My dad graduated at one of the top medical schools in the Philippines(Cebu Doctor’s University) and he is working as a nurse here in the U.S. My mom who is a nurse said that if you are a foreign graduate than taking the board exam will be quite difficult because they have different requirements and it is very hard. So that’s why he didn’t take it. My situation is very difficult to explain so I’l do my best to summarize it here goes.
My dad became a licensed Doctor in the Philippines at around 30. He worked for a couple of years. Moved to the U.S. at around 40 and guess what… he worked for 7 up thats right the soda company 7 up For a couple of years( I have no idea what a man with a doctorate from a prestigous school is doing in there but I knew that he wasnt happy when he told me the story) but anyway he met my mom a Nurse also from one of the most prestigous Nursing Schools in the Philippines( it was also the most expensive there, she came from a very poor family all of her classmates were very rich). And anyway shortly after they married he became an RN in the U.S. He’s been an RN for quite a while now but he’s getting very old and stressed both of my parents are my mom stopped working as an RN nearly a decade ago (I’m 14 years old and my older sister is 16 and my younger sister is 11). So we’ve been depending on his income for a long time and he’s very irritable,very grumpy says that were always depending on him. I think he really wants to work as a doctor here but he’s too old now. My family is very poor and he’s going to retire within 5 years. My dad used to work at a hospital called Veterans but he left after less than a year because he says his old body just couldnt take the stress from it all( I really think so because both he and a Dermatologist he spoke to at the Hospital he worked at said that he has allergies and rashes that are being caused by too much stress). So he left and went to another Hospital that was far less stressful. It was both a good decision and a bad one at the same time. His allergies went away and he became a bit healthier but his payment was cut in half. A lot less than what he earned. My mom tried going back to work but imagine her suprise when she saw that almost no Hospital would accept her because her most recent experience was nearly a decade ago( and Nursing has become a very popular job apparently so it’ll be tough competing with other Nurses). She has come close though to landing a job but its in a far location from where we live so she says that she’ll be living in that city temporarily to gain experience if she can land job there. But anyway my family is really feeling the sting of the bad economy. Both my parents are top Healthcare workers (my mom worked at one of the best Hospitals in the U.S. and obviously they accept only the best, she was promoted at that Hospital and had conversations with many famous Doctors including a Doctor Named Obogi( i think that is how you spell his name but that’s what it sounds like and I think she said he was a surgeon or something but anyway when she heard the news that he died she was like yelling at me to switch it back to the news because she wanted to hear it, and when she heard that he had died she looked very sad and said "I should have gotten his autograph."), she also graduated from a very prestigous University from her home country. My dad’s family comes from 4 generations of respected Doctors his father and grandfather were loved by their patients, is very well educated and graduated from a very prestigous school. When I was little I asked my parents what they worked as and my mom said that she was a Nurse and my dad was a Doctor but he is also working as a nurse and I’ve always wondered what the difference was well now that I’m older I can see a big difference. So anyway my dad is working at a Hospital which doesnt offer healthcare insurance. I don’t know about you but when you have parents that have quite an impressive background and they are reduced to people who are struggling to survive, adding insult to injury 2 very good HEALTHCARE workers in the HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY and there family does not even have HEALTH INSURANCE and VERY LOW LIFE INSURANCE. My parents both would very like me and my sisters to become good Doctors when we grow and and we would like to as well but we both know that medical school will not come cheao for my 2 sisters and myself when my parents are earning not so much. When I ask my dad why he’s not a Doctor he tells me that the job is too stressful and maybe it is, many Doctors in a few years will be retiring, mostly surgeaons. But remaining Doctors will feel overwhelemd by an aging U.S. population. When I was in 3rd grade my teacher asked the class what my parents did for a living and I told her that my dad graduated school as a doctor and my mom is a nurse. She looked very impressed with me and said so your dad is making as much as the president is he, you must be very rich and I told he
you must be very rich and I told her no that i was porr and she tought that I was lying to her. Back to the part where my mom talks about the board exam. They both tell me that the board exam is very hard for foreign grads yet I have found some info that shows this to be untrue.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/21/world/us-students-turn-to-the-philippines.html?sec=health
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_education_in_the_Philippines
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090406000141AAteX0f
My dad does not like helping people at all but he likes the title of Doctor a lot so maybe he should have been one here. My dad didnt take the board exam for medicine yet he took the one for Nursing( I found this odd).
If he can take a board exam for a profession he didnt try to major in why not a profession he worked years for? He’graduated about 30 years ago and my entire family thinks its too late for him to be a Doctor now because he’s too old he would have to do a lot of reviewing and he’s already old.
So I’m wondering if my dad just took the exam would things have been better? Was it all a mistake he made I mean he could have just taken the exam seen what score he got if he passed good if he didn’t couldn’t he have just studied more so he could get a higher core and pass? And I mean he did all of that hard work in med school and only worked for a few years in that profession. Did he make the biggest mistake of his life?
Yes I know it can be long and a bit confusing but summarizing nearly thirty years of certain events is not an easy task. If you would like me to clarify for you feel free to ask.
