CURRENT ISSUES
AND TRENDS IN
NURSING
Prepared by: Ellen Jay Y. Millares, RN
OBJECTIVES
◦ Identify relevant issues and trends in current nursing practice
◦ Analyze impact of current issues on nursing profession in the Philippines
◦ Discuss possible solutions on identified issues
DEFINITION OF TERMS
◦ ISSUE
A subject or problem that people are thinking and talking about; a group or series, or one of
a group or series, of things that are supplied, made available, or printed at the same time.
(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/trend)
◦ TRENDS
The general direction of changes or developments; a general development or change in a
situation or in the way that people are behaving; a general development in a situation or in the
way that people behave
To be one of the words, subjects, or names that is being mentioned most often on a social media
website or a news website at a particular time (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/trend
◦ RATIO
The ratio of staff nurse to paient in a hospital setting shall be based on patient acuity, the
complaxity of patient health status, and the environment by which care is delivered. Staffing ratio
shall also consider the presence or absence of significant others responsible in the care of the
patiet such as patient immediate relative nad other licensed or unlicensed personnel.
CURRENT NURSING PROFESSION
STATUS
◦ The nursing profession faces a huge dilemma. Despite the great need for nurses in the
Philippines, there’s widespread unemployment, and many have no other choice but to go
abroad.
◦ Around 7 of 10 Filipinos die without ever seeing a health professional because of poverty.
Thousands still die of highly preventable and curable diseases.
◦ We can no longer deny the strong demand for nurses to serve the country, yet more than
300,000 remain unemployed, and around 250,000 are underemployed or misemployed.
Most nurses in hospitals and communities are contractuals and have no security of tenure.
Nurse wages at P250-P350 a day cannot even sustain decent family living.
◦ The phrase “overworked and underpaid” has become synonymous to the nursing profession.
The nurse-patient ratio in hospitals remains high at 1:50 up to 1:80. Nurses are exposed to
verbal and physical abuse in addition to disease.
Source: https://opinion.inquirer.net/110714/overworked-underpaid-nurses#ixzz623QnARKC; feb 2, 2018 Philippine Daily Inquirer
Current Distribution of Health Workers
in the Philippines
Source: https://www.doh.gov.ph/sites/default/files/publications/NOH-2017-2022-030619-1.pdf
NURSING ISSUE AND TRENDS
◦ Staffing and Training
◦ Safe practices suggest sepcific Nurse-Patient ratio in order to provide quality healthcare
needed by patients along with safeguarding nurse’s rights.
◦ Best practice staffing provides timely and effective patient care while providing a safe
environment for both patients and staff, as well as promoting an atmosphere of professional
nursing satisfaction (Carl Ray, et al, 2003).
◦ Historically, staffing needs were determined based on patient census. This method of patient
census staffing proved to be highly inaccurate because patient care needs vary greatly (Gran-
Moravec & Hughes, 2005)
◦ Nursing Personnel System: The nursing personnel system covers the following fields: nursing
service administration in the hospital setting, community health practice, and the academe.
There shall be a nursing service office in every health institution, may it be administrative or
clinical, with at least ten nurses. The nursing service office must be under the control and
management of a chief nursing officer.
STAFFING
◦ DOH Nurse-Patient Ratio suggesst that the ideal number is 1 nurse is to 12 patient in
order to provide quality health care to patients, which is hardly true in many hospitals.
Such as in JRMMC, wherein the nurse to patient ratio in the male surgical ward is 2:59,
while the woman surgical ward as well as the stroke unit ratio is 2:64.
(https://www.asianpacificpost.com/article/8108-philippines-nursing-crisis.html)
◦ Staffing consist of recruiting, interviewing,hiring, and orienting staff. Scheduling, staff
development, employee socialization, and team building
◦ With the current status of our healthcare system, such Nurse-Patient Ratio and
adequate proper training of nurses before deployment to their specified areas is just a
mere mirage that we always wish to portray in our institutions.
Article IX, Section 53: Ratio:
Area/Patient Classification Nurse Patient
General Ward
Low or Minimal Care 1 8
Moderate Care 1 4
Emergency Room 1 4
Trauma/ICU patients in the ER 1 2
Ante-partum 1 4
Labor and Delivery 1 2
Post-partum with Rooming-in babies 1 4
Neonatal Intensice Care 1 2
Operating Room (not including the circulating supporting staff) 1 1
Post Anesthesia Care 1 2
Intensive/Critical/Special Care 1 2
SOURCE: http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_17/HB02548.pdf; The Philippine Nursing Act of 2002,And
Appropriating Funds (An Act Providing for a Comprehensive Nursing Law Towards Safe and Quality Health Care System,
Repealing for this Purpose Republic Act 9173)
TRAINING
◦ Training
◦ Didactics
◦ Preceptorship
◦ Evaluation
◦ Trasnsition
◦ Hiring process
◦ Retentions
◦ Promotion
◦ Continuin Education
◦ CPD (for license renewal)
◦ Didactics
ISSUES
◦ Nursing school
◦ Increasing number of nursing schools
◦ Increaing number of review centers
◦ Deteriorating quality of nursing education
◦ Deteriorating quality of education which is reflected by decline in passing rate in NLE
◦ Warning /Closing of Low Performing Schools
◦ Increasing number of review centers and tie-up for in-house review
◦ June 2006 NLE Leakage
◦ Shoratge of nurses in the Philippines
◦ Nurse-Patient Ratio in Hospital (Global Standard) 1:8-10
◦ Nurse-Patient Ratio Hospital (Current Practice) 1:40-50
◦ Nurse-Population Ratio (Global Standard) 1:400-600
◦ Nurse-Population Ratio (Current Practice) 1:1000
◦ Exporting Philippine Nurses
◦ Philippines is the largest exporter of nurses in the worlfld supplying 25% of all oversese nurses
◦ Of the 100,000 foreign nurses working in the U.S. as of 2000, 32.6% were from the Philippines
◦ 70% of all Filipino nursing graduates are working overseas (Bach, 2003)
Nursing Employment
◦ Nursing volunteerism
◦ Nursing Training
◦ NARS (Nurses Assigned in Rural Services)
◦ RN-Heals
◦ In 2003-2004, foreign manpower expert projected that the global demand for nurses
was estimated to be “about 1 million by 2020” Barcelo, 2011
(https://prezi.com/lwemfjmiesxq/current-trends-and-issues-on-nursing-education-and-
career/)
◦ Nurse Deployment Program (NDP) – Deployed nurses are assigned for six months in the
community (Rural Health Units) and then another six months for hospital service;
Additional Readings
◦ Current Trends and Issues on Nursing Education and Career by Jane Lim09/09/2011
https://prezi.com/lwemfjmiesxq/current-trends-and-issues-on-nursing-education-and-
career/
