Filipino Nursing Herald

Most US nursing boards now require either a CES report or CP from CGFNS for RN license applications. Here's a list of US states and their requirements: Alabama - CP and CES Alaska - CES or CP American Samoa - no CGFNS requirement Arizona - CES, VS or CP Arkansas - CES and English, CP or VS California - CES may be accepted Colorado - CES and English or CP Connecticut - CP Delaware - CP Florida - CES Georgia - CES or CP Guam - CP, CES may be accepted Hawaii - CES or CP Idaho - CES or CP Illinois - CES, VS or CP Indiana - CP Iowa - CES and English or CP Kansas - CES Kentucky - VS Louisiana - CP Maine - CES or CP Maryland - CES Massachusetts - CES, CP or VS Michigan - CES and English or CP Minnesota - CES or CP Mississippi - CP or CES Missouri - CES or CP Montana - CP Nebraska - CP Nevada - CES New Hampshire - CP or CES New Jersey - CES and English, or CP New Mexico - CES New York - CVS North Carolina - CES or VS North Dakota - CP, CES may be accept...

Over the past weeks, we've received news that a number of nurses have sucessfully left for work in Canada. The employment opportunities, of course, depend so much on their performance in the Canadian Registered Nurse Exam (CRNE). Passing the CRNE is mandatory to get a nursing license in that country. Each province oversees its own nursing application program and each may have its own set of requirements, much like in the U.S. where each state have different licensing requirements. To get an overview of the application process in Canada, you can start at the Web site of the Canadian Nurses Association .

Opening a bank account in the US while holding a tourist visa used to be impossible, since they normally require a social security number and at least two valid proofs of identification. But at least one bank now allows a tourist to open a bank account. You can open a bank account with Washington Mutual using your valid Philippine passport and a current US visa (usually stamped inside the passport). A bank account can be useful if you want to transact using Paypal's services, which requires that you have a US bank account. Although, I think, now you may get an account with an accredited Philippine bank as well (please check with Paypal's Web site for the list). Getting a US checking account will also let you issue your own check for paying for your nursing licensure application. If you open an account at WaMu, you'll get both the checking and savings account as well as a debit card that you can use for retail or online purchases.

With retrogression, hospitals in the US have temporarily suspended their sponsorship programs for foreign nurses. Some continue their recruitment efforts but the most they can do is file for the Petition for Alien Worker or I-140. When visas become available, look for US hospitals to start sponsoring foreign RN again. Here are a few hospitals in Southern California that have sponsored foreign RNs in the past: Saint John's Health Center - www.stjohns.org Good Samaritan Hospital - www.goodsamcareers.org Tenet California - teamtenet.com Enloe Medical Center - www.enloe.org Antelope Valley Hospital - www.avhospital.org White Memorial Hospital - www.whitememorial.com Just like other hospitals, these facilities have put their foreign recruitment efforts on hold, but look for them once there's some relief from retrogression. IMPORTANT NOTE: This posting should not be seen as an endorsement, rather it is for information purposes only. Please do your own research into these facilities f...

A new batch of Filipino hopefuls will take the Philippine Nursing Licensure Exam on Dec. 1 and 2. Here's wishing you goodluck on the test. As always, we'll try to post the results of the nursing board exams here once they are available. The only tip I can give you now is: Pray hard, think hard, and stay calm.

The income tax system works differently in the US compared to the Philippines. Whereas, a nurse's salary in Manila will only be deducted with a single income tax based on his or her salary bracket (or based how much the person earns annually), their US counterparts, on the other hand, may be charged a Federal income tax (US Federal governement), a State income tax (state level) and, possibly, a local income tax (county or city level). The Federal income tax ranges from 15% to 35%. Florida, Texas and Washington charge the maximum 35%, however theses states no not have state income taxes. State income taxes range from 3% to 9.5%. The lowest state income tax is in Illinois, which has a flat rate of 3%. Vermont has the highest as it uses the maximum 9.5%. In California, state income tax ranges from 1% at $6,622 in income and increases to 9.3% over $43,468. Nurses whose basic pay exceeds the minimum for the highest bracket are usually in the 9.3% income tax category. Aside from the inco...

A couple of hospitals in Manila offer nurse volunteer programs. Some collect a small fee, some allow you to volunteer for free. St. Jude Hospital & Medical Center in Dimasalang St. (Just after UST Hospital and Infant Jesus Hospital) offers a good program for new nurses. There's a small fee of 2,000/month but they will give you a certificate at the end of your program. East Avenue Medical Center offers a free volunteer program for new nurses. Registration is conducted every Wednesday. Just bring all your credentials with photocopies. As with any training programs, you have to be aggressive and try to do as much as you can to learn. Be perceptive and don't be afraid to ask staff nurses or even the doctors so that you'll learn a lot.

Here's a useful technique I learned from an English teacher that you can use for your own English exam. This can be used either when taking the Writing or Speaking modules in TOEFL iBT or IELTS. When being asked your opinion on any subject matter, you can use a simple formula. For example, if you were asked: "What are your favorite tourist destinations in Manila?" You can answer this by using a formula: General statement + List + Explanation of each subject on list + summary. To apply this formula,this is how I would answer the question: (1) Manila is a beautiful city with many tourist attractions. (2)Among these attractions, my favorites are Luneta Park, Intramuros, and Manila Bay. (3)I like Luneta Park because I can just sit down on the grass and relax and enjoy a picnic. (4) I like Intramuros because I can look at many historical artifacts displayed there and get to see different products from the provinces that are being sold at a fair inside Intramuros. (5) Lastly, M...

I get asked a lot about what English exam is best to take when applying for a license in the US. People who read my blog know that I took the TOEFL iBT for my own licensure application but most people I know take the IELTS. The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is administered by ETS, a private nonprofit organization that develops and administers tests for educational measurement and research. The TOEFL and its latest product, the TOEFL iBT, was primarily developed to test English skills of foreign nationals to see if they would be able to communicate effectively in an academic setting in the US. That's why the content of the test simulates situations on campus that potential students would like encounter. On the other hand, the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is jointly managed by the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations, British Council and IDP Education Australia. Unlike TOEFL which is geared primarily for an academic setting, IELTS offers ...

There are many books that you can use to review for the NCLEX-RN test, but here are some books that were very useful when I studied for my own U.S. licensure exam: 1. Kozier's Fundamentals of Nursing - always useful whether for local or the U.S. NCLEX. It's important that you know your basics. 2. Saunder's Comprehensive Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination - finish reading the entire book and then try to answer the entire set of questions in the accompanying CD-ROM. When answering questions and you get stymied by a difficult question, go back to the book and study the topic again. This is a very good routine when studying and it improves retention. 3. Saunder's Q&A Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination - Use this book together with the Comprehensive Review to look up answers to questions you have difficulty answering. It has a CD-ROM companion which contains basically the same questions as in the book. 4. LaCharity's Prioritization, Delegation & Assignment ...

Here's a list of IVT training programs in Manila and nearby provinces for the month of Aug. and Sept. August 14-16 Lung Center of the Philippines 15-17 San Juan de Dios 16-18 Martinez Memorial Hospital 16-18 Ospital ng Maynila 26-28 Unciano Hospital Antipolo September 11-13 Bulacan Provincial Hospital 26-28 Angeles University Foundation 18-20 Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital

Test-takers of the NCLEX will sit for the exam for the first time right here in Manila starting Aug. 23. This is indeed a big relief for Filipino applicants and by extension, all other applicants from other neighboring ASEAN countries. Compared to Hong Kong, accommodations and the cost of basic goods is surely much cheaper in the Philippines. Earlier, we uploaded a map to locate the Pearson Professional Centers-Manila test center. If you're taking public transportation and need directions to the test center, here's a short guide to help you. Getting there: From Quezon City -- The fastest way is by riding the MRT. Get off Buendia station. Walk towards the Shell gas station, across it is a jeepney terminal. Get on any of the jeepneys plying the Buendia route and ask the driver to drop you off at RCBC Plaza. After you get off, cross the street and walk towards the Shell Maya gas station. Trident Tower is a building or two after the gas station. Another option is by taking...

The New York Times and Vault.com offer an excellent collection of anecdotal articles about what goes on in a typical day for various types of jobs in the US. So, while waiting for a relief from the retrogression blues, let's take a peek into a typical day of a medical-surgical nurse in the US. Dan Bratton, a registered nurse who works on the medical-surgical floor of the Good Samaritan General Hospital in New York, lets us in on a typical day for him at the hospital. Read about Bratton's day here .

I was asked a few days ago about the validity of English exam scores for Visascreen purposes. Someone had earlier claimed in a post at an Internet forum for nurses that English scores were valid up to five years if you submit it already to CGFNS. All of the information posted at the CGFNS Web site said English scores were only valid for two years, so I e-mailed CGFNS to verify if the new information was accurate. As it turned out, the new information is totally wrong. English scores were only valid for a maximum of two years, regardless of the date you file your Visascreen application. So, for example, if your IELTS scores were expiring on Aug., and your NCLEX exam is on Oct., even if you file your Visascreen application before Aug., your English scores would still become invalid and you'll have to retake the IELTS again. Here's the e-mailed response of CGFNS: Thank you for your inquiry. If an applicant's English exam expires before he takes the NCLEX exam, he will need to ...

In case you're sending documents to Continental Testing Services, the third party service provider hired by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation to handle registration applications, you can use a different mailing address than the usual P.O. Box number they use. Fedex doesn't send to P.O. Box numbers that's why you might need a different mailing address. You can use this instead: Continental Testing Services, Inc 547 S. LaGrange Road LaGrange, Illinois 60525

About two weeks ago, I had trouble running the original CD that came with the latest edition of the Saunders Q & A Review for the NCLEX-RN Examination Edition 3 . The problem didn't seem to come from the CD itself, instead, there was an issue with a library file that came with Windows that was incompatible with the CD application. Whenever I attempted to install the CD, an error message came up that says connection to the data had failed and it kept asking for the CD, which was already inserted into the CD slot. So, I googled to see if anybody else had the same issue and if they had the solution. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any so I had to e-mail Elsevier about it. To my surprise, I got a very prompt answer from them. Keith, one of their technical support agents, was very helpful and he responded quickly to my questions. To fix the bug, a library file needs to be copied to the Window/systems32 folder. Apparently, in some Windows installations, the latest version of the m...

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...

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.

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...

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.