Florida University Program Retrains Foreign Doctors As Nurses

I like the idea of a nurse who has been trained as a doctor, brings a good perspective to the job. I in fact consult with a nurse in a clinical trial in which I am participating; she was a doctor in India, and I must say she is excellent.

BUT, I am sure this does not sit well with the hundreds of unemployed new grads in the Tampa Bay area, that's for sure I would be upset if I were one of them.

"It was also hard making the transition from doctor to nurse. In the beginning we felt embarrassed to say we were nurses..."

I won't write what I said when I read that statement because my post would be just one long row of these **** ***** **** *****. Ugggh.

this program has been going for a long time now. I know many MDs from Cuba who underwent this program.

why would a person who has trained half their adult life to be a doc wear nurses scubs? is it because they cant pass the foriegn doc licensure exam? i can hear them now, "if i cant pass doc boards i can always be a nurse."

I worked with two CRNAs who were originally doctors in Bosnia. They fled the country because of the war. They were both great to work with and I am glad that they were able to come here and start a new life.

Community colleges in Miami have been doing this for a while.

Because the US medical community does a great job of looking out for the interests of US physicians. It's extremely difficult for a foreign physician to get licensed in the US -- they not only have to pass the US licensing exams, they have to go back practically to the beginning of their education and complete a US medical residency (alongside the people who just graduated from medical school), regardless of how long or how successfully they've been practicing in their home country. It's much quicker, cheaper, and easier to retrain as an RN, and the average salary of a US RN is still much better than what the physicians from most other countries were used to in their home countries -- so it's a "win-win" for the foreign physicians (except for that unfortunate "embarrassed to be a nurse" part ... ).

I just wish TPTB in nursing did half as good a job of protecting the interests of US nurses ...

Wow seems like Florida really has an nurse shortage ,but it is good that the opportunity is there for the Docs from other countries can work in healthcare field again

It would be a waste of talent not to use these foreign trained men and women in some capacity. I can only imagine what challenges they face as immigrants.