Fil-Canadian nurses gain support over viral video against their practice

Fil-Canadian nurses gain support over viral video against their practice

Statement on Facebook of Philippine Nurses Association in support of Filipino-Canadian nurses.

College promotional video comparing PH vs Canadian nurses deemed offensive

By Veronica Silva Cusi
LJI Reporter
The Philippine Reporter

Filipino-Canadian nurses have gained support from all over the world in view of a viral promotional video that many said put them in a bad light.

The promotional video was by Stenberg College, a private healthcare college based in Surrey, B.C. In the four-minute video Nurse Jackie compared a registered nurse practising in the Philippines to a Canadian nurse on six points: professional communication, skills in assessment, specialization, technology, patient communication, and NCAS (Nursing Community Assessment Service) assessment preparation.

“It [the video] is really a great slap in the face of Filipino nurses,” said Jennifer Alog Lopez, a registered nurse and board member of Integrated Filipino Canadian Nurses Association (IFCNA), in a phone interview with The Philippine Reporter.

The IFCNA was quick to act on the video by calling the attention of Stenberg College. The video has since been deleted from Stenberg College’s official internet presence, including their social media accounts.

On professional communication, Nurse Jackie expressed doubts on Filipino nurses’ skills to communicate assertively with patients, colleagues, and doctors.

On skills in assessment, Nurse Jackie said she doubts that Filipino RNs in Canada get to practise the skills they learned in the Philippines because there are interns, doctors, residents, and students who complete the patient charts.

“Without practising your skills in assessment, how comfortable are you in assessing your patients and finding out what’s wrong with your patients? That’s a huge difference in the Philippines and in Canada,” said Nurse Jackie in the viral video. In the video credits, she was identified as “Jackie G, RN, manager of education delivery/instructor, post graduate diploma in Canadian nursing, Stenberg College.”

Screen grab of one-minute apology video of Nurse Jackie.

Nurse Jackie also took issue on general jobs that nurses do in the Philippines. “In Canada, you need to specialize,” she added.

Lopez denied that Filipino nurses are not good at their jobs because they don’t specialize. “In the Philippines, we started as general nurse and then [we] go into specializations. Kahit saan itapon dito sa (wherever you’re assigned to work here in) Canada, or in the U.S., Filipino nurses have basic concept and knowledge of the nursing skills,” and they can adapt easily.

Global support

On their Facebook account, the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) posted a statement of support for Filipino-Canadian nurses.

“We are offended by the lack of prudence in the development of the video material that in their interest to promote their institution, they have placed the reputation and image of the Filipino nurses in a bad light, possibly reflecting incompetence, poor communication skills, and lack of professional development, which is not reflective of the current general standards of nursing practice in the Philippines,” said the PNA statement.

Jennifer Alog Lopez
(Taken from Facebook account. Used with permission)

Lopez said she was expecting “great support” from Filipinos across the world as Filipinos are very professional in their work.

In Canada, Filipino-Canadian healthcare professionals, including nurses, doctors, technicians, hospital and clinic staff, caregivers, and personal support workers, are in-demand. According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the Philippines is the top country with the most number of IEN graduates at 34.4 per cent. The next most number of IENs are from India, at 13.3 per cent, then the United Kingdom, at 9.3 per cent.

Apology

The college, for its part, was quick to issue an apology and take down the video. Still, the video has been reposted in many social media channels.

“Within 24 hours after talking to [Stenberg College president Sabell], it [the video] was taken down [from their YouTube channel],” said Lopez, adding that she also reported the video to YouTube.

Sabell and Nurse Jackie issued separate apologies.

Sabell said the video was about a “senior member’s personal experience,” and it has come to the attention of the college about the “negative feedback” on this video.

“We took immediate action to remove the video from our YouTube channel and elsewhere,” said a message from the Stenberg president posted on their social media.

Sabelle also emailed IFCNA’s board of directors to apologize after having talked to Lopez on the phone. In another email, Sabell updated IFCNA of Nurse Jackie’s video apology and reiterated the school’s apology and Nurse Jackie’s apology.

“I am appealing on Nurse Jackie’s behalf for you as leaders in the Filipino Nursing Community to ask for acceptance of her apology and for people to please leave her in peace,” said Sabell in the email addressed to the IFCNA board of directors.

Nurse Jackie also apologized via a one-minute video, which has also since been taken down, and a written apology on the Stenberg Facebook channel.

In an email reply to Sabell, a copy of which was obtained by TPR, IFCNA said they have accepted the apology and have moved on.

“On behalf of IFCNA, we accepted your apology including Jackie’s apology. Rest assured that our organization has already moved on with this issue, and we will continue to uplift and uphold our commitment in ensuring that Filipino nurses are treated with dignity and respect,” said the IFCNA board of directors.

———————————-

Veronica Silva Cusi is Local Journalism Initiative reporter.