An Over-population of nurses?

live4today, RN · Jul 22, 2003

Amen Deb, jnette, and mother/babyRN to everything you wrote! I'm in complete agreement with all three of you here. I'm seeing less American medical and nursing staff where I work, and more foreign staff. Makes me think sometimes I work in a foreign country and not in my birthplace at all. :confused:

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Jul 22, 2003

I'm all for giving other nationalities a shot at nursing here, at education, and all the rest. I love interacting with those of different backgrounds and cultures, and am thrilled when they are able to improve their lot in life.

What I DON'T like, and am afraid of.. is the "replacement" of us by "them". Not due to THEIR doing, but by our OWN good old fashioned American greed and lust after the almighty buck. That our OWN hospitals and corporations will sell us out... replace us with lower cost "labor" as they have in so many other workplaces already in the past couple decades.

Yes, this IS scary to me. I surely don't blame others for wanting to come here and work, but I DO blame our own gov't. and/or major hospitals/corporations for allowing the "tradeoff" to line their own pockets.

I truly fear if things continue this way we might be facing a new revolution in this country. Ppl will only take so much.

live4today, RN · Jul 22, 2003

Exactly jnette! I hear ya loud and clear! I, too, love interacting with other cultures, learning all about their way of life, and getting to know how much alike we really are without the separation of class structure between us. It's a good thing for foreigners to travel to America and stay if they wish. I'm all for that. My fear is like yours jnette.....the American politicians are allowing companies to exploit foreign labor to save $$$....and for no other reason.

The backfire could be when the foreign laborers who were "tricked" into coming here to work (to keep other Americans out of work) "wake up" to the fact that they are being used, how will they retaliate? As well they should!

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Jul 22, 2003

Don't know if they WILL, Renee...? If they're making double or triple what they did in their own land, I would think they will quite content for a long, long time... don't think they'd much care about what WE were making as income... THEIRS has improved. Don't see that happening anytime soon (their feeling "ripped off"), that is.

live4today, RN · Jul 22, 2003

jnette......being that they are human beings who honor being respected and allowed to maintain their dignity they very well might speak up and change things for the better for us. One never knows the end result of what starts out not being meant for "the betterment of others".

What may have been meant to hurt us (nurses), may in fact be the very help we need to turn nursing around. Now wouldn't that make the admins pee their pants! :chuckle

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Jul 22, 2003

Time will tell, Renee. Got to set my sights on something more joyous right now... things here are looking pretty bleak. Time for me to do some "gratitude work"... don't like getting in a "down mode".. too much still to be grateful for. Gotta concentrate and focus on those things... I'll do that now as I drift off to sleep. Gotta work early in the AM, so I'm outta here !

fergus51 · Jul 23, 2003

I am not worried about being able to find work anytime soon. It can be a challenge to find a great place to work, but I am pretty mobile:)

As far as foreign nurses.... I came from a province that only granted lisences to foreign nurses when nurses in the province couldn't fill the gaps. They even stopped giving lisences for a few months when we were undergoing health care cuts to ensure jobs for the nurses we already have. Most foreign nurses I have worked with are not doormats by any means, and I have no worry about them being abused and taken advantage of!

roxannekkb · Jul 23, 2003

One major problem is nurse "poaching" from developing nations. While the UK is more guilty of this than the US, to the point where they even have a list of banned nations to recruit from, it is also happening here.

Take the Phillippines. They do produce a lot of nurses there, but they are losing all of their experienced nurses to overseas jobs. They are rapidly losing the nurses who will teach, administer, and even provide experienced care to patients.

Same thing for India. They are losing experienced nurses by the aggressive recruiting of "first world" countries.

Many of the African nations, where the UK recruits from, have severe shortages of nurses.

While there is nothing wrong with natural immigration, the widespread poaching is lethal to the countries nurses are being taken from, and does not solve the problems here. Many of the nurses from poor countries feel that they are making a fortune here, and it will take time before they stand up to abuse. And many have loooong term contracts, which binds them to the hospitals. Plus, a hospital may dangle the coveted green card in front of them, which will assure obedience for a while to come.

Not a good situation. It is frightening, for all concerned. And judging how US industry is outsourcing to developing nations for cheap labor costs, it shouldn't be surprised that hospitals are trying to do the same thing.

fergus51 · Jul 23, 2003

Who can blame them though? If you could leave India or South Africa for a relatively well paying American job wouldn't you want to?

HazeK · Aug 5, 2003

Originally posted by night owl
I knew it! I knew that when it was my turn to be in "the home", there would be no one left to change my undergarment... It'll be like that movie "28 Days Later..."
I'll wake up in bed in the "home" and there will be no one there. We can make our own movie and call it... "28 years later, the nightmare begins"
Come on all you students! When you get your license and have jobs in those "homes," please don't leave! Ya gotta stay and be there for for me!!!...for us....

My sentiments exactly!

I'm 52 now...& figure I will have to work until age 70...or my entrance into the nursing home or the casket...whichever comes first! LOL!

Hugs

Haze