Reality sinks in: New nurses won’t get nursing jobs

LUCENA CITY—Nursing graduates who are here for the two-day board exams that began yesterday do not worry about passing the grueling tests as much as finding hospital employment afterwards.

“If one seriously reviewed for the board, passing it is “chicken.’’ But what is more challenging and really frustrating is the task ahead—job hunting,” said Joy Sta. Maria, one of the nursing graduates from Batangas who trooped to this city to take the biannual nursing board exams.

He said he was not too optimistic he could land a job as a nurse even if he passed the board. “Most probably, I would also end up as another jobless nurse in government statistics.”

Most nurse aspirants interviewed by the Inquirer shared Sta. Maria’s fear of failing to land nursing jobs.

“The future is bleak. But I can’t do anything. I’m already stuck in this jobless profession,” Sta. Maria’s buddy said.

Lucena City is the designated nursing board center for Southern Tagalog examinees. Most aspirants were billeted in several hotels here.

Last Thursday, the St. Jude Thaddeus parish church in the outskirts of the city was packed with nursing graduates who had been praying for divine intervention to successfully hurdle the tests.

The throng of young devotees brought with them pencils, envelopes and documents to be blessed with holy water by the priest.

St. Jude is known as the patron saint of those in desperate situations.

A female aspirant from this city admitted she no longer dreams of being hired as a nurse abroad even if she passed the board.

“Landing an overseas job is a tall order. A professional nurse in the country today is considered very lucky if he gets hired even as a casual in a government hospital,” said graduate Mary Alegre.

Records from the Philippine Nurses Association showed that as early as 2006, demand for nurses in the United States and United Kingdom has plunged.

Unemployment among nurses is forcing college freshmen to shift courses, according to a nursing teacher in one of the private colleges here.

“From more than 50 nursing freshmen last school year, we’re now down to 18 this year. The number of interested nursing students has dramatically declined,” said the professor who requested anonymity.

Even Health Secretary Enrique Ona has been advising incoming college students to stay out of the nursing course because more than 200,000 nursing graduates are currently out of jobs.