Nursing shortage in the Philippines: Dissecting an entanglement of issues

@#The banning of new nursing schools in the Philippines was imposed in 2010 to mitigate the failing compliance of schools with various competency standards set forth by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), in addition to the burden of students in paying their affiliations with hospitals. In the midst of the shortage of nurses in the country that was magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) decided to lift the moratorium. This paper draws on the narratives of nursing leaders and professionals on the phenomenon of nursing shortage and the issues that can arise with the reopening of nursing schools. The verbatims highlight the historical and contemporary entanglement of various issues that contributed to the problem of nursing shortage. In addressing these issues, this paper looks into some of the problems in Philippine nursing that may conform with the broad contemporary problems identified by philosopher Alain Badiou. Viable solutions may be found in the exploration of emerging research methodologies, consideration of systems thinking using technological advances, and incorporating political competency among Filipino nurses.

Online learning in nursing: Concept analysis

@#Online learning in nursing is a controversial idea that is viewed as a hindrance to the holistic learning of an individual, however, it was the only solution to prioritize the safety of students during the COVID-19 pandemic. This concepts aims to give a clear approach to how online learning will occur successfully in nursing education. The method used in intellectualizing the concept was Walker and Avant’s approach. The attributes of online learning involve: 1.) platform with the use of devices to create a classroom community; 2.) virtual schooling at home; 3.) entertainment and leisure activity; and 4.) enhanced with synchronous online classes and asynchronous video instruction. Apart from these attributes, the schema of nursing students needs to be addressed and enhanced through the delivery of learning by giving importance to visual, audio, read and/or writing, and kinesthetic learning styles fueled with the right attitude and technological competency.

Nurses adaptation to technology towards quality care

@#Concept analysis on adaptation to technology was done to give emphasis to its use in the nursing profession towards quality care. The constant changing environment not to mention the sudden existence of COVID-19 surprised the world alongside with arising technology that led to the idea of adaptation of nurses to meet the patient and/or client's needs. The method used in the concept was the Walker and Avant's approach. This approach is achieved through eight phases: choosing a concept, determining the purpose of analysis, identifying all uses of the concept, defining attributes, identifying a model case, identifying borderline, related, and contrary cases, identifying antecedents and consequences, and defining empirical referents. The attributes of adaptation of nurses were successful interaction of nursing population with the technological environment and changes in function of the Nurse as to get used to daily routine and technology.