Running head: Nurses as Slaves

Nurses as Slaves Dexter C. Corrales Central Luzon Doctors Hospital

Running head: Nurses as Slaves

Abstract Slaves connote diverse meaning according to how the adjective was phrased or used in a discourse. In general, to be considered a slave, one must bind to the accord of being bought and sold as a property and is held against his will to work. Undue compensation, inauspicious and hostile working environment, deprived of the right to leave, and be treated inhumanely are few one of the superlative definitions that can illustrate slavery. Slavery rooted its past as an institutionally recognized way of paying debt or debt bondage and servitude since time immemorial. In the workforce, slaves play a very important role in production and in areas where manpower is stringently needed. Not an underestimation but these considered slaves can work double shift or worst, cover a 24 hour shift period to compensate in the dire need of labour to maintain satisfactory service levels. Keywords: Filipino nurses, volunteer nurse, slavery, creative thinking, critical thinking

Running head: Nurses as Slaves

1. Filipino Nurses as slaves abroad to send money back home, prejudice or stereotype? Justify

Cognisant of the modern day slavery, Filipino Nurses were not spared into this fate. Globally, there are 4.3 million nursing shortage due to underinvestment in healthcare, health facilities, and working environment (World Health Report, 2006). The Philippines sent 12,082 nurses overseas in 2010 based on POEA statistical data adding to the ramp up of workforce across the continents.

Fact finding researches yield an overwhelming response of how the present working conditions affect Filipino Nurses. Despite the establishment and recognition of international working standards for nurses, amongst foreign workers, majority if not all Filipinos remain to be the underdogs. In the US alone, there are cases of harassments that plague our nurses like being fired once you were caught speaking in vernaculars. And due to the economic recession, employers are force to retain current staffs rather than hiring new applicants which means more workloads and if necessary, render overtimes or rest day overtimes and being underpaid. Not to mention that this is not only happening in the US but to other major markets

Running head: Nurses as Slaves

employing Filipino nurses as well. Adding to the injury were the reported cases of underemployment in New Zealand where nurses do the dirty jobs with an awful living conditions. Working permits do not even comprehend to their professions. All of these sacrifices seem bearable for the Filipino Nurses just to have a penny remitted to their relatives.

In the Philippines, its a known fact how nurses are being exploited by the government and privately owned healthcare facilities. With 72,000 to 75,000 newly licensed nurses in the Philippines per year adding to the bulk of presently unemployed, its sceptical to land a decent job for a newly licensed nurse. Foreign markets prioritize and favour the more experienced nurses which succumbed these hopefuls to settle as Volunteers. As the word implies, these fellows do not receive any single remuneration. Not even a single centavo but are tasked to perform the way the paid do. Its a gamble and would be considered a wonder if theres a single hospital which offers free meal at least to compensate the cries of the hungry stomachs. Some would even require a placement fee just to be accepted to practice the profession. So Nurses as Slaves, its a prejudice.

Running head: Nurses as Slaves

2. Is nursing a product of creative or critical thinking? Nursing is a profession. Profession is a vocation that is founded by a dedicated body of knowledge particularly of Science. Science is a body of discipline that explains a certain event or phenomenon. Nursing is a profession that enliven Science as its foundation of practice. Nursing always follow a standard or guidelines in performance of any action or intervention. These standards or guidelines are products of critical thinking. Under any circumstances, patients safety is always the top priority. Safety encompasses a wide array of concepts from microbiology, pharmacology, physics, and psychology among others. One of the remarkable traits of nursing is the incorporation of intellectual standards for reasoning. To be a critical nurse, an individual must possess a logical, rational, and critical thinking. Creative thinking is a part of critical thinking. Empirically, in an attempt to find a solution to a certain condition, practitioners in nursing or allied health profession are not focused in trivial or irrelevant but rather on systematic, precise, and logical approach to come to a particular solution considering the guidelines or established standards. Once a given solution was made, creative thinking applies in devising ways and interventions to implement the

Running head: Nurses as Slaves

course of action. Nursing is an educated profession. Anyone can be creative but not everyone can become a nurse.

Running head: Nurses as Slaves

References: Castro, C. E (2011), Health education for nursing and other allied professions: With teaching strategies and principles of teaching and learning. Educational Publishing House.

Retrieved from: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-to-thinklike-a-nurse/834 http://www.filipinosabroad.com/ofw-news/poea-official-with-nonew-grads-policy-future-of-pinoy-nurses-in-us-seems-bleak/ http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3411122? uid=3738824&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21102449928361 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm? c_id=1&objectid=10496907