On the span of June 2010 to June 2013, Philippines have produced a total number of 468,373 with 59.7% as nursing graduates and 40.3% as registered nurses. With so many nurses and so few hospitals, it is not surprising that most of them are currently unemployed, underemployed or choosing another career path.
On the other hand, while most Filipino nurses go abroad in hopes of a better pay, the fruit isn’t really ripe for them. Forty-three percent of the American nurses, CNN reported, have not landed a job 18 months after receiving their license. Also, the hospitals in the United States supposedly put up a “No fresh graduate” policy because they value nurses who have more skills and experiences.
Even in UK, the demand for nurses remains stagnant for 2 years. The POEA (Philippines Overseas Employment Administration) said that there haven’t been any job opportunities available for nurses.
There are other more countries, sure, but the options are quite few.
Soria emphasized that, "The Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) and the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in partnership with the PNA are finding ways in really helping out these nurses in finding jobs and we have conducted several programs, like entrepreneurship, and we'll be partnered with Dole in launching an entrepreneurship program for nurses wherein they will be able to find alternative means of earning their needed finances."
Yet with the continued growing on the number of nurses, it won’t be able to help everyone. On these standpoints, it is quite worrying, if not alarming that Nursing still remain one of the courses picked by most. The most common reason though, why there is a surplus of nurses in the Philippines is either the number of high school graduates that are willing to take the risk to take up Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) as their course in college or they were being forced by their parents to take up this course, but it’s more of the latter.The fault in our nurses, so one would say, but does the fault really lie on them? Or does the public agencies of the government need to work more on these matters? Surely, it isn’t the fault of the stars.
