New nurses: Real test not in passing exams but finding jobs

Nursing board takers across the country face a bleak future even after passing the test. DELFIN MALLARI, JR. / INQUIRER

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Many nursing board examinees who are here for a two-day series of tests that began Saturday do not worry about passing the exams as much as finding  employment afterward.

“If one seriously reviewed for the board, passing it is ‘chicken.’ But what is more challenging and really frustrating is the task ahead – job hunting,” said Joy Sta. Maria, one of the nursing graduates from Batangas who trooped to this city to take the bi-annual nursing board examinations.

He said he was not too optimistic about landing  a job as a nurse even if he passed the board.

“Most probably, I would also end up as another jobless nurse in government statistics,” he said.

Most nurse aspirants interviewed by the Inquirer shared Sta. Maria’s fear that even if they passed the state licensure examination, finding employment in private and public hospitals was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“The future is bleak. But I can’t do anything. I’m already stuck in this jobless profession,” Sta. Maria’s buddy lamented.

Lucena City is the designated nursing board center for Southern Tagalog examinees. Most aspirants were billeted in several hotels here.

Last Thursday, the Saint Jude Thaddeus parish church on the outskirts of the city was packed with nursing board examinees who were all praying for heaven’s intercession for them to successfully hurdle the tests.

The throng of young devotees brought with them pencils, envelopes and documents to be blessed with holy water by a priest.

Saint Jude is known as the patron saint of those in desperate situations or hopeless causes.

A female aspirant from this city admitted she no longer dreams of being hired as a nurse abroad even if she passes the government test.

“Landing an overseas job is a tall order. A professional nurse in the country today is considered very lucky if he gets hired even as a casual or ‘job order’ in a government hospital,” said board second-taker Mary Alegre.

Records from the Philippine Nurses Association showed that as early as 2006,  demand from the traditional employers of nurses such as the United States and the United Kingdom has declined.

The serious problem of unemployment among nurses is forcing college freshmen to shift courses, according to a nursing teacher in one of the private colleges here.

“From more than 50 nursing freshmen last school year, we’re now down to 18 this year. The number of interested nursing students has dramatically declined,” said the professor, who requested anonymity.

Even Health Secretary Enrique Ona has been advising incoming college students to stay out of the nursing course due to the backlog of more than 200,000 Filipino nurses without jobs.

Early this year, the DOH launched the Registered Nurses for Health Enhancement And Local Service (RN Heals) to help lessen unemployment in the nursing sector.

The project allows nurses to serve in depressed municipalities for six months in exchange for a monthly allowance of P8,000.