'Take Initiative'-Nursing topnotcher

‘Take initiative’—Nursing topnotcher
By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the world financial crisis that has affected even employment opportunities for nurses here and abroad, Nursing Board topnotcher Jovie Ann Alawas Decoyna, has remained optimistic and urged her peers to take the initiative in uplifting the profession.

“We should take the initiative to look for the job rather than being idle. It is our responsibility to uplift nursing as a field,” said Decoyna, a graduate of Baguio Central University, who was one of over 88,000 hopefuls that took the Nursing Licensure Exams in November 2008.

A total of 39, 455 passed the exams, the results of which were released by the Professional Regulatory Commission this Friday.

Decoyna said that while the proposal by the Commission on Higher Education to extend the present four-year nursing curriculum to five years would burden parents, she admitted that it would nonetheless help improve the curriculum.

“It should improve the clinical practice of Nursing and mold nursing students into competent nurses,” Decoyna told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.

Nursing is Decoyna’s second degree. Its caring aspect motivated her to pursue the course, she said.

BS Biology was Decoyna’s first degree, which she earned at Saint Louis University in 2005.

“I see Nursing as an opportunity to help my family. I owe everything to my family and friends who supported me along the way,” answered Decoyna when asked why she took another degree after Biology.

Decoyna said that she was open to the idea of working abroad but, given the opportunity, would prefer to work in a hospital in Baguio.

To her fellow Nursing board passers, Decoyna has this to say, “Dapat maging honest tayo at tulungan ang sarili na maging competent at compassionate [We should be honest and help ourselves to be competent and compassionate].”