Online Nursing Programs Competes with Nursing Schools and Helps the Oversupply of Nurses
“I prefer to stay at home and study nursing online if possible”, says a Nursing student we talked to yesterday. “If there is only a way in the Philippines to study online nursing programs, that is acceptable to the governing bodies, then I prefer to do it online.” she added.
Certainly, there is a huge demand also for study-at-home nursing programs through the internet. Businesses have seen the need of desperate Asian homes to bring their kids to the nursing profession for later economic benefit and financial rewards by working abroad. This is happening worldwide as we blog. If you search the term “nursing online course” or “online nursing program” in Google, you will be hit it with a million results.
The continuing saga now in the Philippines is to alleviate the status of our unemployed nurses who have attended formal and normal nursing bachelor degree courses in a college or university. With the proliferation of nursing courses online, it will be hard to determine how much longer our fellow nursing citizens have to wait to reap the fruits of their 4-year diploma course because it can only mean one thing - more nursing graduates in the pipeline to trigger oversupply. This is clear competition and over competition will not benefit our nursing board passers.
The other competing Asian countries are also targeting nursing as a ticket to working abroad especially the US. They too are the prospects of these online nursing home study courses and nursing degree courses that almost anyone nowadays can take online and at the comfort of their own homes.
Who will take care of improving the hiring and job opportunities of Filipino nurses abroad?
With many jobless nurses now in the Philippines, the question roams about “who will take care of improving the hiring and job opportunities of Filipino Nurses abroad?”. Is it solely the responsibility of the Philippine government to the Pinoy nurses as it is to the Filipino people? Or is it something that local educational system and the Filipino families have to take care of?
We have read a lot from the news that a lot of recruiters now are scrambling to take advantage of this oversupply of nurses situation in the Philippines. Some recruiters promised to solve the situation by opening up new trainings, hiring and job opportunities abroad through them. With this, we should be worried that illegal recruiters may begin to proliferate in the nursing profession.
More often than not, the governance of a profession is to blame in this situation. Many believed that the nursing profession is in a crisis right now and it needs government intervention. If you look deeply into the root cause of the problem, the local nursing supply and demand has something to do with it as well.
First and foremost, nursing schools should stop accepting more nursing students into the pipeline or at least control the entrants. CHED has to have a hand on this. Maybe PNA should support it as well. CHED should make an assessment of the oversupply nationwide and put a halt for more production of nurses. If the government is not winning the frontlines for nursing demands abroad (like the US, UK and Canada), then we should take care of the local scene.
Second, parents should start diverting their kids to other courses. Nursing is not as lucrative as before. Parents have to guide their kids to the right careers or profession that fits them. Career decisions should not be about money anymore.
And third, if you are a student in nursing or planning to be one someday, be doubly sure you want to be in this field or profession. If you are someone who, like many, had been forced or swayed to be in this profession against their will, then think again and decide what is best for yourself. Talk to your parents and arrange for a shift in career.
With oversupply of nurses and no demand, no one will surely make money. In the family that nurtures a student to become a nurse someday, disappointments and frustration will surface later. Without job opportunities for your the new nurse in the family, you end up losing anyway. There are other more lucrative professions and careers (like in IT) that have not been tapped still by many Filipino students.
Hopefully, the hiring and job opportunities for Pinoy nurses will improve in the near term. The Philippine government should be more agressive in building ties and relations to potential employers abroad. If not, then we, the kith and kins of Filipino nurses, should urge the government to do something drastic and immediate. And we should do our part as well in solving this employment crisis.