So you want to be a Nurse in the US

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - A Filipino nurse quit his job and sold all his belongings, all for the promise of a lucrative job at an American hospital. Little did he know that the recruiter wouldn’t show up and would run away with his money. This nurse had settle for another job in Saudi Arabia, a far cry from his American dream.

A fellow nurse had better luck and was even promoted supervisor in another hospital. But his salary was much lower than that received by American nurses under him, a difference of almost $10 in a workplace where every penny counts.

Several other Pinoy nurses hired under recruitment agencies were treated as second-class citizens. “They assume that Filipinos don’t have lives,” one of them complained, citing instances when they would be plucked out of precious “off” days for another round of hard labor. To think that they were chronically paid less than other agency nurses.

So, do you still want to be a nurse in the United States?

Groundbreaking report, “a crucial first step”

These sad stories and more of the same are revealed in a groundbreaking report by a US-based policy research group on the “burgeoning”—but largely uncharted—American nursing industry.

The study by AcademyHealth zeroes in on unethical practices of recruitment of foreign educated nurses (FENs), particularly Filipinos.

The 41-page report released last November identified at least 25 problems reported by FENs interviewed for the study. Many of these abuses allegedly came at the hands of “staffing” agencies for which many FENs end up working at a much lower salary besides finding themselves in substandard living conditions.

Many of the nurses interviewed were Filipinos, who, according to a 2007 survey of the American Hospitals Association, were working in 84 percent of US hospitals hiring FENs.

Former Health Secretary Jaime Galvez Tan, who furnished the Inquirer a copy of the study, said the report was a crucial first step in addressing unethical recruitment practices in the US.

He said all eyes were on the Philippines because it was the biggest supplier of nurses worldwide. AcademyHealth said it “remains the most important source-country for the United States,” which, according to its study, would have a demand for around 800,000 nurses by 2010.

RP is test case

“The US is finally taking notice,” Galvez Tan told the Inquirer in an interview ...

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