| During the
serious nursing shortage of the 1960s and '70s, hundreds of
nurses from the Philippines were brought to America to fill
RN staffing gaps. Many of these immigrant nurses chose to
stay permanently in the U.S. and went on to achieve
successful careers as clinicians and nurse educators. But
who exactly are today's Filipino nurses? What roles do they
play within the U.S. health care system? What impact have
they made on nursing practice in America?
These are questions the
Philippine Nurses Association of America (PNAA) hoped to
answer when it embarked on a two-year project to conduct a
national demographic study of Filipino nurses in the U.S.
"While the contribution of Filipino nurses to health care in
the United States has long been recognized, specific
demographic data on Filipino nurses are negligible,"
explains PNAA board member Daisy M. Rodriguez, RN, MN, MPA,
the study's principal investigator. In the project's initial
stage, participating PNAA chapters surveyed nurses coast to
coast, collecting data from a total of 347 respondents.
Despite the small sample
size, the results-which were presented at the 2002 PNAA
National Convention in Philadelphia and published in the
association's newsletter-contain some interesting findings:
- The average age of the
respondents was 48.3 years.
- The vast majority (97%)
were born in the Philippines.
- Most respondents (85%)
were U.S. citizens; 12.6% were citizens of the
Philippines.
- Nearly three-fourths
(73.6%) had BSN degrees; 12.6% held diploma degrees and
6.9% had associate's degrees. Nearly 15% went on to earn
master's degrees and 3.3% had doctoral degrees. Most of
the respondents (87%) received their nursing training in
the Philippines; 13% were trained in the U.S.
- The majority of
respondents (39%) were highly experienced, averaging 21-30
years of nursing practice.
- Hospitals are the primary
practice area for most respondents (91.5%). The rest are
in public health, education, outpatient services, home
health, skilled nursing facilities and occupational
health.
- Med/surg was the most
frequently cited nursing specialty (34%), followed by OR/PACU
(20.7%), critical care/ER (15.9%) and
ambulatory/outpatient (13.4%). An impressive 11% hold
positions in health care administration.
The PNAA is currently in the
process of gathering additional demographic information to
expand its database. Filipino nurses who would like to
participate in the survey should contact Daisy Rodriguez at
2130 Canyon Crest Ave., San Ramon, CA 94583, fax (925)
735-3157, email daisrod@hotmail.com.
—compiled by the
editors of Minority Nurse magazine |
