NMC’s accelerated program lures some 50 doctors

By Aldwin Fajardo
Correspondent

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.—Although the Philippines is already bleeding dry from the exodus of nurses seeking greener pastures in other countries, the blaring sound of a 24-dollar hourly rate for nurses in the United States alone drowns the unremitting plea by the government for them to stay home.

The bright prospects for nurses overseas have attracted not only college-bound students to take up nursing program in the university, but also those who already hold different baccalaureate—even master’s and doctoral—degrees, to include medical doctors and other healthcare professionals.

The National Institute of Health Policy and Development estimates that as many as 3,000 doctors are now studying to become nurses—all of them hoping to leave the country and make more money elsewhere.

Sedy Demesa, executive vice president of Pleasant Care Corp., one of the biggest healthcare industry players in California, explained that the disparity in incomes between Philippine-based nurses and doctors and those working overseas is driving medical and health professionals to consider working abroad.

In the Philippines, nurses earn an average of US$108 a month or $1,296 a year, which pales in comparison to nurses in America who take home $4,270 a month or $51,230 a year. Doctors, on the other hand, get less than $500 a month or $6,000 a year in the Philippines, compared with their counterparts in America who receive $13,000 a month or about $160,000 a year on the average.

Last Feb. 6, 2005, Demesa met in Manila with more than 60 Filipino doctors who are seriously looking at shifting to a career in nursing; close to 50 of those doctors have submitted their academic documents for evaluation by an accrediting agency in the United States.

The doctor-nurses phenomenon in the Philippines and other countries in Asia has prompted colleges and universities throughout the region to reevaluate their nursing programs in hopes to include a new course designed exclusively for the growing number of physicians studying to become nurses.

The first of these educational institutions is the Northern Marianas College in the United States’ Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, which recently launched special abridged nursing programs under its Global Education Strategic Initiatives or GESI.

Composed of five gateway nursing education programs, among others, GESI seeks to attract foreign students, particularly from around Asia, including the Philippines, to study at the Northern Marianas College—a higher learning institution accredited by the U.S. Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

GESI’s five nursing programs include a: (1) two-year nursing degree that is open to all high school graduates; (2) an accelerated degree for graduates of healthcare courses, which allows a student to complete the nursing program in one full semester or in 3-4 months; (3) NCLEX review with a bridge program in English, which is open to nursing graduates or nurses who are eligible to take the RN board exam called the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX); (4) an accelerated program designed specifically for medical doctors who want to take up nursing as a second profession, which will give doctors the chance to immediately proceed to taking the program requirements consisting of 47 credits and complete the program in 4 months; and (5) a nurse assistant certification program that may be completed in four weeks, which would make the graduates eligible to take the board examination for Certified Nurse Assistants.

“With about 50 licensed and practicing doctors from the Philippines turning in their transcript of records for evaluation, the NMC now has 50 potential students for the GESI Accelerated Program for Licensed Doctors,” Demesa said, adding that the doctors are willing and financially able to pay their tuition and other related expenses.

Northern Marianas College president Tony Deleon Guerrero said that what makes the GESI nursing programs attractive is the availability of a financing program for students, which will be implemented under the “study-now-pay-later” principle. This financing program will be carried out in partnership with Willis Management Group, an incorporated company in California and registered as a foreign corporation in the Northern Marianas.

Deleon Guerrero also noted that the Northern Marianas College has partnered with United States-based healthcare industry players, which guarantees employment for the graduates of the NMC-GESI nursing programs

However, he emphasized the need for at least nine full-time equivalent instructors for the GESI Nursing Programs for the education initiatives to materialize and for the Commonwealth to reap its rewards. He appealed to the CNMI Legislature to swiftly act on the funding of the nine FTEs for the college’s nursing programs.

The GESI Program is expected to bring in additional revenue of $6,000 per foreign student for the NMC, besides the ripple effect it would have on the Commonwealth economy through increased activities in the retail, hotel/apartment and airline industries.