Have you noticed that the complexion of nursing has changed?  Many more nurses are popping up that are not white or African american but Filipino, or even Russian or Indian and African.  Is this bad?  There are agenices, law firms etc that do nothing but flood the nursing market in this country with foriegn nurses.  American doctors have worked with these firms for years going overseas and bringing nurses here by getting them visa's and helping them pass the boards.  Makes you wonder, why American doctors can't support American nurses.

I think I saw this coming.  American nurses are too well educated.  And when you are better educated you are a bigger threat.  Doctors can't get away with being sloppy and stupid.  Unfortunately most of the foriegn nurses are afraid of the authority that physicians have and won't call them if a patient is very ill, or changing and won't say anything if a doctor writes a bad order or if they "see" something happen that is wrong.  doctors prefer to work with foriegn nurses because they are usually pretty quiet, and act as if doctors are kings.

American nurses on the other hand are professional.  In fact I had a recruiter for a Saudi hospital tell me, "don't worry American nurses are better trained than any nurses that come here from anywhere else in the world."  Wow, then why are we being run out of the business here? 

I think I saw this coming.  American nurses are too well educated.  And when you are better educated you are a bigger threat.  Doctors can't get away with being sloppy and stupid.  Unfortunately most of the foriegn nurses are afraid of the authority that physicians have and won't call them if a patient is very ill, or changing and won't say anything if a doctor writes a bad order or if they "see" something happen that is wrong.  doctors prefer to work with foriegn nurses because they are usually pretty quiet, and act as if doctors are kings.

You are entitled to your own opinion, but for me this is entirely not true. We filipino nurses stand for what is right, we have worked so hard to become a nurse and get to the place where we are now. Saying nothing when you know there's something wrong is plain and simple stupidity to me. It depends on the individual on how he gives values to himself, standing for what he believes in  as right...and so again, i categorically deny this statement as factual for so many can attest on how filipino nurses perform  their job. I believe many of them are satisfied, both  patients and the hospitals that hired them...

Wow, I hope everybody doesn't feel threatened!   I worked with a couple of Filipino nurses when I was with Welstar................they were brilliant, great team members and I loved working with them.   Smart, efficient, and extremely sweet.  Also, we had some problem nurses with massive lazy streaks, the nurses who were Filipino were such hard workers.  . Im thinking of things in the next few years of the shortage nursing will have and we'll need all the help we can get.............so lets be sweet.   Bigotry sucks.  

I for one at one time(right after Katrina hit) would have welcomed Fillipino nurses. We actually held out false hope when a rumor was spread that we would get staffing from the Fillipines. My ex-husband is part Fillipino, and I guess I'm biased. My daughter got alot of his features and is smart as well as beautiful. Ok, she got the smart from me.

I don't think generalizing one praticular race is fair. I have worked with some very hard working intelligent Fillipno nurses here in Houston, and have never seen them afraid to alert an MD to a potential problem with a pt.

I have heard of recruiters getting nurses from other countries to allevate the shortage, but I don't think its b/c of some characteristic these nurses have to appease MD s here.

Nurse_John says ...

I think that it doesn't matter what race or nationality nurses are. There are good ones and lazy one in all races and nationalities. I think we are seeing an influx of Filipino nurses because in the Philippines there are more nurses than they have jobs. The Filipino nurses are not just coming to the US, they are going to other countries as well.  As for the Filipino nurses not wanting to call the physicians, I think most new grads from here in the states are afraid to call the doctors at first. The Filipino nurses as well as the US new grad learn that calling the physician is important right away.

       Ditto on this, I've worked with some great non-American born folks.  They step up to the plate just as well in most cases.  A great deal of them are happy to be here making a decent wage and like the respect that the American nursing system has to offer.  If you have not been outside of the American medical system you may take it for granted, but we get a lot more respect than in many foriegn healthcare systems.  I've worked with several Filipino nurses that were top notch and with hearts of gold.  So anyways, Bravo as in good post Sir.

Cheers - Tim, R.N.