Reimagining nurses’ excellence: Why Filipinos are patients’ favorites

I read with heightened interest “Reimagining nursing excellence in PH” (Commentary, 5/16/25) while doctors and nurses were caring for my father during his month-long confinement at the Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH). As with his hospitalizations over the past several years, I was able to closely observe the excellence of Filipino health-care professionals (HCPs) whenever I stayed overnight as his watcher.

The global recognition of Filipino HCPs’ excellence first struck me back in November 2005. I was in New Jersey with coactors from the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School academic theater group, who toured “Portrait of an Artist as Filipino” in five East Coast cities. In one of our Filipino foster families’ homes, we noticed a copy of the magazine “Nursing Quarterly” on the living room table. Its cover featured a woman—unmistakably Filipina—hailed as the “Nurse of the Quarter.”

Swelling with Pinoy pride, we asked about the reputation of Filipino HCPs’ in that part of the world. Matter-of-factly, our hosts said Pinoy doctors, nurses, and caregivers were generally the “favorites” of patients because they performed their duties with utmost professionalism and a lot of heart, going the extra mile to show care and concern. They stood in stark contrast to some colleagues from other countries (including the United States), who tended to be curt and cold, and did not show as much compassion and patience.

It was also around this time—in the mid-2000s—that nursing school enrollments surged across the country due to high international demand. But in the following years, as my father’s hospital visits became more frequent, I was comforted to see that the kindness and professionalism our HCPs are known for globally were not just reserved for when they reached greener pastures abroad, but were also in abundance here at home.

Being a patient’s watcher, especially in the early days of confinement, can make a person feel lost and overwhelmed, partly because one is unsure how to assist nurses in any way (or if they should at all) as they go about their routine (unless you’re an HCP yourself). That is why my family is grateful to Dad’s nurses (and doctors) at QCGH, who were not only efficient and kind but exceptionally patient. They spoke gently to us, his alternating watchers, guiding us with calm reassurance despite our initial cluelessness about how things flowed.

The article’s authors—Jerome Babate, Noriel Calaguas, Rozzano Locsin, and Rudolf Cymorr Martinez—are right on so many counts, especially in saying that “we need to stop thinking of ourselves as merely a source of labor.” Our talented, world-class nurses have long been valued and praised for their work ethic, particularly for how they provide bedside care. It would be great if the government and relevant institutions and agencies supported their inspiring idea to ”level up” nurses’ training to showcase their additional capabilities as leaders, scholars, and academics.