Urgent Course Being Launched To Train 5,000 Nurses In 2 Years Amid Severe Shortage

[webfact]

 

AMID a critical shortage of 50,000 nurses nationwide, the Public Health Ministry is now launching an urgent course to train 2,500  of them a year over two years for a total of 5,000 starting next year, TV Channel 7 said late afternoon today (Feb. 21).

 

Public Health Minister Chonlanan Srikaew said senior officials had approved a proposal from Praboromarajchanok Institute and the Nursing and Midwifery Council to quickly train more nurses.

 

An intensive course of two and half years is being introduced for bachelor’s degree graduates in any field, but it would be helpful if they have studied in a medical science field, he said, however adding that there are questions about the readiness of training process and the necessary budget with the National Health Commission and other agencies involved preparing a summary to table to the cabinet.

 

by TNR Staff 

Thai nurses on duty. Photos: Thai Rath

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2024-02-22

 

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[OneMoreFarang]

Maybe they should pay them better.

 

A friend who visits NANA regularly seems to meet lots of girls there who are nurses - real once. 

[thaibeachlovers]

12 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe they should pay them better.

 

A friend who visits NANA regularly seems to meet lots of girls there who are nurses - real once. 

Nurses are never paid what they are worth because they are mainly female and reluctant to go on strike.

As one for decades, I know too well how they are exploited and abused by management, and underpaid.

Why do they ( I ) do it- because we wanted to do something useful to society, rather than a shop assistant or factory worker etc, but we are never valued or rewarded financially for it.

 

Would I do it again? Not in a million years. I'd do something that paid a decent wage for a day's work. I'd have been better off driving a London Tube train, but I was too old to be accepted for that when I arrived in London.

[thaibeachlovers]

39 minutes ago, webfact said:

 

 

Just for the heck of it, the photo is of a badly trained nurse, but I doubt any non nurses will realise why.

It's because she is wearing a bracelet or watch on her left wrist, which is a big no no as it's contaminated. Nurses should not wear anything below the elbow, which is why they have watches that pin to their upper body area.

Nurses have to wash their hands dozens of times a working day to prevent transferring nasties from one patient to another, and that includes above the wrist- not possible to do properly if wearing a watch or bracelet.

Edited February 21 by thaibeachlovers

[liddelljohn]

Pay them decent money they might stay in he job...simples...

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Public Health Minister Chonlanan Srikaew said senior officials had approved a proposal from Praboromarajchanok Institute and the Nursing and Midwifery Council to quickly train more nurses.

Maybe the question as to why young people do not wish to become nurses should be asked?

[ikke1959]

Result of mismanagement, and greed. Nurses have to work long hours and hospitals are overcrowded. With a payment that ia barely enough to pay the rent it is no wonder that young people don't choose to be a nurse. Better payments, better working hours and less greed of directors of hospitals and doctors could solve a lot ... But this is Thailand. Big reforms should be made in health care. 

[jacko45k]

3 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe they should pay them better.

 

A friend who visits NANA regularly seems to meet lots of girls there who are nurses - real once. 

I  was chatting to a Visa agent lady as she drove me recently and she told ne how she was treated badly while working at one of Pattaya's main hospitals and ultimately quit. I get an impression they are poorly treated while the docs drive sports cars!

[tandor]

It's got me puzzled why all the hospitals Public and Private employ such large numbers of qualified nurses doing clerical work when this task could be given to the Public/Civil Service and thus free up the trained/skilled nurses for more hands on medical work where they're really needed. My observations for what it's worth.

[2baht]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

the Public Health Ministry is now launching an urgent course to train 2,500  of them a year over two years

Could they cut it down to a 20 minute video???🙄

[bamnutsak]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

however adding that there are questions about the readiness of training process and the necessary budget with the National Health Commission and other agencies involved preparing a summary to table to the cabinet.

 

 

Ideas are easy. Implementing them effectively without any planning is a recipe for failure.

 

The MoPH already has a Village Health Care force with over one million volunteers. Expand that, and train 10% upwards to Practical Nurses.

 

 

These volunteers have been a key part of primary health care in Thailand during the past four decades. They undertake health surveys, collect data, maintain family health records, and do disease prevention campaigns to support the public health authorities. In times of outbreaks, their meticulous records of the medical histories of community members are used for contact tracing and health monitoring.

 

https://www.who.int/thailand/news/feature-stories/detail/thailands-1-million-village-health-volunteers-unsung-heroes-are-helping-guard-communities-nationwide-from-covid-19#:~:text=The Ministry of Public Health,during the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

[herfiehandbag]

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Just for the heck of it, the photo is of a badly trained nurse, but I doubt any non nurses will realise why.

It's because she is wearing a bracelet or watch on her left wrist, which is a big no no as it's contaminated. Nurses should not wear anything below the elbow, which is why they have watches that pin to their upper body area.

Nurses have to wash their hands dozens of times a working day to prevent transferring nasties from one patient to another, and that includes above the wrist- not possible to do properly if wearing a watch or bracelet.

I reckon it is a posed photo of a model wearing a white tunic and writing something on a clipboard...

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

Maybe the question as to why young people do not wish to become nurses should be asked?

Probably because the word has got out that the job sucks and doesn't pay enough to make it worth while.

It was different in the days of hospital training ( which I did ) and every course was over subscribed, but we got paid while training. Now they have to go to university and pay for that, but the wages of nurses are too low to be economic.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

I reckon it is a posed photo of a model wearing a white tunic and writing something on a clipboard...

Perhaps, but my point about washing hands is valid.

[thaibeachlovers]

27 minutes ago, tandor said:

It's got me puzzled why all the hospitals Public and Private employ such large numbers of qualified nurses doing clerical work when this task could be given to the Public/Civil Service and thus free up the trained/skilled nurses for more hands on medical work where they're really needed. My observations for what it's worth.

IMO Drs, who actually run hospitals, like having handmaidens to follow them around waiting on their every word.

I had an operation in a Thai hospital and all my actual care was done by non registered nurses. The only time I saw a registered nurse, she was following a Dr. Even my medication was given by a non registered nurse, and she did everything wrong when doing so.

[herfiehandbag]

6 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Perhaps, but my point about washing hands is valid.

Never said it wasn't...

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

I  was chatting to a Visa agent lady as she drove me recently and she told ne how she was treated badly while working at one of Pattaya's main hospitals and ultimately quit. I get an impression they are poorly treated while the docs drive sports cars!

I worked at many hospitals in my career, and in none of them were nurses treated well. That is hospitals in NZ, Saudi, and London. I did agency in London so worked in dozens of London hospitals and most were bad for nursing. London hospitals needed agency nurses in vast numbers because they couldn't get nurses to be permanent staff as the wages were so bad for permanent staff. On one shift in a London hospital there was one permanent staff member and all the other staff were agency or poorly trained nursing assistants for 30 patients.

[retarius]

52 minutes ago, tandor said:

It's got me puzzled why all the hospitals Public and Private employ such large numbers of qualified nurses doing clerical work when this task could be given to the Public/Civil Service and thus free up the trained/skilled nurses for more hands on medical work where they're really needed. My observations for what it's worth.

Excellent observation. 

[retarius]

32 minutes ago, herfiehandbag said:

I reckon it is a posed photo of a model wearing a white tunic and writing something on a clipboard...

Can't you ever agree with anything? He never claimed it was a real nurse. 

[stoner]

52 minutes ago, 2baht said:

Could they cut it down to a 20 minute video???🙄

 

maybe do a little better than 10 percent in 2 years ?

[fondue zoo]

We have one in the family, nurses everywhere are never paid enough.

Extra overtime, unpaid in many cases, or they have to claw it out of hospital's mountain of money.

The additional duties, unrelated to physical nursing as mentioned previously.

It's like the lady's who look like cleaners in the banks, but then when you turn around they are updating somebody's passbook.

 

 

My pappy always told me pay the people who teach you, heal you and protect you their rightful due, all three are most times thankless tasks.

 

Plus, I need the hottie nurse to tell me that my BP is too high so I that can reply, my BP is just fine it must be you! <wink>

- does she surreptitiously start looking for the red alert button?  sure, but for a split second she is amused, or exasperated, it's hard to tell..

 

 

 

Edited February 22 by fondue zoo

[spidermike007]

In the US, many of the surgical nurses are from the PI. They earn $100,000 a year. Some are doctors from the PI. Some are surgeons. Very talented and extremely competent. 

 

Pay a fair wage, treat your workers well, don't ask them to work silly hours without overtime pay, and you don't end up with a shortage of talent. Thailand has not learned that lesson yet. Apparently neither has the PI. 

[herfiehandbag]

2 hours ago, retarius said:

Can't you ever agree with anything? He never claimed it was a real nurse. 

Well I am sorry that you feel that I was disagreeing. 

 

Whilst it is true that I rarely agree with @thaibeachlovers, on this occasion I was merely commenting on the photograph, not disagreeing with his point on hygiene protocols for nurses.

[crazykopite]

It takes a lot more than two years to train a nurse now I know why the government hospitals in Thailand have a low standard of care it’s up to families to take care of there loved ones the nurses do very basic services such as blood pressure, temperature I experienced this when my wife was an inpatient on at least two occasions I did the majority of the  running around when I complained that my wife was in much pain the nurse said that my wife should have told them and they would of given her something for the pain 

[crazykopite]

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I worked at many hospitals in my career, and in none of them were nurses treated well. That is hospitals in NZ, Saudi, and London. I did agency in London so worked in dozens of London hospitals and most were bad for nursing. London hospitals needed agency nurses in vast numbers because they couldn't get nurses to be permanent staff as the wages were so bad for permanent staff. On one shift in a London hospital there was one permanent staff member and all the other staff were agency or poorly trained nursing assistants for 30 patients.

Having worked for the NHS in a Senior Management Role most nurse who are from agencies are very well qualified and experienced nurses unfortunately when they brought in to cover for short falls the full time nurses employed permanently by the hospital trust can be unhelpful my ex wife left the NHS she worked via nursing agencies as the salary was at least double to what she was earning eventually she found employment as a nurse practitioner heading up a large family clinic earning an extremely good salary 

[brianthainess]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

AMID a critical shortage of 50,000 nurses nationwide, the Public Health Ministry is now launching an urgent course to train 2,500  of them a year over two years for a total of 5,000 starting next year, TV Channel 7 said late afternoon today (Feb. 21).

So 10 years to train them all??  50k needed a total of 5,000 ?? is it me? can anyone explain this math theory to me.? 

[john donson]

ask myanmar or cambodia , seem all friends with buddy taksin...  

[bristolgeoff]

Nurses are in short supply everywhere in every country.It is also a issue when they go abroad for a better deal .Phillipines train alot and lose many too

[Khyron]

My Niece is going through nursing school in Phetchabun, its a 4-year course. Next time I see her I'll ask some simple first aid things and see how much is really being taught. My wife isn't too sure about it though.

[proton]

Cant see a mention of what they are paid, only claims it's not enough. How much is it?