Source: mb.com.ph

Given the poor results of the recent Japanese National Nursing Exam, where only one Filipino and two Indonesians passed, the Philippine government is now looking at possible options on how to improve the Japanese language training of Filipino nurses and caregivers interested to work in Japan.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) pointed out that the dismal performance of Filipino nurses in the Japanese Nursing Exams could be attributed chiefly to the difficulties posed by the Japanese language, rather than to deficiencies in the professional competence and skills of the Filipino
examinees.

With this in mind the Philippine Government intends to make full use of Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement’s (JPEPA) Consultative Mechanisms to hold discussions with the Government of Japan on improvements in the Japanese language training of prospective candidates who wish to qualify under Japanese law either as nurses or caregivers, including cooperation to enhance and broaden Japanese language training conducted within the Philippines.

Japan started accepting nurses from Asia since 2008 under bilateral economic partnership agreements to ease the severe shortage of nurses as the elderly population continues to expand.

Under the agreements, foreign nurses can work in Japan for up to three years as nurse assistants to prepare for the Japanese test. They must return home if they cannot pass the test.

Since May 2009, the Philippines has dispatched a total of 93 Filipino nurses to Japan under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA).

The DFA found as encouraging the statement of Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada to the media acknowledging the “hard work” of foreign nurses seeking qualification in Japan under their respective countries’ Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA). He also described the examination outcome as “not desirable” and noted that the Japanese Government “must do something”.

Under the JPEPA, candidates are given a maximum of three opportunities to take the national nursing (Kangoshi) examinations, for which purpose the Japanese Government may grant extensions of their temporary stay.

Source Philippine Daily Inquirer

DAVAO CITY—AT LEAST 5,000 JOBS ARE open for nurses in the Middle East, but there are no takers in the Philippines despite the huge number of unemployed in the profession, a labor department official said on Monday.

Ofelia Domingo, assistant director of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in Southern Mindanao, said concerns about security were the main deterrent for the country’s unemployed nurses to grab employment in the Middle East.

“The common perception among Filipino nurses is that going to the Middle East is not safe. They are afraid,” she told reporters here.

Domingo said a large number of Filipino nurses would rather go to the United States, Canada and non-Middle East countries.

But she said strict regulations in other countries resulted in only a small number being accepted in health-related jobs there and the increasing number of unemployed nurses in the country.

“Jobs in the US and other countries are only for qualified nurses,” Domingo said.

But she said that instead of blaming nurses for choosing to remain unemployed than accept jobs in the Middle East, the government has taken steps to help them.

Among these, Domingo said, is the Project Nurse program, under which unemployed nurses could opt for training in the rural areas while earning P8,000 per month.

Another aims to help unemployed nurses form cooperatives and associations that would provide healthcare services, she said.

President Macapagal-Arroyo recently launched a program that sends nursing graduates to rural areas to both earn skills and income while awaiting postings abroad.

The program came at the height of fears of massive layoffs as a result of the international financial crisis that gripped the United States and Europe. Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao

Source:  Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines – Fewer students are opting to take up nursing apparently due to the continuing slump in the hiring of health workers in the United States, the country’s largest labor group reported yesterday.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said the desire among young Filipinos to obtain a nursing degree and work in the United States appears to have waned.

TUCP secretary-general and former senator Ernesto Herrera cited as example nursing schools in Cebu, which have recorded a drop in the number of enrollees for the past years.

“Nursing schools have aggressively expanded their capacity in the last 12 months, but realized that fewer first-year students are actually entering nursing programs compared to figures for the past two years,” Herrera said.

Herrera also reported a 28-percent decline in the number of Filipinos who sought employment in the United States in the first quarter of the year.

“Only 3,024 Filipino nurses took the NCLEX for the first time from January to March, down 1,170 from 4,194 in the same quarter of 2009,” Herrera said, referring to the licensure examination administered by the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc.

Herrera explained that many recession-hit American employers remained reluctant to hire additional skilled foreign workers, including nurses.

“Instead of recruiting new practitioners, many American hospitals are simply asking their existing nursing staff to render extra working hours,” Herrera said.

He said community hospitals and nursing homes run by state and city governments there are definitely reeling from funding constraints.

Due to the weak labor market in America, Herrera said a growing number of Filipino nurses are seeking foreign employment opportunities elsewhere.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) previously reported a decline in the number of nursing graduates taking the yearly licensure examination for the past few years.

Filipino nurses eye UK, Middle East markets

Source: abs-cbnNEWS.com

Filipino nurses are reportedly choosing other countries over the United States for employment.

“The deepening recession in America has clearly diminished the desire of some Filipino nurses to seek employment there,” said former senator Ernesto Herrera, secretary general of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).

Herrera said that a total of 8,272 Filipino nurses sought to practice their profession in the US by taking the National Council Licensure Examination or NCLEX for the first time from January to June.

The figure, according to Herrera, was 1,565 fewer compared to the 9,837 who took the exam in the same six-month period in 2008.

Pinoy nurses are reportedly trying out other foreign labor markets particularly the United Kingdom and the Middle East.

“Actually, fewer nurses from India, Korea, Canada and Cuba are seeking US jobs as well,” Herrera said.

Nurses from India who took the NCLEX for the first time in the first semester were down 56 percent (to 750 from 1,715). Those from South Korea were down 35 percent (to 613 from 934); from Canada down 36 percent (to 314 from 494); and from Cuba down 38 percent (to 192 from 309).

The TUCP said that the four countries are the other top suppliers of foreign nurses to America.

In the whole of 2008, there were a total of 20,746 Filipino nurses who took the NCLEX for the first time or down 3.5 percent compared to the 21,299 Pinoy nurses that took the test for the first time in 2007.

Filipino accounted for 37 percent of the 22,500 foreign-educated nurses who took the NCLEX for the first time in the first semester, according to Herrera.

The Philippines now has some 600,000 nurses actively looking for jobs here and abroad, or forced to perform work outside their profession. They include the 99,837 who passed the local nursing licensure examinations from July 2008 to July 2009.

The government tapped 10,000 of the Filipino nurses and deployed them under the Nurses Assigned in Rural Service (NARS). It allows nurses to serve in the country’s depressed municipalities for six months in return for a monthly allowance of P8,000.