I found out it was only for formality’s sake that I was made to read all those guidelines; bogus guidelines. I was out there on my own, guarding my every move cause a single mistake might cost the patient’s life—-or mine.

I am really at a loss as to how other professionals are able to work immediately with high wages while nurses, who I think, performs one of the most edgy works could not even buy a nice pair of shoes. It feels like we are poor monkeys roaming around the jungle looking for food in order to survive. That’s why not all RN’s are working in the hospital because they would rather choose to work in other fields which could pay them beautifully.

It’s just so sad to think that we are, all the time, referred to as warriors of health but not treated well in terms of salary. Remuneration which is supposed to be suited to the kind of work we render.

One time, as I was talking to my patient for an assessment, a relative of another patient who might have mistakenly identified me as a doctor, asked for my help regarding a consumed IV bottle that was still hooked up. I, without any tinge of doubt, immediately closed its flow regulator. Waking up from a delayed confusion, I realized I was not on duty and I should not have done that. The best course of action would have been to report the concern to the on-duty nurse. I was almost tempted to open the regulator back and let the patient’s blood fill the IV tube, but that’s utterly foolish. Well, my point is, I’m not on duty and I wont be liable if something happens to the patient. It should be clear to the nurse on duty to monitor his/her patient’s status regularly.

I’m not being shrewish about the incident; it was a plain and simple task but the rules says no, I should not be doing it. Ironically, asking an on-duty nurse, busy as they are, to close an intravenous regulator is also ridiculous. I guess this is one of the simplest forms of dilemma that envelopes nurses as to when their duty and role stop. Essence says it is, while the regulation says it’s not. Well I guess sometimes, logically illogical matters are indeed logical.

The mishap that my colleague experienced could have been preventable. She was only closing a pathetically improvised sharps bin (disposable mineral water bottle) when a protruding contaminated needle stuck in her right palm. The incident makes me squeamish and terrified every time I go on duties knowing that it could always happen to me too. Could this be the real price of hospital nursing? Hospitals in developed countries use devices that permanently disable contaminated needles thereby reducing the incidence of needlestick; can’t the government afford such devices? Or the only thing that they could afford is to compromise the safety of healthcare workers?

The Philippine government should also grant healthcare workers their heartfelt attention especially on matters concerning the latter’s safety in the workplace. They could at least view it as a form of “Consuelo de bobo” from the little amount that these workers are earning in our country.

Once regarded as one of the most glorious and progressive countries in Asia, the Philippines was placed second to Japan in terms of economic status besting other Asian countries like China and Singapore. It was truly a glistening pearl in the orient seas…. But that was long ago, things have changed dramatically. Currently, Japan remained atop most Asian countries; China, once the sleeping giant has metamorphosed into an economic giant, Singapore boasts of an unshakable economy and so with the other countries in Asia. The Philippines on the other hand is left behind and dived its way to the bottom of the roster.

The Filipinos remain steadfast amidst economic turmoil, political chaos, and poverty-induced tribulations. Most of the citizens are severely affected with poverty; nurses are not exempted in this problem. With the increasing rate of unemployment in our country, Filipino nurses are on their respective strategic maneuvers to combat the presenting problem so they may survive and uplift their families from the deep trenches of destitution. Unconsciously, from being patriotic they turned to being practical. And so, with love, hope and optimism they flew and rendered their services to other countries. But do these Filipino nurses really resorted to perfidy and totally despised the spirit of patriotism?

It’s not perfidy but love for their family that they chose to serve other nations in spite of cultural diversity, language barrier, forced solitude, and heartfelt longing—-SACRIFICE, to the strongest sense of the word. In the end, these sacrifices produced multi-fold benefits; because of the money they (and other overseas Filipino workers) send to their families in the Philippines, our country is saved from further degradation brought about by myriad and innumerable debts and thereby addressing our insolvency issues. This fact may not be in the minds of these modern day heroes when they’ve decided to work abroad but still in one way or another they haven’t totally turned their backs on our country.

There are a lot of ways to show and enact our loyalty to our country. It may not always be in the most pronounced and loud way, what is important is your effort to do so. In the case of overseas Filipino workers (that include nurses), it is love that led them to sacrifice and by these sacrifices they enacted patriotism by upholding the value of family—a pure and distinct FILIPINO quality.

I am a nurse in the Philippines for quite some time now and I’ve witnessed how the nursing world plays here in my country. I never really heard of a mandate that orders every healthcare facility in the country to uphold the safety of nurses and other members of the healthcare team. Work-related hazards often scare me every time I go on duty; you’ll never really know when and how it will inflict you. Currently, I am working on a secondary hospital in my town and as far as I have observed, the hospital administration is carefree regarding hazards in the workplace that could possibly compromise the health of both patients and healthcare workers.

By far, there were no known reports of accidents brought by work-related hazards in the hospital where I’m working right now; but I do hope the administration would act now and not wait for the worse scenario to take place.

Before we left the portals of the institution that molded us to be competent nurses, it was inculcated into our young minds that we should be proud of our chosen paths. That anywhere we go we should uphold the value of education because it’s supposed to serve as the bulwark or bastion that protects us when we will be facing the real and actual world—–a brilliant, honest and reassuring fact. The bulwark or bastion that protects us, I couldn’t agree more but to be proud of our chosen paths, I’m afraid I’m not sure.

I remembered a SMS that I received from a friend, a nurse too, it said ”the most difficult and depressing question for a registered nurse: where are you working right now?” And to make it funny a “hehehe” was attached to it—–an attempt to humor our unemployment problems.

Nurses in the Philippines are facing a colossal fight against unemployment and none of us know when and how this epic battle would end. From a dream of a better life abroad we, as naïve as we are, trod the primary paths that would lead us to realizing this dream. Now, the nursing population in our country has totally blown out of proportion. Coerced to survive (who would not want to), like savage animals, we prey on any jobs and attempt to speak the language of other degrees or professions. We would’ve wanted to practice our profession but practicing it without getting paid (volunteer nurse) is absurd; with that, we seek for solace and security on jobs that would feed us.

Now, I am just depending on that light on the end of the tunnel, the single spark of hope to rekindle my cold dream. The dream that one day, I could perk up and proudly say I’m a nurse.