Relief for retrogression hope???

And then to ask you a question:
What about a foreign trained nurse that wishes to work in your country? How are things for them and is it even possible?

This is for everyone else reading the thread and not towards anyone in particular.

Regarding the issue if there really is a shortage or not is in my opinion debatable. It is true that the US Dept. of Labor labels RNs as being in short. That is why they coined the term Schedule A in the 1st place.

Of course, there will be always a debate of whether their really is a true shortage or not. That is expected. But to be honest these debates are just debates. The reality is another thing.

If one is trying to be a guest in one country, such as being a foreign-educated RN or a US-Educated non-US national then you simply go by the host's rules and how it is done in the host country and just maintain a low-profile in the workplace and always exercise humility.

Many are caught up on the feeling of entitlement. An entitlement that just because one finished school in the US or a foreign-educated RN that the US Dept. of Labor label as being in shortage means that everything will be automatically handed and everything should be fixed ASAP.

This feeling of entitlement seeps out like a bad odor out of the sewers and many bring this on their work place as well by belittling US national ADNs just because they are BSNs or they also happen to have another degree from their home country that is above a Bachelor's degree. Those do not matter anymore. You are in the US now.

It also so happens that these people often have trouble in the workplace full of US born ADNs and changes from one facility to another through the years. Their DONs who may be an ADN as well or their nurse managers keeps having complaints from other Staff that one has an attitude problem or is not a team-player and being terminated on having "poor performance".

There is definitely a trend that is happening. Those who maintains a low-profile and exercises humility and knows there place also happens to be the the ones that are able to keep their jobs on a facility for a long time and eventually goes up the ranks while others sticks out like a sore thumb and always complain that their co-workers and DONs or nurse managers keep complaining about them not being "team-players" and eventually terminated for "poor performance"

Just giving a parting shot on this topic.

A bill to temporarily relieve nursing visa retrogression will eventually come, sooner or later. Just a matter of time. And whether some like it that way or not doesn't really matter in all honesty. It will not solve everything but nonetheless it will come. Both the protagonists and antagonists knows this.

What matter is when that time comes, what will be the attitude of those imports ?? If we don't change our attitude on having a feeling of entitlement for a green card or work visa or having an attitude that we are sort of "rescuing" them from the so-called nursing crisis/shortage and that it is America's loss if we are not allowed to come in. Or belittling ADNs, med techs and other allied HC personnels w/c everyone who have ever worked or interned on hospitals knows are really the backbone of the medical facilities then the next time around, the retrogression may last longer when the bill that temporarily relieves it runs out again esp. when people who previously supported such thing will have second thoughts when they observe what the attitude of some of these imports are displaying.

Not to mention that imports that keeps displaying such attitude will always have the feeling of being unwanted or being the odd one out in the workplace and constantly being complained about by their co-workers and constantly being 'let-go' from one place to another.

We can read these kind of situations being posted in the forums once in while. The red-flag should be that if that is always happening and both co-workers and your superiors complains about you about the same thing then they should realize that it is them that is the problem and not the other way around. It's the attitude.

The American Health Care System needs to support all levels of nursing, BSN nurses do not want to work in LTC or do CNA work. American ASN nurse have a high rate of passing the NCLEX exam than BSN. Diploma nurses which are no a dying breed where well versed on bedside nursing.

I agree tax monies should go to retention and support of current nurses, importing nurses did not work well in the 1990's. I can say that as a nurse who worked in the US healthcare system in the 1990s

The nursing shortage is in places that are difficult to live in. Indian reservations for example where many people don't have running water. Rural Maine, where you have to drive for miles to get a quart of milk.

American citizens are being denied entrance to nursing schools due to a lack of qualified instructors. How many nurses from Foreign countries have MSN and 5 years of bedside experience and are willing to work for pay lower then the bedside nurse.

These MSN nurses with 5 years of nursing experience (similar to the US system) are needed. I don't see many of them posting to come to the US.

New grads are a dime a dozen. If you were an employer, who would you choose, a citizen who would be collecting welfare if you didn't employ them and require less orientation than an imported nurse, and requires no cultural adjustment.

OR a pay an agency to import a nurse who will not have any connection to the community they serve? Also the orientation will be more costly?

Is that how they hire in you home country? Hire foreign nurses while the citizens are unemployed?

You might be telling me what you know, but I have experienced differently. I have seen a HUGE shortage in Ohio, Texas, South and North Carolina. By no means, I am saying that there is nursing shortage in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, nor in Myrtle Beach area or Charlotte or Raliegh, but you know what areas I am talking about. The drive from North Carolina to Myrtle beach.... about 4 hours drive will makes the situation very clear. I have seen the shortage in Tennessee, West Virginia and Kentucky. Though, I have not seen it, I know about the situation in Mississippi, Louisiana and Albama! There is definitely a big for nurses need there.

Averge age of nurses in United States is in the late 40s, it's the data from bureau of labor statistics. Every 1 in 11 US citizen will have alzheimer's by year 2012. That's just one chronic condition. That's just 4 years from now.

Over 50% of American citizen is overweight, obese or morbidly obese. 20.8 million Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, that 7% of total population. For America to sustain by itself, without the HELP from foreign nurses and a lot has to change. Only grant money is not going to do anything. If they encourage all their students to be nurses, where will you get accountants, lawyers, doctors, people to do landscaping, people to work in mall, and people to work in fast food restaurants. And Chemist, and Mathematicians and Astronauts and Economists and Lab Techs and Software developers and Scientists........list goes on and on. American population is aging and baby boomers are retiring. We all know that. When the baby boomer population hit 80, we can only imagine, what the situation will be like.

I know that there are agencies, that will prosper when the need is high and demand is low. Just a demand and supply rule. Just like gas situation here. And who suffers, Americans.....Not people in other countries. Gas price in China right now is 2.5 dollars!!! Just like that, there are agencies who want to keep the supply of nurses low and demand high. It's not a rocket science....it's just simple business strategy. And yes, in US, healthcare field is called healthcare industry. The word industry tells us that it is profit-oriented just like gas companies. Who does these look after ---- public? Definitely not. They look after themselves. And that is exactly what is happening here.

Btw, I live in Columbus, Ohio.

There is still a limit as to the number of visas that are available per year and that is not going up and has not gone up.

The government is looking at training Americans as nurses and providing them with jobs. And that can be done in the time that it takes a foreign nurse to get thru licensing and immigration and for a smaller cost. Thagt is the point that we are making.

Sure, there are shortages in places and not denying that, but when a new nurse comes from another country and they do not have experience here in the US, then they are considered a new grad. So that does not benefit the facility in anyway at all. And that is the point that we are trying to make.

You are entitled to your opinion and I am entitled to mine.

I've been a Registered Nurse in North Carolina for many years, and, according to the figures collected and analyzed by the North Carolina Center for Nursing, which is the government agency that tracks healthcare workforce issues, there is officially no hursing shortage in NC, and there hasn't been for many years. We have enough nurses now to meet our needs, and people within the state, in nursing and in government, are actively working and planning for how to continue to meet the state's healthcare personnel needs and demographics change. I'm not sure what you think you have learned about healthcare services and nursing workforce issues in NC by driving to Myrtle Beach ...

United States Government Accountability Office:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07497t.pdf

We have only so much money. Where are you going to spend it? I also wish we had unlimited resource to provide for unlimited number of people and we could live happily ever after!

American Association of College of Nursing
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media/shortageresource.htm
http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media/FactS...ngShortage.htm

I saw the links you posted, they all state the best way to have enough US nurses is to increase educational programs and have better working conditions for US nurses. Suzanne in my opinion is speaking the truth, I was on vacation this week, and met people who told us many of the foreign IT co workers are being sent to their homelands. Every day I hear on the news, that politicians are getting slammed for supporting more immigration.

Perhaps all new US Nurses should have loan relief by serving unserved areas, it would be a win win situation. More nurses where needed and more educational opportunities for US nurses.