In December , Dr. Leah Paquiz, Founding president of "Ang NARS" told ABS- CBN " Bandilla" that the government should look into the practice of hospitals that require registered nurses to pay for their training. She revealed, the Nurses are rendering their service as a Volunteer Nurse then the certificate given was not accepted or qualified as an employment certificate here or abroad. Paquiz also said that more than 500, 000 nurses are either jobless or underemployed.
On January 17, The Department of Health in coordination with The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Social Welfare and Development DSWD, announced the start of recruitment of 10,000 nurses for its "RN heals" program. RN heals, an acronym for Registered Nurses for Helath Enhancement And Local Service, is expected to address the shortage of skilled and experienced nurses in 1221 rural and flung communities.
Nurses would undergo training and development, and a certificate of competency and employment will be given by the DOH, DSWD and Professional Regulation Commission - Board of Nursing to those who eill satisfactorily complete requirements. While on Deployment, the would be given an allowance of
8000 PHP. a month by the DOH while the Loacal Government were they are assigned shall supervise them, ensure thier safety and security and provide modest board and lodging and allowance of at least
2000 Php.
In September, Health Secretary Enrique T. Ona issued a memorandum order directed to all DOH hospitals to stop all volunteer training programs for nurses. He pointed out that the current practice of Registered Nurses" Volunteering" is not consistent with the provisions of law.
Ona stressed" Many Hospitals have implemented "Nurse Volunteerism' in the guise of training programs in order to justify the collection of (training fees) whereby such basic skills training put no added professional career for nurses."
According to Republic Act 9418 or the volunteer Act of 2007, " volunteerism' as an act of involving a wide range of activities, including forms of mutal aid and development interventions that provides an enabling and empowering environment both on the part of the beneficiary receiving, and the volunteer rendering the act, undertaken for reasons arising from social developmental, business or corporate orientation, commitmant or conviction for the attainment of the public good and where monetary and other incentives or reward are NOT primarily the motivating factors.
Instead of " forced volunteerism" Ona wanted the DOH by itself or in conjunction with the Board of Nursing to craft a residency program for nurses, Under the proposal, the government funded residency program will give nurses 6-18 months of training in a public or a privately owned hospital. He said this includes all DOH regional medical centers.
Last October, The DOH and its partners started the recruitment and aventual deployment of RN heals batch 2 nurses. East Avenue Medical Center one of the 4 Cluster Specialized Hospitals of the DOH as well as all othe Medical Centers by the DOH started the recruitment and training of almost 500 RN Heals, They will be trained and will function as a real staff nurse provided that the Staff Nurse will guide them according to the hospital policies for the safety of the patient as well as the RN heals themselves.
This program will not just allow the RN heals to be trained but will also give more patient care and decreased the burden of the Staff Nurses in catering 40 patient per nurse. Because of this program Nurses and RN heals will cater 8-10 patients or less. The Augmentation of Staffs was really a big help.
As a Staff Nurse I am very Thankful for the Contributions of our new Staff Nurses(RN Heals). More time for patient care, the faster the patient will be discharge, :) RN truly heals because RN heals.
For RN Heals batch 3 application,
This year 2012, the recruitment of 10,000 nurses and 3,000 midwives is already ongoing and is expected to be completed by the end of the month.
“The recruitment and selection shall be done by the respective Center for Health Development (CMDs) to be completed by February,” the DOH said.
Under the RN Heals 3 program, newly hired nurses and midwives shall undergo general orientation scheduled on the first week of March before the actual deployment.
Those who were previously hired under the same program and rendered satisfactory services until the end of their contract next week can re-apply.
kindly contact DOH and DOLE.
For East Avenue Medical Center applications ( not yet open for application)
Please call Nursing Training Office or Human Resource Department 928-06-11
5 north staffs and RN heals morning shift 
my teta