A Nurse's Notes

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I am a nurse and I work on a public hospital in a small town here in the Philippines. I graduated college on the year 2009 and got my license the next year but I never really practice my profession until last year. I don’t really like to be a nurse. I don’t hate it. It’s just that nurses here in the Philippines are overworked and underpaid. Especially if you’re just a starter like me. After 4 years of studying to get a degree, you still have to study again and review for the Licensure Examination. But that’s not it, after all that, you’re still not qualified to “work”on a hospital. You have to undergo a lot of trainings and the worst part is, you are EXPECTED to do volunteer work for atleast 3 to 6months. But that’s only for the people who know someone who knows someone and so on. I know some nurses like me who busted their ass doing volunteer works for like a year and still got nothing and so they’ve decided to go on a different path and join the world of “call centers”. I’ve been in my hospital for seven months now. I am one of the lucky ones who knows someone so I didn’t have to do volunteer works on my hospital. They got me in. I can’t refuse that “opportunity” to finally work and earned money as a nurse. But of course, there were a lot of people on work who thinks its unfair and that somehow I’m not perfectly qualified for the job cause I don’t do “volunteer works”. I’m like,really? I got a degree in BS Nursing, a professional license and a lot of trainings on my belt but still I don’t deserve my position as an overworked and underpaid staff nurse? Really?? Oh by the way, I’m on the job orders list, a contractual employee who renews contract every 3 months.. luckily if I’m not replace for no reason which is legal cause I’m only contractual and can be fired and replaced anytime. You know, maybe I really like to be a nurse, but I like to be successful and financially stable more. Maybe that’s why I can’t or won’t like it. The only time that a nurse can really be successful here is when we finally got a job abroad.Yeah. When we pack all our things, leave our loved ones and go to a place we never really know to work and start our life all over again with people we hardly even know. That’s the time we get to be recognize as successful. That’s every nurses dream here. Well I’m trying to make it my dream too since “I am a nurse” and that’s all I got. See, it’s not about my profession that I don’t like. I mean, I think it’s a really wonderful feeling to be able to help and have the chance to touch somebody else’s life. Everyday is a chance to be a blessing to other people. But I just refused to accept the kind of system we have here. I’m a rebel at heart but we really don’t need to be like that to grasp the idea that nurses here in the Philippines are unappreciated We are not given any importance by our government. We are not given proper care. We don’t even have hazard pays at work. No benefits. We help rendered care for sick people, we take care of them, who take care of us??? I used to like being a nurse. But if being a nurse means being overworked, underpaid, unappreciated by the exact meaning of those words. Then I don’t like to be a nurse anymore. .