An appeal to the new RNs

Recently, the December 2010 Nurse Licensure Examination Result was released. In it, 29,711 new nurses have officially joined the bulk of health professionals who comprise almost or near or maybe more than 600,000 as of present. These new batch of nurses will be part of the more than hundreds of thousands of nurses who are either working or jobless.

For the past few years, majority of nurses tend to stay in limbo, waiting for opportunity to come right at their doorstep. Majority apply in hospitals, or go into training and pay for their training fees. But admit it, not everybody is lucky to get into a hospital and work as a regular employee. Nowadays, nurses work in call centers (yada, yada, yada) or tend to enter in jobs which would consider them underemployed - working outside their scope of their real job description. Nurses are booming in large numbers in such a way that they are becoming more of a liability rather than an asset: a notion that hurts the nursing profession more than it hurts the person who is unemployed.

An appeal to the new nurses who cannot find real nursing jobs are best done in published articles like journals, editorials, opinions, and blogs (for that matter). Through these media, they are constantly reminded that nursing isn't just the only road to take. To be honest, nursing is one of the most noble jobs in the world, but let's face it: there are WAY TOO MANY NURSES. If Chuck Norris was an employer, then all nurses would have been employed. Sadly, Chuck Norris is not one.

There are so many roads for nurses to take: in one of my blogs, I shared some alternative opportunities for nurses to partake, bringing with them the knowledge that they possess. If it is not too much to ask, forgive me for being such a biased jackass, but I'll go straight to the point:

ENTER MEDICINE

Nurses are better off as doctors, IMHO. Nurses have been the doctor's most reliable partner for hundreds of years, and with that experience, nurses have the sheer capacity to become good doctors. Entering Med with Nursing as a pre-med course is basically the best way to do it: Nursing knowledge doesn't become transient when one enters Med. Instead, the knowledge imparted form the good college days are constantly improved, catalyzed by the lessons taught to Med students. In other words, what was learned in Nursing are enhanced by the topics in Med. In terms of clinicals, Nursing students tend to adjust well into a lot of scenarios which occurs most likely when they become Med students. Med is a challenging yet fun course, or better yet, vocation. It improves the Nurse-slash-Med-student in a personal and professional manner, adding the curing role to the original caring role. Lastly, Medicine is the epitome of all health professions combined, so entering Med is one of the best options to take, besides entering Graduate School for a Master's Degree or going into nursing-related business.

Take it from the Nurses who have entered Med and now are either Med students, Residents, or Consultants. They know the feeling of adding more knowledge to the basic knowledge imparted during the Nursing days. Becoming more knowledgeable of so many diseases, treatments, and health care in general feels so surreal, one feels so accomplished when he gets to learn more through Med what he has learned back then in Nursing.

So think about it. I'm not forcing you, the reader, into entering Med. There are a lot of options to take. I'm just emphasizing one.

Or you can grow a conscience in the next 5 minutes and see where that takes you.

It's always this time of the year

No, not Valentine's day!

This is school-related. This is the time when you just count less than a few weeks remaining before that oh-so-near period called SUMMER VACATION arrives. This is the time when a student would be in either 2 ends of a spectrum: the super hardworking-slash-work-my-ass-off mode, or the super slack-off mode.

For a med student, 9 months of perennial torture since the start of the school year now all starts to boil down to the last 4 weeks of classes. For some (like those consistent topnotchers), they can just sit their butts on the chair and slowly let time fly and let summer come. They now have the so-called ticket to level promotion, so they just let time slowly slip through. But for sure they still work hard just to maintain their good grades. In my personal opinion, they'd be better off resting already. They earned their much-deserved rest anyway.

For majority of students (like me) who are still within the level of the playing field, we are just in between the 2 ends of the spectrum. These are the students who have passing grades which are safe to say, eligible for promotion to the next level. In this side of the spectrum, personally, I've been fighting off my lazy demons for days on end, but slightly to no avail. My focus is slightly letting me down because of a fixed mindset of a sure-ball ticket to 3rd year. Though I have no failing grades, I'd rather be near the extreme end of the super hardworking-slash-work-my-ass-off mode rather than be on the middle. Nowadays my place on the spectrum is just 3/4 near the slack-off mode, which is not good. Four weeks, again, 4 more weeks!

For a few students who are in a (God doesn't let it be) tightrope situation, they're in the extreme end of the super hardworking-slash-work-my-ass-off mode. These are the students who are now literally studying for their lives just to make it for promotion. This is the usual scenario during the end of the school year, where these students focus more on the idea that either they pass it or worse, pray for a miracle to happen. No one wants to be in such a dire situation, so they really make the most of it just for the sake of making it. In our batch, I hope and pray no one is in this situation. We all want to get promoted to 3rd year. Sino bang hindi?

As the school year draws to a close, everyone in school is making sure that their bags are packed and ready to go one notch higher along the road less traveled. After this school year, what everybody will expect is that they will make it. I hope and pray that this happens, that everyone will make it and no one will be left behind.

Providing a helping hand, and gaining friends along the way

People say that a helping hand can go a long way. I believe in that notion, and through a helping hand so many things start to unravel unconsciously.

I have been in contact with an aspiring med student for these past couple of days, and the questions she has bombarded me with reminded me of myself when I was an aspiring med student. The thought of uncertainty pummeled my courage during those times, during which I thought that getting into a med school of choice was a big pain in the ass. Before, I'd punch through Med forums and read comments and suggestions, and from there I'd get to build my confidence and optimism that I may make it into Med school. From that moment on, I started to open a thread, from which the 1st thread that I started was way back in 2008, where I looked for people who were also applying into UERM for SY 2009-2010. That was quite a long time ago. During those times, all of the people who were in that thread which I opened also felt the same thing: uncertain of their chances into making it to UERM. Some of them would eventually become my classmates and batchmates. Some would end up not going into UERM but into different Med schools. Nevertheless, the effect of that was so surreal, I wanted to return the favor by making another thread, this time for those who wanted to make it in for 2010-2011.

My second thread was that of those who were aspiring to make it for this present school year. Aspirants, left and right, would ask their questions and allay their worries and thoughts of uncertainty through that thread. The upper batch men were there to answer the queries of the aspirants, and the power of the helping hand started to make good progress. I, for one, made a new friend along the way during those times. The power of the helping hand led me to that person who would eventually become a friend of mine as of this present time. From those simple small talk questions about UERM, a good friendship grew from it, and it all started from a thread and a blog post.

Last year, I opened another thread for those planning to enter Med in UERM for next school year. At present, there are more than 8,500+ views and almost 200 replies within that thread which I started last October. A lot of aspirants vent out their fears and questions about making it in, and the upper batch men and some of them who may have passed through the interview and other sorts answer questions that are relevant to the situations at hand. Unconsciously, these aspirants start to make good relationships with their co-applicants. For the upper batch men, they also get to start building rapport with applicants, and that is a very good thing. I, for one, have been talking with an applicant and through the power of the helping hand I'm starting to gain her friendship and get to know her more. That is why I keep on opening threads like the ones in a med forum site: a helping hand can help lots and gain new friends along the way.

I hope that the applicants who are busy conversing within that trending thread in that forum site make it in. I hope that the person whom I'm presently conversing with also makes it into UERM.

Again, a helping hand can really go a long, long way in ways you least expect it.