SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NURSING Dumaguete City

iVolunteer Nurse Volunteerism: A Lived Experience

Submitted to: Asst. Prof. Renee Felisa O. Teh NCM107 Lecturer Submitted by: Randylyn T. Grapa Ellen Mae P. Lumapguid Kaycee L. Melon Athena Xcylz E. Mission Diane G. Montecino Kym Mariah C. Patria Floramae C. Perater John Ryan Q. Segue Joanna Marie E. Suasin Lea Luz Marie D. Tan Pastor Darash S. Villaflores

Lyka Lea G. Villamor NCM107- G3 (Quilnet)

September 3, 2012 VOLUNTEERISM

Arguments against Nurse Volunteerism One milestone to another and after earning their licenses, all they ever dream of is to practice their career. As professionals, these RNs are at liberty to all the benefits to all other registered professionals rendering their professional services to private and government institutions, more so, if the RN is government employed as predetermined in RA 7305 or the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers. By benefits, we mean PhilHealth insurance, entitlement to sick leaves, hazard allowances, overtime pays and night differential pays. (Vesagas, 2010) Exploitation of Volunteer Nurses Unfortunately, new RNs in the Philippines are caught in an inevitable web as they must render their professional services for free as volunteers for a certain period of time before any employment or job offer takes place. (Vesagas, 2010) Furthermore, only those with close family lineage in government hospitals are seemed to be immune in this recruitment policy like a disease that has corrupted the Philippine health care system. According to Webster dictionary, the term volunteer means to offer or bestow voluntarily, or in the absence of solicitation or compulsion. What is ironic with the nurse volunteerism that is being openly practiced in our country is that its a prerequisite to any RN wanting to be employed in the hospital. (Vesagas, 2010) Some hospitals changed the name of nurse volunteer to nurse trainee to justify the training fees collected," Alvin Cloyd Dakis, national president of the Alliance of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates International (AYNLA), reveals. However, specialty training in nursing practice means advance practice which focuses on specialty areas such at peri-operative, dialysis, oncology, and critical care nursing." He continues: Training in a medical surgical ward, for example, which only makes a volunteer nurse or a trainee nurse assume the roles and functions of a basic staff nurse is not specialty training. (Mateo, 2011)

In addition, many hospitals have implemented nurse volunteerism in the guise of training programs in order to justify the collection of training fees, whereby such basic skills training put no added value to the professional career of the nurses. Department of Health Secretary Enrique T. ONA, issued memorandum 2011-0238 mandating to terminate all Nurse Volunteer Programs, Volunteer Training Programs for Nurses and all similar or related programs, in all DOH-retained hospitals in the Philippines. He said, The current practice of registered nurses volunteering in hospitals to gain work experience and/or to obtain a certificate of work experience and for purposes of meeting requirements for employment abroad, is not consistent with the provisions of this law (Republic Act 9418: Volunteer Act of 2007). (Mateo, 2011) Therefore, all DOH hospitals are hereby directed to discontinue all existing programs involving nurses who deliver free services in exchange for work experience/volunteer nurses, volunteer trainings, and all other similar programs. All hospitals-based trainings for nurses should follow a definite career progression to be defined and accredited by the DOH and Professional Regulatory Commision-Board of Nursing. (Mateo, 2011) With hopes to put a stop to the exploitative volunteerism" of nurses both in public and private hospitals and health care facilities, a bill was filed at the House of Representatives. The House Bill 5641 which was principally authored by Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus, aims to end the unscrupulous practice of many hospitals of using volunteerism or on-the-job training to exploit Filipino nurses (Sison, 2012). "Our nurses have been poorly compensated, overworked and threatened of their job security It is about time that we enact legislation that strongly signals the state policy on the protection of nurses and other health workers. Hence, this proposed measure to prohibit exploitation of nurses in public and private hospitals and health care facilities," de Jesus said (Sison, 2012). Quoting the Philippine Nurses' Association, de Jesus added, "Both government public hospitals have been gaining profit in the form of exorbitant fees collected from nurses and also saving money by not hiring regular registered nurses. As a result, nurses especially the unemployed, are confused and hoping falsely that training in hospitals would expedite their hiring process for local and foreign employment, according to de Jesus (Sison, 2012). The bill provides that a full refund of all fees illegally collected and payment of unpaid salaries shall be given to any registered nurse found to have been a victim of exploitative volunteerism. The refund shall not be less than the applicable minimum wage for services rendered (Sison, 2012). The bill, to be known as "An Act Prohibiting Exploitative 'Volunteerism' of Nurses," is coauthored by Reps. Teddy Casio and Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna), Rafael Mariano (Anakpawis), Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers) and Raymond Palatino (Kabataan) (Sison, 2012).

Arguments for Nurse Volunteerism When you think about the advantages of Nurse Volunteerism, it is more on allowing one to have a sense of work wherein one does not think of any monetary compensation but rather focuses on the experience and the things that one can earn and learn out of it. Volunteerism is all about gaining a ready attitude for the future work of being part of the health team. It is getting familiar with the environment, and the type of people that one may get involved with at work. Being a volunteer makes a nurse emotionally, and physically ready for the work in the future. It does not only improve the skills of a nurse, but the overall capability of being a nurse. Nurse Volunteerism also gives nurses a profound sense of achievement in finally applying what they have learned from the four walls of their classrooms in College to the actual setting of the health care unit in hospitals. It is putting into action and practicing by heart everything that had been taught. The winning piece for the advantage of being a volunteer is the meaning itself, of being able to help others through empathizing and taking care of patients that are greatly in need of the touch of a professional nurse.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sison, M. A. C. (February 3, 2012). Protecting nurses' volunteerism in public, private hospitals. Sunstar Pampanga, 4, Retrieved on August 30, 2012 from http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/opinion/2012/02/03/sison-protecting-nursesvolunteerism-public-private-hospitals-204135. Mateo, I. C. (February 20, 2011). Oversupply of nurses forces them to pay to work for free. GMA News, Retrieved on August 30, 2012 from http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/213475/news/specialreports/oversupply-of-nursesforces-them-to-pay-to-work-for-free. Vesagas, P. J. A. (December 16, 2010). Nurses: To volunteer or not?. Sunstar Cagayan de Oro,

Retrieved on August 30, 2012 from http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-deoro/lifestyle/nurses-volunteer-or-not.