A boom is ongoing and Canada needs to populate and provide nursing services to their rural and remote areas,” Tuazon explains.
Currently, the Philippines through the Department of Labor and Employment has a Memorandum of Agreement with the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and Alberta. Saskatchewan invited a Philippine delegation last month to discuss terms of the agreement for more ethical recruitment and assistance to the source country.
Each province has different terms of contract and potential recruits should check these out, says Tuazon.
‘Practical Nurses’
For example, she says, Alberta is hiring Filipino registered nurses as “practical nurses,” a sort of aide who assists registered nurses in, say, giving medication. It is a vocational level below that of a registered nurse.
“Alberta is recruiting our nurses for a lower position with lower pay,” Tuazon points out.
A practical nurse is not recognized in the Philippines and by the Philippine Nurses Association, she explains. The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) has graduated several practical nurses but they cannot be absorbed locally.
“Nurses should apply for jobs as nurses, and nothing less than that,” Tuazon says. “They should be patient because there are better options for nursing positions abroad.”
The Middle East, for instance, is still the number one destination for Filipino nurses, especially Saudi Arabia. “Tuloy-tuloy ang deployment doon [Deployment there is continuous], although the terms of recruitment need improvement,” Tuazon says, adding the demand in Saudi Arabia in the early 1980s almost depleted the nursing pool in the Philippines.
Then there is the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) that opens Japan to Filipino nurses. Initially, about 400 slots will be available, Tuazon says, but this is expected to increase as Japan’s life expectancy lengthens and the number of elderly needing nursing care increases.
“The [JPEPA] terms are not so favorable to Filipino nurses who, after six months of culture and language training, are required to pass a nursing exam conducted in Japanese,” she says. “The training period is not enough to learn competency in technical terms, and the likelihood of passing is low.”
Glut in Philippines
There is a glut in available positions for nurses here. It is estimated by the Department of Labor and the nursing community that up to 100,000 nurses are currently unemployed. Add to that the 90,000 new graduates who took the board in late November alone—half of whom are not expected to pass—and you have something like 140,000 nurses looking for jobs, here and now.
“Nurses looking for jobs abroad should weigh the situation,” Tuazon says. “In negotiating for contracts, they need to get the best terms and not to accept any jobs below that of nursing as this will compromise the negotiating power of government and nurses—for example, if others are willing to get low-paying jobs, it will bring down wages.”
“Get better terms abroad that will hire you as a nurse, and don’t accept jobs below your credentials,” she says. “Anything less will impact on employment and brings down the value of Filipino nurses. One has the social responsibility to prevent this.”
“Filipino nurses should not look for jobs abroad right away,” she continues. “Get jobs here first because a good employment agency will look for nurses with experience. And don’t delay the work experience because local positions are quickly taken. Prepare by developing local credentials that are relevant to a nursing job abroad.”
“Potential recruits should be more astute,” she says. “Get information from correct sources like embassy and immigration websites, check out if recruiters are licensed, you know, the basic facts. And be careful with aggressive recruiters and check out fantastic offers.”
“The Commission on Higher Education should check the lack of regulations and monitoring of nursing schools that are diploma mills,” she says. “For instance, it has to address the fact that less than half of graduates pass the board examination while before the passing rate was over 80 percent.” source
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