Abstract
Nurses make up the biggest number of the health care professionals in the Philippines, but there are few nursing jobs available for the Filipino nurses.
The majority of the nursing population seek job opportunities overseas.
Nurses are educated on a four-year programme of competency-based and community-orientated units leading to a Bachelor of Science in Nursing award.
The accreditation of nurses is slow as nurses and organisations strive to meet government targets. This is compounded by professionals moving abroad to work.
Working abroad, however, provides a boost to the nurses' own and their family's financial and economic state as well as that of the country as a whole.
Critical care nursing in the Philippines is described within the above context.
