Filipino Nursing Herald

Let me just make a short shoutout for Filipino war veterans. My grandfather was a veteran of the second world war and when I was growing up, we used to hunt down news together about anything related to war vets' affairs. My grandfather passed away a couple of years ago, but I'm still here hunting down news. He would have liked this particular story that came out in the Inquirer today: The United States Senate veterans committee on Thursday approved a bill that would provide a special set of benefits for Filipino World War II veterans as well as others who had fought under the US flag. Philippine Ambassador to Washington Willy Gaa said in a statement released by the Department of Foreign Affairs that Senate Bill No. 1315, or the Omnibus Benefits Bill, was approved in a special hearing conducted by the committee at the Dirksen Building on Capitol Hill. The report continued: The US Senate version of the bill provides for a minimum annual pension of $3,600 for a Filipino World War ...

Marco Sto. Tomas, a commissioner on the Board of Nursing of the Professional Regulatory Commission, told the Inquirer today that results of the June 2007 nursing board exam will probably come out between Aug. 15 to Aug. 31. Around 78,000 nursing graduates took this year's exam on June 11-12, including 13,000 examinees who passed the leakage-marred June 2006 nursing boards but had to re-take Tests 3 and 5, where questions were allegedly leaked to examinees. The re-take was recommended by the U.S. Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) which made it mandatory for June 2006 passers who want to be issued Visascreen certificates, a requirement for U.S. immigration applications. Earlier, the Department of Labor and Employment said it would release the exam results of the re-takers ahead of the rest of the nursing examinees. Because of the volume of examinees this June, the PRC has given itself at least a month more than the usual target release-date for the nursing e...

The proposed immigration reform bill is essentially dead, at least for now. Last Thursday's 46-53 vote in the U.S. Senate sent the bill back to the shelves to be re-opened probably not until its biggest supporter, President George Bush, leaves his office next year after the US Presidential elections. Meanwhile, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, announced that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may revise the July visa bulletin and change the status for employment-based visa preferences. The Hammond Law Group, which is a member of the organization, says the government agency might retrogress most if not all of the employment-based visa categories with the revision.

BBC reports that Wednesday's vote to continue and not limit debates on immigration reform could mean the end of the line for the controversial bill. Even President George Bush couldn't convince fellow Republicans who voted against finalizing the bill, according to the Washington Post. The Associated Press observed that all the presidential candidates from the Democratic party voted to limit the debate and push the bill forward. In the Republican cast of presidentiables, only Sen. John McCain of Arizona voted to keep the measure alive. Sen. Sam Brownback initially hinted to vote in favor of advancing the bill, but switched his vote at the least minute when he saw the bill was already going down.

U.S. senators on Tuesday voted 64-35 to revive the immigration reform bill, that would grant legal status to 12 million illegal immigrants in the country. Several amendments to the bill are scheduled to be discussed and voted on this week by senators, who early this month thumbed down the bill. President George Bush mustered all his influence just to convince legislators to get the bill back for debates. Bush wants immigration reform to be his legacy as he steps down from office next year. A final vote is set on Friday before Congress takes a break for the July 4 holiday.

A common question we encounter is about the processing of the fingerprinting requirement for nursing licensure in the U.S. Different states have their own security check requirements but common to all of them is fingerprinting. To learn about the specific security requirements in the state where you're applying for a license, just go to that state's Board of Nursing Web site. You can get a list of links and contact information of each state BON from the NCSBN Web site or you can simply google "(state) board of nursing" and you'll find the appropriate link. There are three ways to get hold of the fingerprint cards: 1) You can ask a relative in the U.S. to go to the BON office; 2)You can go to the local U.S. Embassy and request for the card; 3)And last, you can write the BON to send you the fingerprint cards. Usually you'll find instructions on how to request for the fingerprint card on the registration application packet. In California, for example, you can re...

There's a story that appears in the Enquirer today about a hospital in Cincinnati that treats wounded American soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan. What is interesting about this clinic for wounded soldiers, being run by the Cincinnati VA Medical Center, is that all the staff members have either worked in a military hospital in the past or have relatives in the military. What's more interesting for us Filipinos is that one of the featured nurses in the story is a Filipina nurse who used to serve as an Army nurse here in the country and she's obviously well-loved both by her co-workers and patients. Based on the article, Emma Bunag-Boehm is regarded by her co-workers as the clinic's "house mother". Even if I haven't met here, I know exactly what that's like. In the Philippines, there's always a nanay-nanayan (pseudo moms) anywhere we go, regardless if we're in our place of work, in school dorms, at church, or just about anywhere. You put Filipi...

A contingent of 30 nurses and midwives from Brunei have arrived in the country to visit local hospitals as part of an educational trip organized by the RIPAS Hospital in Brunei. The healthcare workers will visit several local health institutions, including the Philippine General Hospital and the Makati Medical Center, as part of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit Continuous Nursing Education (SICU CNE) Program. The group will be in the country until June 30.

The East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City offers a nurse volunteer program that runs for at least a month. Orientation is held every 2nd and 4th Monday of each month. To inquire about the program, look for Ms. Helen Lagumen every Wednesday from 9am to 11am. Oddly enough, you won't get answers from other people in the nursing training office if you ask them about the volunteer. You have to look only for Ms. Lagumen on Wednesdays. The requirements include: Resume with ID photo, PRC card, and you must fill out an application form.

I followed a link to Windows Live Writer from Blogger Buzz today. It Seems that the software had serious bugs that crippled user computers when the application was running. There were actually two bugs uncovered in the software: one had something to do with the installation of the program itself, while the second problem caused computers to crash when the application was being run. Although I had seen the link days before today, I never got intrigued enough to follow it. I only got tempted to click on it today because I was looking for new ways to make posting to the Filipino Nursing Herald much easier than going through Blogger's log in page. Good thing I didn't chase the link much sooner. A fix has already been released to correct the problem in the Windows Live Writer application.

The California Job Journal reports that the average nurse in the U.S. is 47 years old and in California the average age is 51 years old for operating room nurses, who are in such demand in the state. To try and fill the gap, one facility, the Sequoia Hospital, opened its own nursing school, a joint program with San Francisco State. To attract more nurses, it has also even offered sign-on bonuses up to $7,500 for hard-to-fill specialty positions. Kaiser Permanente says it too has seen difficult times getting more nurses to work on its hospital floors. To give nurses flexible work options, it has created a call center where "advice" nurses can take in calls, get symptoms of non-emergency patients and suggest treatments or consultations with physicians.

Filipino nurses looking to earn additional credits for continuing education may be interested in seminar's being conducted by the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA). Here's their tentative schedule as of June 2007: July 06 Understanding Hemodynamic Monitoring July 13 Looking through Congenital Heart Defects July 19 Seminar in Research (PART 1) July 20 Operating Room Instrumentation and Techniques July 26 Seminar in Research (PART 2) July 27 Diabetes Mellitus August 02 Seminar in Research (PART 3) August 03 Suctioning Technique: Focus on Closed Suction Technique August 09 Seminar in Research (PART 4) August 10 Tuberculosis: Strategies for Prevention August 17-18 Nursing Skills Fair August 24 Understanding Basic EKG August 31 Basic Hospital Infection Control Course September 07 PICC Lines: Hands- On Approach to Learning September 14 Patient Safety Goals September 21 Basic Hospital Infection Control Course September 28-29 Nursing Skills Fair October 05 Cardiovascular Support Dru...

President Arroyo appealed to local legislators to ratify the controversial Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) which would open greater trade exchange between the two countries. The JPEPA calls for the scrapping of import duties for automobiles coming from Japan, while Philippine products exported to Japan will also see reduced taxes, leading to complete removal after several years. More relevant to nurses, the JPEPA would remove the restriction on Filipino nurses and caregivers to work in Japan. Under the pact, about 1,000 nurses and caregivers would be allowed to work in the country every year, but applicants must complete a three-year language and skills training course and pass the Japanese licensure test before being issued a work visa.

The Associated Press reports that the prognosis for the nursing shortage in the U.S. looks increasingly bleak as America's elderly population grows alarmingly large in the next few decades. Check out the story here . Meanwhile, President Bush continued to urge Senators to work on the proposed immigration reform act. Legislators have agreed to tackle a limited number of amendments starting next week before putting the bill to a final vote.

I came across this interesting poster of male nurses that was used by the Oregon Center of Nursing in 2004 to recruit more men into the nursing field. Obviously, women have dominated the nursing field and largely outnumber male nurses. Studies in the U.S. reveal that there are only about 146,902 male nurses or just 5.4% of the total nursing population in that country. Men in nursing is an intriguing area of study in the Philippines, where nursing has been historically defined as a domain of women. Studies of Philippine culture would show that caring for the sick and nursing the wounded have always been a job for the women. Men, on the other hand, do male chores like planting rice, fixing the house and drinking "lambanog" at the end of the day. It is the image of the Filipina mother that is more compassionate, more caring, and thus more capable of being a carer for the sick than Filipino men. Men were regarded as incapable of showing compassion and lacked a true caring attitu...

You've heard it before, truth can be painful and reality can bite you in the butt, but Narco News's Al Giordano doesn't need to twist reality to put a hilarious face to the colorful personalities that dot the current immigration reform debate in the U.S. Here's a very informative, yet very entertaining, article on the U.S. immigration issue, which is again up for debate in the Senate starting either this weekend or early next week. US Immigration Reform Bill Moves Closer to Passage – and a Paradigm Shift in US Politics

Nursing school tuition in the Philippines can run up to P60,000 or more per semester. Depending on the institution, tuition will probably cost from P500 to P800 per unit for mid to low-end colleges. High end schools would probably charge P100,000 or more per school semester. Hospital affiliation fees command huge pay outs, ranging from P20,000 to over P35,000 per semester. Affiliation fees are what students pay supposedly for being allowed to intern at a hospital, but if you look at what students these days are getting from their hospital experience, you'd think hospital internships are nothing more than just glorified training for taking vital signs--blood pressure, temperature, pulse and respiratory rates. There's simply too much of that going on but too little of real nursing education about patient care and safe drug administration. Clinical instructors who are supposed to teach students eight hours every meeting, spend less than two hours with students because they've ...

Michigan will no longer require foreign nurse applicants to pass the certificate exam administered by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) before they are allowed to take the licensure exam for the state. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm on July 14 signed a new bill that removes the mandatory CGFNS test requirement for nurses educated outside the U.S. In the past, the CGFNS certificate was a pre-requisite for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) for registered nurses. Instead of the CGFNS exam, foreign nurses will simply need to submit their credentials to determine that their education is equivalent to a U.S. nursing course. Filipinos make up majority of all foreign-trained nurses in Michigan, where a shortage of 7,000 nurses is expected by 2010 and 18,000 by 2015, figures from the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth showed. Additional source for this story: Extra nursing test dropped US States that no longer require the CGFNS ex...

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) wants the government to closely monitor nursing school across the country to protect students from sub-standard education. The TUCP, in a statement, said enrollment in nursing schools continue to surge. Enrollment this school year in more than 400 nursing schools have jumped by 30% to 632,108 students from 486,233 last year. TUCP spokesman Alex Aguilar urged the Commission on Higher Education to closely monitor schools and step up their drive against schools that act merely as "diploma mills". Aguilar also called for improved regulation of the local nursing eligibility examination to protect its integrity

Hardly anyone in my batch ever ambitioned to be an ostomy nurse, but I know several people who've specialized in this area of nursing who are successful in their careers. With the aging population in the U.S., both of patients and health workers, it looks like these specializations will need increasing numbers of nurses now and in the near future. Nursing shortages afflict some specialties

I came across two articles today on the Internet about the nursing shortage in the U.S. Both stories call for greater assistance from the federal government to plug the increasingly-growing problem. Concern mounts over caregiver shortage Nursing shortages fuel debate on foreign workers Here's an opinion piece on the aging population of the US: Baby boomers need immigrants

U.S. President George Bush is mustering all his clout in getting the Senate to get back to working on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that was trashed by legislators last week. Bush, who is hoping to make the immigration reform bill his legacy, personally met with legislators and burned the lines to talk to some senators, hoping to win their approval of the proposed legislation. Legislators agreed to bring the bill back on the Senate floor after Bush pledged $4.4 billion to shore up the country's border patrol facilities and strengthen the agency that watched over it. After several closed=door meetings, it was agreed that both Democrats and Republicans would each be given a dozen opportunities to amend the bill. After which a final vote shall be made. The Senate goes on break in two weeks just before the fourth of July celebrations. With limited time to discuss the immigration reform bill and dissent against it still high, especially among Republicans, the fate of the prop...

Just the other day, we've seen the US announcing that it would again open up applications for immigrant working visas or the employment-based visa category 3 beginning July 1. Many have been anxiously waiting for this because it's a step closer to their American dream. I have to admit, I'm one of those who celebrated the announcement. Although I didn't exactly throw a party, I certainly didn't celebrate just by sitting down either. As the last of the confetti falls on my room floor, I realized that the lifting of the retrogression and the celebrations may be short-lived after all. Some predict that visas would be gone again by October, but I'm starting to fear that the party could end as early as the first week of July. Remember what happened to the H-1B visa or the working visa? All the visas were goobled up in less than two days. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services even had to raffle off the allocations because there were simply too many applications t...

The lifting of the retrogression is great news indeed. This means that pending applications for nurses immigrating to the U.S. will be moving again beginning July 1. Filipino nurses who are already in the U.S. typically go through the Adjustment of Status (AOS) process. Even if you're already in the U.S., though, you'll need a willing employer to file the immigrant petition (I-485) in your behalf. You can't file the I-485 on your own. Typically, employers pay for your application fees, but if for some reason you'll be paying for these fees on your own, then better hurry up completing your papers because the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is set to raise fees beginning July 30. The I-485 fee will increase from $325 to $355, the I-140 (adjustment of status) fee will shoot up to $905 from $325, while the I-130 (petition for alien relatives) will go up to $355 from $190. Employers normally don't shoulder for the application fees for a candidate's fa...

If you're planning to take the TOEFL, better for the TOEFL iBT because it already integrates all the test parts--reading, writing, speaking and writing. In the reading part, you'll be reading a couple of passages and then answering questions about them. It's the same for listening, where you'll listen to a talk, or a classroom discussion, or a conversation between two people, and then answering questions. I think, though I'm not sure, you'll get about 60 minutes for each of these parts. The speaking part gets a bit tricky because you'll listen to a lecture or a conversation and then you'll be asked to summarize and give your opinion. Here, you will also be asked about your thoughts on everyday things like, "Describe how birthdays are celebrated in your country" and things like that. The same format is followed in the writing part, except of course, you'll be using a computer to write down your answers. Typically you'll need to write 200...

Visa retrogression for nurse applicants to the U.S. has been lifted, based on the July 2007 bulletin issued by the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS). Experts predict that immigrant visas for foreign-educated nurses, physical therapists, and their dependents would be available up to October, when the U.S. fiscal year begins. The lifting of the retrogression came after the CIS, under Congress' approval, opened new employment-based visas due to a short-fall of approved applicants this year.

The Lung Center of the Philippines will begin its regular basic skills training program for nurses on July 16. The program, which runs for three months, costs P6,500. They've obviously hiked their fees, which was still P5,500 in the last training period. We're unsure if slots are still open, but those interested may call the the hospital's nursing training office at 924-6101 loc. 270. Application requirements include: resume, TOR, diploma, RLE, board rating, license, PRC certificate, 1x1 picture, and P300 for chest X-ray. The hospital maintains a dorm for nurses so if you live from outside Manila, you don't have to worry too much about where to stay during the program.

In April, the Philippines and Bahrain signed a memorandum of agreement opening up opportunities for Filipino doctors and nurses in the fastest growing economy in the Arab region. In return, Arab medical workers will come to the Philippines to train and gain experience. The Philippine Ambassador to Bahrain says Filipinos have started to flood the Bahraini work place. In 2006, there were 11,736 Filipino workers being hired and re-hired in the state known as the Pearl of the Persian Gulf. That's 17.7% more than in 2005 when only 9,968 Pinoys were recruited in the state that's claimed to be the site of the Gardem of Eden in the Bible. With the door now wide open to Pinoy medical workers, we can be sure that the number of Filipino contract workers in Bahrain will only shoot up, just like oil rising from this mineral-rich nation. There's an estimated 40,000 Filipinos now living in Bahrain, 5,000 of which are dependents, while another 5,000 are undocumented workers.

Got this bit of info from our friend, Bing: The Philippine National Orthopedic Hospital is hiring nurses up to this time. To apply, just bring along original and photocopies of your credentials (TOR, resume, board rating, certificates, license, etc.) and submit them in person to the nursing personnel office. They'll schedule you for an exam and if you pass, you'll through a series of interviews. For the exam, just brush up on your Ortho lessons back in college. If Orthopedic is hiring, the Philippine General Hospital has stopped hiring temporarily. They still conduct recruitment activities though and will accept anyone who wants to apply. If you pass and complete the entire recruitment stage, you'll be placed in a priority list and will be able to start work once a vacancy opens up.

Time is running out for five Bulgarin nurses and a Palestinian doctor who was sentenced to death by Libyan authorities for deliberately infecting up to 400 children with AIDS. The medical workers have been in custody since 1999, after being sentenced to death row in 2004 and in an appeal in 2006. EU officials led by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also the German foreign minister is leading an international appeal to free the medical workers. Will Libyan authorities give in to the appeal? Being a nurse myself, it's pretty hard to imagine infecting as many as 400 children with a blood-borne disease like AIDS, unless all of them received the same AIDS-tinged blood. Perhaps if you use the same scalpel on as many mothers in-labor without disinfecting it after every use, then there might be a chance you could infect 100 perhaps? But 400? Unlike a staphylococcal infection, AIDS isn't easily transmitted through infected objects we pass around. That's why it can only be transmitted throug...

An estimated 13,000 nurse examinees from the scandal-tainted June 2006 nursing board exam are set to retake Tests 3 and 5 today, joining around 70,000 other nursing graduates who will take Philippine licensure exam for the first time. Lawyers hired by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) today will observe the tests that will be conducted in selected testing centers across the country. Dr. Leonor Rosero, head of the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC), said in a TV interview this morning that the first day of the exam yesterday went smoothly. Yesterday's tests covered subjects from Nursing Fundamentals, Maternity and Pedia, Community Health, and Medical Surgical. The retakers today will take their exam about Medical Surgical and Psychology.

The fate of the controversial immigration reform bill, which was thumbed down by U.S. senators on a 50-45 vote Thursday night, is now at the hands of President George Bush. Bush will need to convince fellow Republicans to go back to the drawing table on an immigration reform act, said Cody Wertz, spokeman of Senator Ken Salazar who was one of the legislators in a bipartisan group that drafted the immigration bill. On his way back from the G8 Summit in the German town of Heiligendamm, Bush is said to have already started calling key legislators to get the proposed bill back on the Senate floor. The President made phone calls to three key Republican senators while on board Air Force One. Next week, he plans to personally visit the Capitol and gain support for the immigration bill. Wertz said the fate of the immigration reform bill will depend on whether Bush can "twist the arms" of Republican senators to renegotiate a compromise. "The president has to help us push this thr...

The reincarnation of the immigration reform being considered in the U.S. Congress would give foreign-educated nurses a chance to apply for work on permanent green cards. The new proposed bill would include 180,000 H1-B Visas for skilled workers, 200,000 to 400,000 foreign guest worker permits and 370,000 green card work permits annually, according to a report by the Business Journal. Critics of the proposal, however, claim that this would open the flood gates for foreign nurses, who may have lower skills, drive down wages, and displace American nurses. According to a study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be one million vacant nursing positions by 2010, as many baby-boomers near retirement age and U.S. schools failing to produce enough nurses due to a lack of teachers.

U.S. Senators voted down a proposed immigration reform bill, 50-45, but advocates pledged they would continue to push for the nation's most sweeping immigration initiative in years. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled out the bill immediately after a vote Thursday evening, which was called to get a cloture on the bill, resulted in favor of continuing debates. Discussions on proposed amendments to the bill, which seeks to give 12 million illegals in the U.S. a path to citizenship and introduce a guest-worker program, would continue in the following weeks. Additional sources for this story: Immigration bill stalls in Senate Careful Strategy Is Used to Derail Immigration Bill

NPR.org reports that the U.S. continues to face a critical shortage of nurses as some 80 million baby-boomers are set to retire soon. Although there are more applications to nursing schools that in the past, the lack of educators are forcing schools to turn applicants away. Read the full story from the NPR Web site by clicking here or listen to the audio report by clicking here . demand for nurses The demand for nurses is expected to outstrip the number coming out of nursing schools in the coming years, as some 80 million baby-boomers near retirement age. Although applications to nursing schools are up 40 percent from a decade ago, there aren't enough educators to train them.

Filipino nurses who wish to register with the Nursing Council of New Zealand must show proof that they are registered with the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) of the Philippines as a nurse and they must either 1) have completed an assessment program or 2) have earned a qualification equivalent to a New Zealand nursing qualification. Only a nursing degree earned from an Australian nursing school is deemed equivalent to a NZ nursing qualification, so unless you have the money to enroll in Australia or NZ, the best route to take is the 6-week competency assessment program. To simplify the application process, here's what you need to do: 1. Take the IELTS. A band of 7 on all parts of the exam is required by the NZ Nursing Council. An average of 7, with scores below 7 in any part will not qualify you for registration. You must consistently score at least 7 in all parts--reading, listening, writing and speaking. 2. Once you have the IELTS, contact the NZ Nursing Council. You wil...

Reprinting USCIS advisory: USCIS Advises Public Regarding Immigration Fraud and Proposed Immigration Reform Legislation This notice is to inform the public that although the U.S. Senate is debating and considering immigration legislation (S.1348), that bill has NOT passed into law. Legislation must be passed by both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and signed by the President, before it becomes law. Information about the legislative process is available from the Library of Congress (http://thomas.loc.gov/). If immigration reform legislation does become law, U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will advise the public on how to proceed. Until then, individuals should be cautious of any persons, organizations or businesses claiming to assist in applying for benefits under the immigration reform legislation. Source: http://www.uscis.gov/files/pressrelease/TWPFraud.pdf