Lights out for Ladies of the Lamp

COMMENTARY

Published: 21 Nov 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

When I asked my high-school age daughter who is busy preparing for a university admission exam if she wanted to go to nursing school, her answer pretty much summed up why our country is suffering a drastic shortage of nurses.

"No way. Laborious work. Low pay. Little recognition. And you have to take the doctors' orders and feel inferior to them all the time. No, not for me."

She is not alone in refusing to follow the selfless path of the Lady of the Lamp. And that's why the country's severe shortage of nurses is worsening by the day.

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loong
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Discussion 12 : 22 Nov 2012 at 06.4912
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Thailand needs to invest in human capital, otherwise they will find way to work abroad.
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bennu
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Discussion 11 : 21 Nov 2012 at 21.3611
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The lowly will be exalted and the exalted will be brought low.
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NangrongJ
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Discussion 10 : 21 Nov 2012 at 20.4910
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It's not just or only nurses but teachers as well. Such professions that are highly respected and rewarded in the UK/Europe and USA are treated with such disrespect that they can only attract low level applicants. Thailand has to invest in its people or suffer in the long term.
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DongKampo
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Discussion 9 : 21 Nov 2012 at 19.139
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The Thai Health Care System is neither healthy caring nor a System..."also the deeply ingrained patriarchy in medical circles" does not work in this day and age. Pay the nurses what they are worth.
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Acutus
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Discussion 8 : 21 Nov 2012 at 18.278
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Lucky for the medical system that your daughter didn't want to be a nurse. Anyone who has this "And you have to take the doctors' orders and feel inferior to them all the time." attitude, should be only a patient and have a nurse who refused doctor's order to treat her.
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ubuntu
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Discussion 7 : 21 Nov 2012 at 15.537
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B. prepare for and pass nursing boards and work as nurses, but they take unfilled positions and do not bump nurse graduates.
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ubuntu
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Discussion 6 : 21 Nov 2012 at 15.516
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A
"nurses have to watch bitterly as those positions pass them by to go directly to physicians."

Specific clinical PGY (post graduate year) training programs exist for physicians and nurses and are distinct entities designed to train distinct groups.

Something is very wrong if doctors are bumping nurses out of nursing clinical training unless the doctors passed the nursing boards also and want to pursue nursing. This should only happen if there are nurse graduate unfilled slots.

In the US there is also a big nurse shortage but there is money to hire nurses and give them appropriate training / work. Currently in the US immigrant docto
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boons
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Discussion 5 : 21 Nov 2012 at 11.235
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Under what possible scenario would nurses not be taking doctor's orders?
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ubuntu
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Discussion 4 : 21 Nov 2012 at 10.014
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Good article. Many nurses and nursing students prepare for the nursing exams in Canada and US. Typically all relocataion expenses and housing/local transport are paid by the sponsoring hospital. The salaries are also good, 1 million baht/year or more.
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Ian
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Discussion 3 : 21 Nov 2012 at 09.533
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Most things in Thailand are two tier, why expect the hospital service to be any different?
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Lights out for Ladies of the Lamp | Bangkok Post: opinion