Nurses - Brain Drain

[craftbeerlover]

I was reading up on brain drain, and came across this troubling article, here is a snippet, "

plan of Health Secretary Ted Herbosa for government hospitals to hire nursing graduates who flunked the board exam is an act of desperation as the exodus of nurses continues.

Only graduates who scored 72-74 in the board exam – meaning they nearly passed – will be hired, Herbosa said. But they still flunked the exam, and the Professional Regulation Commission said such graduates can’t be issued temporary or special licenses. The emerging compromise is to hire the graduates as nursing assistants.

A nursing organization said the government should instead hire nurses with proper licenses. But this presumes that such nurses want to work in the Philippines. If they did, they would have already heeded the repeated calls for nurses, issued by both government and private hospitals since the start of the COVID pandemic.   I know a number of nursing graduates who passed the board exam but instead opted to work at call centers while waiting for an overseas job placement."     

 

[Joey G]

17 minutes ago, craftbeerlover said:

Only graduates who scored 72-74 in the board exam – meaning they nearly passed – will be hired, Herbosa said. But they still flunked the exam, and the Professional Regulation Commission said such graduates can’t be issued temporary or special licenses. The emerging compromise is to hire the graduates as nursing assistants.

How can "they nearly passed" equate to "But they still flunked the exam"?   

[scott h]

[craftbeerlover]

21 minutes ago, Joey G said:

How can "they nearly passed" equate to "But they still flunked the exam"?   

they almost passed, but did not.   The article further states they will take another look at the exam questions....  hmmmm my guess is the exam will be made easier to increase the "qualified" Nurses.

[scott h]

52 minutes ago, craftbeerlover said:

guess is the exam will be made easier to increase the "qualified" Nurses.

They better not!!! Once they start to do that they will run the risk of being discredited by overseas medical establishments. 

As it stands right now, they (most anyway) usually still have to go through additional training to become fully qualified nurses. I have 3 nieces, all graduated from the top nursing schools here, 1 went to the Australia, 2 went to the states, all three had to take additional training classes and get accredited to work in hospitals. All started out in nursing facilities.

They lower the standards and............

 

[MotorSarge]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

 

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, craftbeerlover said:

they almost passed, but did not.   The article further states they will take another look at the exam questions....  hmmmm my guess is the exam will be made easier to increase the "qualified" Nurses.

They will have a higher passing rate after they remove the questions about whose pictures are on the currency.  

[hk blues]

Maybe they should address the problem head on?

First, forget any rhetoric about making the job more attractive so nurses want to remain here.  it's my belief that many see nursing as an escape route rather than a vocation i.e. they choose nursing because they know it offers opportunities to work abroad.  If I'm right, the issue isn't pay and conditions here so improving them won't help.  I'm not saying this is applies to all, but certainly to many.

And, if they really want to get the return on investment then they could impose "golden handcuffs" i.e. require nurses to work in nursing here for x number of years before leaving the country. This may not encourage more to join the profession, but it will at least ensure that those who do are doing so for the 'right reasons.'  Draconian maybe, but if you really want to solve a problem...

Also, in the UK they match supply and demand when allocating university places, at least they make a decent stab of it.  It's my belief that here there is no attempt to do so and financial considerations override anything else.

As to lowering pass rates to get more nurses into hospitals - I wouldn't be so against it as long as they create a new tier of nurse with limited tasks i.e. leave the qualified nurses to do the more advanced tasks and the 'unqualified' to do the rest.

 

 

 

Edited December 9, 2023 by hk blues

[Jack Peterson]

12 minutes ago, hk blues said:

I wouldn't be so against it as long as they create a new tier of nurse with limited tasks i.e. leave the qualified nurses to do the more advanced tasks and the 'unqualified' to do the rest.

 

 There are 2 levels of registered Nurse  in the UK that could be introduced here Level 1 is a Full Registered General Nurse ( RGN) level 2 is a registered Enrolled Nurse (REN)

 This system has been for many  years in the  UK

Edited December 9, 2023 by Jack Peterson

[Mike J]

22 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 There are 2 levels of registered Nurse  in the UK that could be introduced here Level 1 is a Full Registered General Nurse ( RGN) level 2 is a registered Enrolled Nurse (REN)

 This system has been for many  years in the  UK

Similar to the USA.  They have RNs (registered nurse), and LPN (Licensed practical nurse).  In recent years a new class was added called Nurse Practitioner which allows them to perform certain medical treatments/tasks that would ordinarily require a MD (medical doctor).

Edited December 9, 2023 by Mike J