The Role of Filipino Nurses and the Development of a Nationalist Philippine Agenda

• In Event: 3483 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 03. The Medical Profession: Training, Culture, and Moral Authority

Abstract

The Philippines has risen to prominence as a major contributor to the global economy in the capacity of a mass exporter, not only of goods, but of labor and specifically highly trained nurses to the US and other wealthy nations of the world. Years of influence and cooperation between US and Philippine medical professionals developed the infrastructure for the production of a healthcare workforce that was highly trained and exquisitely positioned to support the US and European countries. As the production and exportation of nurses transformed into a component of a state-sanctioned export-oriented industrialization strategy, nurses became a critical aspect of the Philippine national agenda. This paper will argue that the shifting nationalist agendas of both the United States and the Philippines had a significant and direct influence on the flow of nurses themselves and on the transfer of healthcare practices that, at times, supersede the economic incentives of labor exchange. I present an analysis of interdisciplinary research drawing from the fields of law, public health, development, labor migration, and globalization that explores the dynamics between economic gains, shifts in demand for labor, and nationalist-inspired agendas and demonstrates the power of nationalism in driving economic policy regarding the import/export of foreign nurses, specifically between the US and the Philippines.

Author

• Erin Freeman, Boston University