OFFBEAT MAIL

In my previous article, I mentioned the hassles that professional nurses have to experience if only to gain the required certifications necessary to get ahead with their future plans and ambitions in life. And their harrowing experiences do not end after graduation or passing the licensure examination in the Philippines, or the CGFNS or the NCLEX for those who wanted to practice their profession in America. From what I learned, some hospitals are making it doubly difficult for new nurses (those who already passed the PRC examination) to attend health-related seminars and workshops, especially for those who wanted to apply for jobs in the local hospitals in the country. Unless, one has a certification that shows he attended seminars like infection control, maternal and child health, and the most important, the seminar on how to administer injectable instruments to patients which they call I.V. seminar. The irony is that this IV certification is now required from all nurse applicant...

At times, it's funny to think that we find ourselves transplanted in another soil, where lifestyle and culture are a bit distinct from what we were adopted to. But still, we have insisted to try our luck at the expense of long separation from our loved ones. And the bottom line is always economics. The magnet that pulls people, mostly from the Third World, resides in the belief that a lot of opportunities are always available in an advanced economy, though it is tantamount to the sacrifice of loneliness, if only to improve the economic condition of those who have less in life. But the costs are enormous. As always, adjustment is something that we can't ignore, considering the intricacies that go with it which we have to face. Still, no matter what, we persist on living with it by undermining life's risks for the good of those who needed them most. Brain drain is causing a serious toll on the developing world. In the medical field alone, millions have left their families to...