Pinoy nurses seeking US jobs down 44% from Jan.-Sept.

US National Council of State Boards of Nursing statistics show that only 4,354 Filipino nurses took the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) for the first time from January to September, pointed out a party-list congressman. “This represents a decline of 44 percent, or 3,426, compared to the 7,780 Filipino nurses who took the NCLEX for the first time over the same nine-month period in 2010," LPGMA Rep. Arnel Ty said. Moreover, in three-month period from July to Sept., only 1,370 Filipino nurses indicated their desire to seek employment in the US by taking the NCLEX-RN for the first time. That’s 38 percent, or 857, fewer versus the 2,227 in the same three-month period in 2010, according to Ty. The number of Philippine-educated nurses taking NCLEX for the first time, excluding repeaters, is considered a sound indicator as to how many of them are trying to practice their profession in America. Shrinking US need for foreign nurses All the same, Ty said the Philippines remains America’s top potential supplier of foreign nurses. He said a total of 1,894 nurses educated in other countries such as India, South Korea, Canada and Puerto Rico had also taken the NCLEX-RN for the first time from January to September. He added that a total of 17,589 nurses educated outside the US took the NCLEX (including repeaters) in the nine-month period, but only 27 percent of them passed the examination. In comparison, a total of 152,068 US-educated nurses took the NCLEX (including repeaters), and 84 percent of them passed. “The US labor market for foreign nurses is shrinking. America itself is producing more nurses, and fewer healthcare service providers there are making new hires in light of continuing government subsidy cutbacks," Ty said. Temporary jobs for nurses in PHL The Professional Regulation Commission has noted that some 290,000 registered nurses were totally unemployed as of Mar. 31. This number does not yet include the more than 37,000 nursing graduates who passed last July’s licensure examination. To provide temporary jobs to nurses, the government plans to spend P1.686 billion next year to expand the Department of Health’s “Doctors to the Barrio Program" to cover the deployment of 12,000 new nurses plus 1,000 new midwives to underserved communities. Extra-skills training for nurses Ty has filed House Bill No. 4582, pushing for not only providing Filipino nurses with short-term gainful work, but also enabling them to acquire the extra skills needed to enhance their long-term employability here or abroad. The bill intends to expand the 2009 short-lived government project “Nurses Assigned in Rural Service" which enlisted practitioners to improve healthcare in the 1,000 poorest towns. It seeks to install a Special Program for the Employment of Nurses in Urban and Rural Services (NURSE), aiming to mobilize a total of 10,000 practitioners every year. Nurses under the proposed program would each serve a six-month tour of duty, and get a monthly stipend not lower than the amount commensurate to Salary Grade 15, the higher starting pay for public nurses mandated by a 2002 law. To qualify, nurses must not be over 35 years old, and must have a valid license. — MRT, GMA News