YOU HAVE A JOB, I HAVE A CALLING

RECAP OF THE STORY:  The suspect Jesus Manalo brought his 6-year old son to SPMC (Southern Philippines Medical Center) in Davao City due to the injuries suffered by his child who got hit by a van.  His child had broken bones in the legs and has facial bruises.  He has been in the Emergency Room for quite a while and its already wee hours of the morning of the following day he brought his child to the Emergency Room. 

SPMC spokesperson claimed that the patient was given care, seen and assessed by the doctors and nurses and in fact is on traction.  And the labs of the patient are being processed.  The only issue why they were kept waiting on the ER was because there are no extra beds to accommodate the patient. 

Wow!!! 

As a nurse myself, waking up to this kind of odd news from the Philippines… I honestly dunno what to feel.  Sure I felt bad for my fellow medical practitioners, who got stabbed by an 18 or 19 gauge needle by the patient’s father but knowing the typical and very common customary protocol in the Philippine hospitals, I reckoned today to read and research further about the news before giving any comment.  It would be very ignorant to just put my comment in the open and later look imprudent.  Yes I have watched the video of the SPMC spokesperson, and yes, I have also read all the aggressive comments of the netizens defending which side they take.  Which side I am taking?  The accused’s side – AND DON’T ADJUDICATE ME MY FELLOW NURSES!

And now I’m being so cheeky about that, read before even arbitrating me.  I have also read the article on Facebook shared by one of the blabbermouth RN that he went to school for 4 years, let alone the 1 extra year nurses has to spend to review and take the license examination only to be taken ‘ easily’.  Yes that’s certainly true!  I am with you on that.  And true, we oftentimes take our lunches late, worry so much when the patient have not had a bowel movement for days and so we can get the bilirubin level down, and oftentimes holding our own urge to pee because we have an hourly insulin drip with fluid titration! I hear you on that!  And worst, we can’t attend important family holidays because we need to take care of people that we don’t even know!  And yes, our profession is noble – but it’s no longer noble when you itemized your private frustration and you were beseeching the public not to take you ‘easy’!  Such arrogance!  Why?  You had a choice!  Why did your take up nursing?  That is why Foundation of Nursing a.k.a NCM100 is being taught in the first semester because you can still change your mind and swerve to another direction.  You graduated and passed the boards and took an oath – MEANS YOU SIGNED UP FOR THIS!  You yourself had been awarded multiple times, yet you do not see the small details on the picture!  You failed to address the frustration of the patients’ father.  And it is sad.

Yes, it is true, they were seen, and they were assessed and were taken care of.  Even if you guys would say, the patient is medically stable…even if you say the patient’s lab is being processed with pending results, even if you say they were not verbal and just silent, isn’t that a RED FLAG?  Where are the nursing communication skills you got from your Bachelor’s Degree of Nursing! YOU DO NEED TO UPDATE THE PATIENT WHATS GOING ON WITH THE TERMS HE CAN UNDERSTAND!!! Even if you have to do it every hour, so be it! Nursing isn’t all about knowledge and being the chief of MEDSURG!  Patient especially the patient’s family would not understand what is the importance of CT scan and they will never understand the importance of blood works not until you educated them in the level of rapports they can comprehend!  Mr. Manalo who right now behind the bars for frustrated murder – his frustration could have been vetoed if only he was accommodated with dignity regardless of financial capability, education, or status in life.   There should never be discrimination!  Everybody is of equal importance.

If he was a movie star, would they of treated him the same way?  I want an honest answer for this question! 

SPMC lacks manpower? So the Philippine Regulation Commission released the Nursing Licensure results yesterday, so of the 9,114 new RNs who proved their competency plus all the jobless RNs and plus RN’s who works in the call centers who have their licenses, why not hire  and train them!? That’s more than enough to fill the need of a lot of hospitals in the whole archipelago.  A lot of hospitals are like this – private or public!  They want new nurses to work for free!  A nurse would be very lucky if she gets Php150 allowance.  But for government hospitals, it is always – due to lack of compensation budget! The root cause again?  MASSIVE CORRUPTION IN THE PHILLIPPINES!  A new RN has to work for free to get 6months to 1 year of experience.  That’s the worst thing that needs to be changed!  Where do nurses go?  To Saudi Arabia, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and USA… all because it’s hard to get a job in our very own country Philippines.   Its power tripping game!   It’s a struggle to even get hired in my very own locality back in the days. My applications were trashed many many times!  HR don’t actually care if you’re a caring nurse even if you have the nursing license, all they care about is that the daughter or the niece or the neighbor of their friend’s husband’ cousin will get the job! That is the sad reality! And when these “blessed” gets the job, it’s a sense of entitlement! Oh yeah! I AM AN RN!!! YEAH!!! IM COOL, AYT?

Am I bitter!? Yes I am!  Because back in the days in the Philippines when I was a new nurse, I personally experienced being overruled by people who are in position and never gave me a chance to prove myself and be compensated at least but they would rather get the service of student nurses to attend to patients!  Not fair.  Not fair at all!   I have worked hard and PAID HARD (yes paid!!!) to get the hospital training I needed and give a professional nursing service without compensation for the heck of training! You wanna be an IV Therapist Nurse? Pay Php3, 000.  Take it or leave it!  Philippines should be ashamed of the fact that they educated me to a bachelor’s degree level, yet they never trusted my competency level to practice and be fairly compensated as an RN and it’s very ironic that USA is the only one that opened a big door of opportunities for me.  I was educated in the Philippines but my real job as an RN started here in the USA.  I never have to pay for experience; rather, they pay me to get an experience!

I am not defending the suspect who stabbed the ER staff just because I am saying he was right.  Whatever circumstance he is on, that doesn’t give him any right to stab anybody.  But if you’re not yet a parent, you would by no means fathom the urgency this father have.  People who are on crucial need have very vulnerable emotions to the attitudes of the people around them.  I once was, when I have to run to the Emergency Department in 2014 because my daughter’s middle finger was caught between a metal spring door and yes, as a nurse, I know my daughter will not die, aware that worst case scenario, I would still have several hours ( I mean long hours) before blood dehydration will occur.  But as a mother, at that point, I swear I would never understand triage when it’s my very own daughter screaming for help! (And thankfully, there were no other patients in the Emergency department when I ran that day without a bra and sandals on! We didn’t have to be triaged!  We got so lucky!).  They attended to my daughter and did surgery the soonest to save the hanging finger.  But the best thing about that experience, I realized as a nurse, that just a simple pat on the shoulder, a squeeze on the hand or kind words from a nurse and a simple assurance and update of what is going on is a very big deal. 

Nurses, it’s okay to touch and hold your patients.  Take a minute to talk to your patient, let them know you are with them.  Let them know, they can call or ask you whenever they have questions.  Provide them information and involve them in the decision for their own care.  Uphold advocacy!   

 They are a little act of kindness, yet it does wonders!  Go above and beyond! 

So to all medical staff that is compensated, you’re blessed!  You are blessed to be compensated and blessed to bring hope to your patients.  Be a BLESSING! 

You might have a very NOBLE PROFESSION but I have a calling!

CALLED TO BE A NURSE… Lorena Joy Berja – Monk, BSN RN