Year 2010 is the International Year of the Nurse and it also marks the centennial year of the death of the founder of modern nursing — Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). She was an English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence during the Crimean War for her pioneering work in nursing, and was dubbed “The Lady with the Lamp” after her habit of making rounds at night to tend injured soldiers. Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment, in 1860, of her nursing school at St Thomas’s Hospital in London.

In the medical world, nurses and doctors are working hand in hand in taking care of patients. Even though medical care won’t be that effective without each other, there has been a distinct difference between the two in the terms of status level in the hospital. In the ladder of authority, it is always the doctor on top then the nurses following them. In delivering medical care, the doctor will give orders for the patient and it would be carried out by the nurses. Nurses are most often referred as doctor’s assistants.

CRNA or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist are paid more than a Family Doctor. Based on the numbers of Merrit and Hawkins & Associates, a physician recruiting firm, CRNA’s have an average base salary of $189,000 compared to $173,000 of Primary Care Doctors. A staffing expert Kurt Mosley said that it has been the fourth year in a row that CRNA’s were recruited and are paid higher than family doctor. In this case, it seems that the placement in the ladder has changed position in terms of salary.

According to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, there are fewer Filipino nurses who are seeking employment in the United States compared to what was recorded in the previous years.

THE TUCP based their observations on the total number of nurses who took the US Nursing Licensure Examination which decreases this year.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is monitoring 177 nursing schools in the country which have not produce a single graduate who passed the nursing licensure exam in the last five years.

Chairman Emmanuel Angeles of CHED said this on his speech in front of the heads of colleges and universities in Metro Manila and other regions during the launch of CHED’s partnership with the Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig Foundation last October 23.

The Philippine Nurses Association, Inc. Committee on Continuing Education is sponsoring the Nursing Skills Fair 2009 on September 18 and 19.

This event will be held from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the PNA Auditorium, Philippine Nurses Association, Inc. 1663 F.T. Benitez Street, Malate, Manila.