Trending: #CareersinNursing

Before I continue, let me share to you an experience that I had when I was hospitalized a months ago. There was this nurse who’s really kind, and he’d talk to me every time he’d go to my room. Then at one point, he asked that most awaited question, “saan ka nag-aaral?” Of course I feel a little proud to say, “UP Manila” (I was still weak because of my fever). Then he asked, “anong course mo?”. Then I instantly said, “Nursing”. You know at that point I felt excited. Because at the back of my mind he might say, “wow, talaga? Nursing ka? Tapos sa UP Manila pa? Edi matalino ka?” But NO. Instead, he replied, “Talaga? Nursing ka? O, welcome! Welcome sa mga UNEMPLOYED.” I was shocked. Shocking, but true. Right there and then, I realized that even if we are what they call the “cream of the crop”, the “iskolar ng bayan”, now that we've already graduated, we will inevitably be part of that unwanted sector of the population… the unemployed. No matter how beautiful you try to pronounce it, you’re still UNEMPLOYED... JOBLESS... UNPRODUCTIVE… SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T CONTRIBUTE TO THE WELLNESS AND DEVELOPMENT OF THIS COUNTRY. And what’s worse, until now, most of us still don't know what to do now that we've graduated and taken the nursing licensure exam. This kind nurse even asked me, “Pag ba graduate ng UP, deretso na sa PGH?” With the PGH entrance exam in mind (which unfortunately not all UPCN graduates are able to pass recently), I replied, “No”. Then he said, “Ahhh. Siguro nga. Yung mga nakakapasok lang agad dun ay yung mga ‘anak ng Diyos’.” Initially, I thought that what he was talking about are those who are super intelligent. But later did I realized that what he pertains to as “anak ng Dyos” are those who have excellent internal support system, or in layman’s term, “yung may kapit”.

Increasing number of Nursing graduates in the Philippines

I don’t know if that is true or not, but what I believe to be true is the fact that we, new graduates of nursing, will be facing a new challenge, and that is to find a job or a career. There are about 160,000 to 200,000 unemployed and underemployed registered Filipino nurses in the country, according to the Professional Regulatory Commission. And year by year, this number increases as new nursing graduates enter the workforce. Now we can say that this unemployment and underemployment in nursing is TRENDING in the Philippines.

Call Centers in the Philippines

So the question that you can ask now to your formspring and twitter friends is WHAT DO WE DO NOW? WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Well, I have a few suggestions that I can give you based on the trends that I have seen over the years. About two years ago, the Department of Labor and Employment or DOLE has observed a trend in nursing graduates wherein a huge number of them started venturing in unrelated fields specifically as call center agents. As holistic as we are, we do not find any difficulty in relating with people from all walks of life, so being a call center agent isn’t that much of a bad choice! One more, just last year, it is brought to our attention the case of forced volunteerism, wherein Non-Employee Registered Nurses work in a hospital (either government or private), with similar workloads and responsibilities of employed staff, for the premise of, but not limited to: receiving Training/Volunteer Certificates, and increased chances of being hired. They are either unpaid, insufficiently paid, or worse required to pay a fee to render Nursing services. So if you’re willing to spend a large sum of money in order to get that small chance of getting hired or having that satisfaction of making yourself believe that you’re not unemployed, then this path is for you. These are but the sad truths that we are yet to face. Sad… but TRENDING. But I ask you, will you be part of this trend?

Only a few of us know that nursing isn’t just about being a part of the ward, or working as a community nurse. Much more than what we are taught here at the college, nursing offers us a wide range of fields and specializations where we can excel at, a few of which our guest panelists will be talking about today. But believe me, not everyone knows this. I believe that nurses nowadays end up unemployed or underemployed, not because they don’t have a choice… but because they do not know their choices in the first place.

I challenge you now. What path will you take? Will you be contented and be part of the current trend in the Philippines, and blame those who are “anak ng Diyos” for your failures, or will you be part of something bigger and will you set your own WORLDWIDE TREND?