Comments for BKR Blog http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net ... Filipino researchers' blog Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:51:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 Comment on A Tricky Business? by Tim Reynolds http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/10/16/a-tricky-business/comment-page-1/#comment-225 Tim Reynolds Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:26:04 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=11#comment-225 Nice post. Thank you for the info. Keep it up. Nice post. Thank you for the info. Keep it up.

]]> Comment on A Tricky Business? by Traffic Generation Tips http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/10/16/a-tricky-business/comment-page-1/#comment-216 Traffic Generation Tips Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:42:26 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=11#comment-216 Excellent content...keep up the good work! Excellent content…keep up the good work!

]]> Comment on Brain drain and the public health by Fred Kintanar http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/08/08/public-health/comment-page-1/#comment-200 Fred Kintanar Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:45:22 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=4#comment-200 I don't think concerned Filipinos should be talking about "stopping" brain drain, it is managing it to ameliorate the worst effects (and maximize the benefits if any). The trade-off between institutional and national requirements for trained and experienced health personnel vs. the human right of freedom of movement is a no-brainer. Human rights win, they are absolutely uncompromisable, even for the educated elite whose actions may have negative consequences for the majority like the rural and urban poor. The argument summarized in the post doesn't deny that brain drain has negative consequences, and doesn't really present any positive consequences. It just points out that there is a correlated causal factor, openness and professional mobility. I won't argue for isolationism, I think openness is here to stay for better or worse (even if the Cuba model is challenging and surprising). But if the Philippines will have openness and professional mobility, we can have policies to better manage the migration of professionals. One is that we should "charge" the countries receiving trained personnel, insisting that they invest back into the remote education system they benefit from. They invest back in their own education systems, they should do the same for the foreign systems where they are beneficiaries. This may be easier to do in some countries than others, U.S. is probably hard because of complicated state health systems, while Britain and Canada should be easier. One problem is the Philippine government actively promotes exporting nurses, so the receiving countries don't think they owe us anything. But migrating health personnel take up limited education slots, and Philippine society pays the social costs of supporting that education when another country gets the main benefits. Two is that we should collaborate with receiving countries to seriously improve the quality as well as volume of health education, growing the pie in quality and size. This will help us move up the value chain (more Advanced Nurse Practitioners and locally trained specialists, even if many or most leave, they still work in the Philippines for a few years and some do stay for whatever reasons). We should ask receiving countries to send visiting professors with PhD's to our struggling nursing, medical and health education programs, and achieve a much higher standard of qualification for Philippine faculty (all Nursing teachers should have a serious MS, most professors of medicine have a PhD or comparable research experience). An teaching loads have to go down! The beneficiary countries should help fund a transition to smaller class sizes and lower teaching loads, they know they want better quality and they know this is how to get it. And three, the Philippine government, with foreign assistance, should put in mechanisms to assist the institutions that suffer loss, a safety net for the disruptive migrations that they are promoting. Hospitals and service providers with significant levels of turnover should get funding to train understudies before they (and their patients) are left in a lurch. I work in the software industry, and I know that high turnover can be managed successfully. But it takes massive investment in ongoing training, so that somebody pops out of the in-house training pipeline everytime somebody submits a resignation letter. An having replacements who are already familiar with the tasks and processes at hand is critical, government should fund in-house training programs so that they can overtrain in anticipation of turnover. I have thought about these three policy responses for some time, but I have no idea how to get them implemented. Perhaps some of you people out there who are working directly with the health sector might have some ideas about action. Fred K. Cebu City I don’t think concerned Filipinos should be talking about “stopping” brain drain, it is managing it to ameliorate the worst effects (and maximize the benefits if any). The trade-off between institutional and national requirements for trained and experienced health personnel vs. the human right of freedom of movement is a no-brainer. Human rights win, they are absolutely uncompromisable, even for the educated elite whose actions may have negative consequences for the majority like the rural and urban poor.
The argument summarized in the post doesn’t deny that brain drain has negative consequences, and doesn’t really present any positive consequences. It just points out that there is a correlated causal factor, openness and professional mobility. I won’t argue for isolationism, I think openness is here to stay for better or worse (even if the Cuba model is challenging and surprising). But if the Philippines will have openness and professional mobility, we can have policies to better manage the migration of professionals.
One is that we should “charge” the countries receiving trained personnel, insisting that they invest back into the remote education system they benefit from. They invest back in their own education systems, they should do the same for the foreign systems where they are beneficiaries. This may be easier to do in some countries than others, U.S. is probably hard because of complicated state health systems, while Britain and Canada should be easier. One problem is the Philippine government actively promotes exporting nurses, so the receiving countries don’t think they owe us anything. But migrating health personnel take up limited education slots, and Philippine society pays the social costs of supporting that education when another country gets the main benefits.
Two is that we should collaborate with receiving countries to seriously improve the quality as well as volume of health education, growing the pie in quality and size. This will help us move up the value chain (more Advanced Nurse Practitioners and locally trained specialists, even if many or most leave, they still work in the Philippines for a few years and some do stay for whatever reasons). We should ask receiving countries to send visiting professors with PhD’s to our struggling nursing, medical and health education programs, and achieve a much higher standard of qualification for Philippine faculty (all Nursing teachers should have a serious MS, most professors of medicine have a PhD or comparable research experience). An teaching loads have to go down! The beneficiary countries should help fund a transition to smaller class sizes and lower teaching loads, they know they want better quality and they know this is how to get it.
And three, the Philippine government, with foreign assistance, should put in mechanisms to assist the institutions that suffer loss, a safety net for the disruptive migrations that they are promoting. Hospitals and service providers with significant levels of turnover should get funding to train understudies before they (and their patients) are left in a lurch. I work in the software industry, and I know that high turnover can be managed successfully. But it takes massive investment in ongoing training, so that somebody pops out of the in-house training pipeline everytime somebody submits a resignation letter. An having replacements who are already familiar with the tasks and processes at hand is critical, government should fund in-house training programs so that they can overtrain in anticipation of turnover.
I have thought about these three policy responses for some time, but I have no idea how to get them implemented. Perhaps some of you people out there who are working directly with the health sector might have some ideas about action.

Fred K.
Cebu City

]]> Comment on Scientists, Know Thy Hirsch Number! by gil tampoa http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/08/25/scientists-know-thy-hirsch-number/comment-page-1/#comment-199 gil tampoa Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:14:10 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=5#comment-199 Hello abner, i just registered and am amazed that there is this BKR blog. am thrilled. just wnated to ask if your question was answered already---- april 2008? Hello abner, i just registered and am amazed that there is this BKR blog. am thrilled. just wnated to ask if your question was answered already—- april 2008?

]]> Comment on Brain drain and the public health by Elmer Soriano http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/08/08/public-health/comment-page-1/#comment-177 Elmer Soriano Tue, 10 Jun 2008 01:07:50 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=4#comment-177 BRAIN GAIN. Check this out. It illustrates a model for brain-gain without having to reverse emigration BRAIN GAIN. Check this out. It illustrates a model for brain-gain without having to reverse emigration

]]> Comment on A Tricky Business? by high blood http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/10/16/a-tricky-business/comment-page-1/#comment-167 high blood Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:13:46 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=11#comment-167 In some society, women may have less opportunities than men, but this does not mean that men are better than women. What makes those who have won the Nobel prizes different is that they have seen a vision and pursued it to the end. With a lot of hard work and dedication they have made the difference. In some society, women may have less opportunities than men, but this does not mean that men are better than women. What makes those who have won the Nobel prizes different is that they have seen a vision and pursued it to the end. With a lot of hard work and dedication they have made the difference.

]]> Comment on Scientists, Know Thy Hirsch Number! by abner muhi http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/08/25/scientists-know-thy-hirsch-number/comment-page-1/#comment-166 abner muhi Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:03:15 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=5#comment-166 Hi, I am an electrical engineer by profession. I've been doing a research on alternative fuel/biofuel during my spare time. I have a chemical reaction involving waste vegetable oil. I am sure the resulting gas from the reaction is flammable. But I don't know what kind of gas it is. Can you help me find a chemist or a chemical lab for complete analysis. Thanks. Hi,
I am an electrical engineer by profession. I’ve been doing a research on alternative fuel/biofuel during my spare time. I have a chemical reaction involving waste vegetable oil. I am sure the resulting gas from the reaction is flammable. But I don’t know what kind of gas it is. Can you help me find a chemist or a chemical lab for complete analysis. Thanks.

]]> Comment on A Tricky Business? by victor manalac http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/10/16/a-tricky-business/comment-page-1/#comment-165 victor manalac Wed, 16 Apr 2008 08:17:07 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=11#comment-165 science is gender free. let anyone get into it without an ardour to prove that women can outperform men or vice versa. ms curie won the prize not because she was a woman but because of her work, the same reason that men won the Nobel. she was not out to prove anything but merely her findings. science is gender free. let anyone get into it without an ardour to prove that women can outperform men or vice versa. ms curie won the prize not because she was a woman but because of her work, the same reason that men won the Nobel. she was not out to prove anything but merely her findings.

]]> Comment on Calling on all Filipino bloggers to unite for S&T by Roland Quast http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/08/01/calling-on-all-filipino-bloggers-to-unite-for-st/comment-page-1/#comment-158 Roland Quast Sat, 22 Mar 2008 01:45:14 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=3#comment-158 Rather than writing blogs, what about writing small open source code projects? Good open source projects gives a lot of credit to any country in my opinion. Rather than writing blogs, what about writing small open source code projects? Good open source projects gives a lot of credit to any country in my opinion.

]]> Comment on Calling on all Filipino bloggers to unite for S&T by baggy http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/2007/08/01/calling-on-all-filipino-bloggers-to-unite-for-st/comment-page-1/#comment-157 baggy Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:52:06 +0000 http://blog.bahaykuboresearch.net/?p=3#comment-157 Hi Pomona, Thanks for dropping by. I will definitely read your entry especially if it is about DOST. DOST is the S&T arm of the government. So I would like to know what it does for S&T (its action or inaction). Cheers! Hi Pomona,

Thanks for dropping by. I will definitely read your entry especially if it is about DOST. DOST is the S&T arm of the government. So I would like to know what it does for S&T (its action or inaction).

Cheers!

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