Is this really "Goodbye" for Nursing?

I have told you that I've just gained employment, right?

Well, I'm just recently employed by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (also known as PhilHealth), as one of their Customer Assistance, Relations and Empowerment Staff (CARES). The decision to apply has put me in a lot of thinking, and this thinking has given me enlightenment on what I really want to be as a person.

Well, I am a registered nurse, and have served a hospital as a volunteer. I am happy as I am able to apply what I have studied for a very long time, and what's better is that I am serving a lot of people for free. However, as I work as a volunteer, I have been in a lot of dilemma, as I am a human being with basic needs, I thought I still need some compensation. I waited, and waited, and waited for some sort of "allowance" from the hospital, or subsidy, to give another word for it. I waited for nothing.

Here comes a gossip.

PhilHealth will employ 600 registered nurses nationwide, and will deploy them to hospitals.

At first, I thought that the program is like RNHEALS, another government project. The latter employs registered nurses to be deployed as nurses to hospitals. The program offered the opposite.

Well, I was called for an interview, and the question I was expecting arose. "Are you sure in entering this kind of job? Do you know that this will be an opposite of your profession?" This question put me in a situation where it really defines what I will be in the future. I answered yes. An answer with ambiguity, where I am really not sure if I really wanted the position. I successfully finished the interview.

However, before taking the test, I had another bout of doubts. Am I really ready to leave my profession? Am I really ready to give up the validity of my license to work in a job I didn't prepare for? Am I ready to forget some, if not all, of the information I have learned from nursing? These questions had me awake for the night. I hardly slept.

However, I took the test. Thank God that the one administering the exams is _________, not the other one. (Haha!)

I passed the test (maybe), and have had my final interview. Again, the question came alive. "Are you really sure?" This time, though still doubtful, I answered yes. Answering all the questions I have been asking myself all this time.

As I work as CARES, several people here in the hospital ask, "Anong natapos mo, sir?"

The question now, Is this really "Goodbye" for Nursing? Well, as I work here in the company, my answer is no. This work is not an end to my nursing career.

Parang ako lang, oh! :D
Nauna lang sya ng ilang paligo.

Caring for patients, giving their medications, administering baths and doing their hygienic practices, following doctor's orders, and everything, this is nursing. Providing holistic care to patients, which includes physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects of life, is the main role of the nurse. However, by working as a CARES Nurse (look, they're still even addressing us as nurses!), I have realized another aspect of the patients' care, the economic aspect. Yes, the one that involves money. This aspect is important in the care of the patient, as medicines, and diagnostic procedures are covered by money. The treatment/cure that will be provided by the medicine will not be given without money, right? Some hospitals will not even provide services completely if patients are not able to give "down payments". So here comes our role as nurses.

Working in a social health insurance company has put me in a lot of discoveries, that I will not know if I didn't enter this job. Helping people accomplish their hospital bills by helping them avail benefits, ensure health security with members by helping them enroll for membership in the company, puts me in a thought that I am not wasting time here. I am able to care for patients, moreover, lessen the burdens of increasing healthcare prices here in our country.

I admit that I still have doubts in entering this job, but it's far lesser than before. Dealing with good colleagues, helping the poor and rich avail their benefits, with a good company to work for, and with a very good compensation for your services, I do not regret I entered this job. In the company, we also work with doctors, with fellow nurses and deal with drugs, with diagnostic procedures, and with several diagnoses. We just work in a broader and different perspective. (I also help admitting officers by helping them read illegible doctor's diagnoses! That's a skill, only by nurses!)

With all these experiences, I am proud to say, we are still nurses. We're just camouflaged in corporate attire.

We are CARES. We are NURSES. We care!