Philippine Nursing education not improving - UP official

Manila Bulletin   February 3, 2010  Dismayed at the result the November nursing board, an official of a nursing association called for a special program that will address the concerns of repeaters and avoid waste of resources of the graduates and their parents.

Only 37,527 of the 94,462 or 39.73 percent examinees passed the nursing board administered by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) in November last year.  Of the total board passers, almost 50 percent were first timers while only 26 percent were repeaters.

Studying nursing can cost an estimated P40,000.00 per semester and can total as much as a half million for the entire course. Continue reading here  http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/241676/nursing-educ-not-improving-up-official

Related 
Philippines concerned over slipping standards in nurse education
The Steady Decline of Board Passers in the NLE | ApplesDaily 

Philippine Nursing a dream?

Via Manila Bulletin Philippines  There's good news and there's good news. But first, some not-so-good comparisons.

From 2001 to 2002, a total of 9,000 registered nurses were hired for overseas employment. Since 2003 those numbers have dwindled to 300 a year. This should be seen in the context of local nursing schools graduating 95,000 nurses last year.

In sum, there are today some 200,000 graduates who are not employed, at least not as nurses.

The good news is that the world still needs our nurses. Come Feb. 6, a group representing employers in the UK will be in Manila to interview 150 nurses and observe them for potential employment in UK hospitals, including the one named after Princess Alexandra.

The bad news is that even as our nurses are prized for their skills and caring ways, many of them flunk the tests for their inability to express themselves in English.

The good news is that nurses aren't the only ones being hired. According to a director of Jai-Kin Resources in Quezon City, oil and gas workers are in demand, too. They are cadet engineers trained in the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute - and if the news gets any better, it is that they command salaries of up to US$2,000, with free housing.

More good news. The nurses who will make it to the UK need not worry about placement or recruitment fees, salary deductions and other charges. They won't pay for their plane fare, and the work visa is free. In addition, assures Jai-Kin, their employer will take care of their overseas spending program for the first three months, before they take the UK board exam.
The bad news is that they must have two years hospital experience, on top of which the required score in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) must be 7 or better.  Via Manila Bulletin Philippines  http://ph.news.yahoo.com/mb/20100108/tph-nursing-a-dream-2d4f68f.html

Nursing Schools By Performance in Philipppines from philippinenursingschool.com

Click the link below to see the best and the worst performing school students passing June 2009 exam

• 0 to 25 PERCENT Local Board Exam Performance
• 26 to 50 PERCENT Local Board Exam Performance
• 51 to 75 PERCENT Local Board Examination Performance
• 76 TO 100 PERCENT Local Board Exam Performance

Philippine Education Training concerns close jobs door for Filipino nurses

My comment:  The Philippine government and the Philippine colleges seem more interested in churning out pieces of paper and making tremendous profits from the students rather than providing a quality education and training the students and helping them find work afterwards in job placement.  Is the world realizing this as well?

From the New Zealand Herald

"We have reached a stage where we have found it pointless to process any Filipino nurse who does not have Western country experience."

The New Zealand Nursing Council says has questioned the quality of nursing qualifications and training programmes in the Philippines after nursing student numbers there boomed from 30,000 in 2004 to 450,000 last year.

"Australia may be the last option, because other countries like Canada and Singapore have questioned the Philippines qualifications," said Mr Wills. 

 

 Continue reading here http://www.nzherald.co.nz/education-qualifications/news/article.cfm?c_id=186&objectid=10557318&pnum=1

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Should I study nursing in the Philippines if I am from USA or other countries?

if your aiming for BSN, it’s very practical to just get it in the Philippines because its cheaper for the same quality of education (assuming that you’re in a good nursing school) you could get in an average nursing school in the US. However, there’s so many sub-standard nursing schools sprouting like mushrooms in the philippines that you have to be cautious before enrolling yourself in. if you’re in one of these schools, please find a better school; and with good high school grades or good current college grades, it should be easy to be admitted in a good nursing school as long as you have good entrance exam results as well. however, the best nursing schools in the philippines could also be discriminating to other nursing schools and may not accredit units from these schools. While it is true that US hospitals don’t discriminate applicants based on what school they were in (as long as you meet the min req like passing the state board; and oh, yes they really don’t, that’s why there’s so many foreign graduate nurses), it doesn’t hurt to have the best education you could get.

If you’re planning to take MAN later on, it would be better to take it in the US. in my opinion, taking MAN without clinical experience and/or no exposure to the field is a definite no-no. your hospital training during your undergrad days just isn’t enough, especially that nursing education in the philippines focuses more on the knowledge and concept and not on the hospital area. besides, only a few schools offer MAN where as there’s so many in the US.

You probably could have (as a US Citizen) done this just as cheaply and forgone your now having to take an NCLEX. THe only school in the Philippines that is recognized by ETS (The people who admininster AP tests in the US and graduate exams for universities) is the University of the Philippines. Nothing else. You could have finished Community College’s nursing program and gotten established as a nurse. 

Philippine Nurse hiring slump seen says Philippine Star

The Philippine Star December 06, 2009 MANILA, Philippines - The number of jobless Filipino nurses is likely to swell further with the expected slump in the hiring of medical workers in the United States and other countries to last for the next two years.

Dr. Fely Marilyn Lorenzo of the University of the Philippines Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies said government data indicated a falling trend in hiring of Filipino nurses for the past years.

“Data from the Commission on Filipino Overseas showed that the demand for Filipino nurses is slowing down in foreign countries, particularly in the country’s top markets,” Lorenzo said.

From a total of 5,790 in year 2000, the number of Filipino nurses hired in the United States dropped to 771 in year 2007.

“This year only eight Filipino nurses are leaving the country every month to work in the United States,” she added.
While the demand remained in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East countries, Lorenzo expects the downtrend in hiring of Filipino nurses abroad for a few more years due to the prevailing economic crisis.
Aside from the global financial crisis, stricter migration laws imposed in destination countries also resulted to decline in the demand.

“Some foreign employers are also finding Filipino nurses replaceable with other nationalities like Indonesians and Chinese because of attitude and values,” she added.

The declining demand abroad and the significant growth in the number of nursing graduates have already resulted to surplus and sharp increase in the number of unemployed nurses in the country.
As of June 2009, a total of 544,967 passed the Nursing Licensure Examination (NLE). A great bulk of the figure is believed to be unemployed.  Continue reading here http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=529872&publicationSubCategoryId=63

Read Nursing News here http://nursephilippine.blogspot.com/

Am I that "lifewise" stupid? Nursing education regrets

Is it time to re evaluate if Nursing is the best education career? Be prepared with over 95,000 students taking the recent board exams for Nurses for more pain.

From the joviquelcalma blog. I passed the nursing board exam here in the philippines last june 2008. You see I passed it on my first try, pretty cool huh? a lot of people thought I'd go places because I was apparently intelligent. But right now I feel that I am the exact opposite. The year is about to end. It's december and still I never found the job where I can use the title that I have worked so hard to attain.

I don't know exactly where I should go. I have been in two call centers already and have not found the answers myself. I am a nurse and I want to become one for real. I don't want my license to expire without being used but right now, it's only purpose was for a gatepass.

My dad threw away money sending his daughter to school who ended up jobless anyway, suddenly I thought, college was just a waste of my time and his money.

Now I'm done with school, what? stay at home and gain weight everyday of my life? that's great?! Evrytime I think about the dreams I had that went out of the window, it hurt. The worst part is, I had to look OK although I'm not. Read her complete blog here http://joviquelcalma.blogspot.com/2009/12/am-i-that-lifewise-stupid.html