Filipino Nurses at Baylor University Medical Center: Personal Recollections‪.‬

A nationwide shortage of nurses in the early 1970s led Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC) to seek innovative ways to recruit and retain the numbers of qualified and committed nurses required. Baylor was a leader in developing and implementing the two-days alternative, or Baylor plan. Preceptorships and externships were developed. A day care center was established to make it easier for nurses and other employees to work full time. The continuing shortage of nurses also induced Baylor to recruit nurses from abroad. In the early 1970s, Robert Hille, vice president of BUMC, Julia Ball, director of nursing in Truett, Jonsson, and Hoblitzelle hospitals, and Dr. Andrew Small III, representing the medical staff, made recruiting visits to the Philippines. Phyllis Walk led a group to recruit in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Others visited Canada, Australia, and New Zealand for the same purpose. Among the recruiting efforts, those carried out in the Philippines have proven the most effective.