How to Makati Medical Center 101 Part 1 : CARE training

Ok,great. So finally I am pursuing my love for serving the Filipino People (Naks!). Finally I am practicing as a Nurse. Being the ambitious person that I am, I submitted my application in Makati Medical Center. One of the only JCI accredited hospitals in our country(THE ONLY 6TH EDITION ACCREDITED). The process was really strict. If you are not patient, most probably you will give up on the first few steps.

I walked in the HR office and was scheduled for an exam June 15, 2017 as far as I can remember. After the exam I was notified after a month. See?! Can you just imagine how anxious and afraid I was during the whole waiting period. A lot was running in my mind. 

"What if I failed?"

"What if my credentials were insufficient?"

"What if I am not qualified?"

July 19 was the day! I was then contacted for series of interviews. I was really excited to be honest because with me being a product of several BPO's, my communication skills and confidence was built really strong.

I think that was a total of 3 interviews that I need to pass in order for me to be in the roster of  C.A.R.E training. Fortunately, I was able to be a part of it. The medical was as equally strict as the interviews and exam. I need to repeat my CBC because my HCT was higher by 1 as compared to their normal value(siryoso ba???? 1 lang di pa pinagbigyan eh.)

I started with the training on August 29 2018. There were only 9 of us in the batch. Unusual, because for the other batches they range from 15 to even 40. It was a really small group for us but our energy is like the energy of a group of 20. Yeah, maingay kami talaga. 

The program was composed of two phases. The first one was plainly lecture. They taught us the basics of the hospital rules. How they do medication in Makati Med and other essential information for our immersion in the area. Our Lunch meal for the whole training was free(Yes, libre mga beh. Ang saya.) 

The second phase was even more exciting. It was the immersion in the areas already yehey! Mararanasan ko na rin yung ka sosyalan ng mga gamit sa Makati  Med. 

In the CARE training, which is the training of Makati Med for nurses. It is like you are back in college. You kinda need to unlearn things because Makati Med has their own way of doing things. We were given quizzes. There were also journals that we need to submit every week. I really enjoyed it since I missed going to school. As a matter of fact our final output was a case presentation. And yes, ginalingan namin. Coz we're great like that lol

We were divided into clusters. I was with Jhodie and Julius. We were rotated in three different areas. The first one was 8th Circular. 

8th Circular is a Medical Surgical Ward. This Area is dedicated for Maxicare Card holders. The Nurse Manager here is Ms. Rhesa. The people in this area were so accommodating. My usual preceptor during this rotation was Ms. Yam. She was really funny. It was always a joy coming to work because of her. This was the first area of my entire nursing career. I have learned a lot in this area. All the basic things that I need to know I was able to obtain here. We stayed for around 4 days in this unit. It was in this unit that I have had a patient who has down syndrome. It was a great feeling to be able to make him sleep everytime he was agitated.

My first ever handoff alone.

The second rotation was a random unit. 6th Rear. We only stayed for 2 days in this area that is why I don't have any photos or anything to share lol.



The last that we went to was the Cancer Center Headed by Ms. Ces Paje (THE BEST! IN EVERY ASPECT)

This area includes the Oncology Center in Tower 2, Bone Marrow Transplant and The Cancer Center itself where patients are scheduled for their chemotherapy. To be honest, this was my most favorite unit during our immersion. The people were so accommodating. It was the definition of  FUN LEARNING. We were asked to report on some topics that made me even more excited to come to work.

The month went on so fast that we were surprised that it has been a month already. After our case presentation we were given our  Graduation Certificates.

Say Hello to our batch. CARE batch 84:)

It was not possible for us to survive the whole process without our mentors. They were all so credible in terms of practice and knowledge(hanep!). It was a great experience being in this program. But just to let you know everyday was a war you need to be prepared of.

I worked hard for this! I am a Nurse!

Yep, they're my crazy bunch. There was even a time that this old lady sleeping in the hallway scolded us for being like kids joking and laughing. She shouted at us "maiingay?!! Maliit na bata?!" And that is the reason why we named our group chat "MALILIIT NA BATA"

To sum it all up the Makati Med Training and Recruitment process was not easy. There will be a lot process. There will be a lot of examinations. But then at the end of the day you will realize " damn I am a kick ass nurse. I can do better than the others". And the best thing is that you get to eat free lunch for the whole month.

Care training was just the start of all the many challenges. I will be creating a blog about it soon. Pag maraming time. Which is always haha

So, are you a nurse? Care to tell your own training story? Hit the comment section.