Employment Issues that Nurses Face

Published 27 Apr 2017

The U.S. and the U.K as well as the Middle East countries have high demand for nurses. They even allow for hiring nurses from another country just to meet the number of nurses needed for their country. This becomes a very great opportunity for many nurses around the world to get an employment. The United States of America gives good benefits for their health professionals. Because of those benefits, the U.S. has lured so many Filipino nurses who wishes to obtain a green card and fly to the U.S. to earn dollars.

The Philippines is a third world country and faces a lot of economic crisis and one the manifestations of that crisis is the problem on employment. When foreign countries announced their intention of hiring Filipino nurses to work abroad, many Filipinos has decided to pursue a Nursing degree so they could come to America and make a living there. Many parents had influenced their children to get a Nursing degree, so, when time comes, they could work abroad and petitioned the whole family to be residents of the U.S. Even doctors have considered having a step down from their professions to work as a nurse because of the benefits. This has always been the case in the Philippines—whatever is in demand, they go for it, not minding if they really like what they have to do.

There has been an issue of how Filipino nurses have been breaking some employment agreements. One has reported of how Filipinos only try their best to get to a foreign land but once they got in there, they would soon try to break rules. One of the complains about them is that, once they’ve received their appointment in one hospital, they only perform their task for several months or a year, and then they get out of that hospital to be part of another hospital that is near a relative’s or a friend’s house. Owners of hospitals have observed a lot of that case. It appears to them that the Filipino nurses only wishes to migrate to their land to become U.S. citizens and are only using their employment benefits to make their wishes easy to attain. Some have already expressed their disappointment over the matter. This must surely be brought to the attention of the Philippine government.

Another issue about the nursing career is that which deals with the competencies of our nurses. Most people conceive nurses as assistants of medical practitioners. That is quite true because they really do give assistance to the medical practitioners. An issue here is about the roles of the nurses. Should the nurses always be a subordinate to the medical practitioners?

Usually, it is the general practitioners who give assessments about the patients’ cases. An argument has been raised on how nurses should be independent and could give their own assessments on the patients. It is usually the medical practitioners who employ nurses to be their assistants throughout their practice. And it is usually the medical practitioners who give the job descriptions of the nurses. However, nurses should be practicing their own independence and authority. And, it should be the district health board that has the authority to give the roles of the nurses. This argument has been raised to bring out the best for the patients. This will also uplift the profession of the nurses.

One factor that was given consideration was the type of relationship between two parties being a member of the team with one being the employee and one being the employee. It is quite difficult for the nurses to be acting as a nurse especially when the medical practitioner, who is the nurse’s employee, is contradicting the nurse. It becomes difficult for the nurse to play his part because of the awkward situation he is with his employer.

References:

  • Brinkman, Ann and Ruth Wilson-Salt. 2007. How employment structure affect nursing practice. Kai Tiaki: Nursing New Zealand.
  • Jaymalin, Mayen. 2008. Economic lowdown dampens Pinoy nurses’ desire to seek employment in US. The Philippine Star.
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