Bringing nurses into Canada

[nursingbc]

Our company is looking at bringing nurses into Canada. I am wondering if there are any nurses who have done and what their experience was. What were some of the positive things and what were some of the negative things?

[tarahope]

I don't think recruit foreign nurses means unethical. Being a foreign nurse and work in US, I can help patients more in terms of culture and language; not all pts can speak English. An old Chinese female pt has told one of my co-workers that she was so scared coz' there was a "man" who cannot speak her language and took off her pants at night---the night shift CNA tried to change her diaper. Yet, Chinese is shy to let a stranger especially male to do so.

The problem is the nurses' quality. In my experience, P contry's nurses are smart, but some of them are quite lazy. Just a few of them are fine. For foreign nurses, sign a contract is needed. If their performance is good, they'll have opportunities to settle down in this country.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Recruiting foreign nurses is unethical in the sense that it removes them from the health care system in their own countries who are already struggling with inadequate health care human resources. The primary basis for ethical choice is to do no harm. If the country has one hundred nurses but requires two hundred, and Canada swoops in to take 20 of these nurses away, they're harming the country of origin, intentionally or unintentionally. (The Philippines is a special case, since they have been training nurses for export for many years and seem not to value the nurses they create.)

The ethical practice of nursing encompasses many components and is often a stumbling block for nurses educated outside North America, since values are somewhat different to each culture. What might seem completely acceptable to one nurse could be considered an absolute taboo to another. That explains why there is an ethics component to the substantially-equivalent competency assessment adopted by five Canadian provinces and why questions of an ethical nature appear with significant frequency on the CRNE.

[fmog]

The Philippines may have an overflowing of nurses and they may seek opportunities in other countries, but that doesn't make us less of a person or a nurse. As stated by other moderators in this forum, let us treat each other with respect. Let us watch our every word or statement as this may hurt another person. Perhaps you're right that we are not being valued as much as you are being valued in your government. But does that also include being undermined by fellow nurses? You may have lived in a better environment and studied in bigger and hi-tech institutions but that never meant you are better nurses than we are. We nurses in the Philippines are as determined, caring and skillfull as you are. We were just deprived of better facilities and resources to learn. But despite that fact, we still managed to make an impression in the world. You may brand us with a lot of things but the fact that our services are being demanded all over the world proved the quality of our service. I meant no offense, but if you don't want competition from other countries you might as well prove your worth in your own country. Not to us who never meant to step on anybody but is just striving to help those who are need (patients and our starving families).

[5cats]

the philippines may have an overflowing of nurses and they may seek opportunities in other countries, but that doesn't make us less of a person or a nurse.

nobody is saying this, at least i cannot see this.

as stated by other moderators in this forum, let us treat each other with respect. let us watch our every word or statement as this may hurt another person. perhaps you're right that we are not being valued as much as you are being valued in your government. but does that also include being undermined by fellow nurses?

please give an example nobody here is getting undermined.

you may have lived in a better environment and studied in bigger and hi-tech institutions but that never meant you are better nurses than we are.

please state where you are getting this impression.

we nurses in the philippines are as determined, caring and skillfull as you are. we were just deprived of better facilities and resources to learn. but despite that fact, we still managed to make an impression in the world. you may brand us with a lot of things but the fact that our services are being demanded all over the world proved the quality of our service.

where did you get branded?

i meant no offense, but if you don't want competition from other countries you might as well prove your worth in your own country. not to us who never meant to step on anybody but is just striving to help those who are need (patients and our starving families).

i actually find your post offensive, because i cannot see any indication for your harsh answer, the statement in janfrn post was only that there is an oversupply of nurses, what makes the philippines somewhat special. and in her opinion the philippines don't seem to value their own nurses so much. that's probably from the info we are getting here, like bad payment, schools that are admitting way to many students to make money, forced volunteer work where people actually are paying for it, instead of being paid. just to name some examples.

i do know we had similar threads going bad before, and i don't know if there are misunderstandings because of cultural differencies or why.

so if you could explain that would be helpful

thank you

5cats

[canadiangradschoolrn]

5CATS Kudos to you. Well said

What is happening here is the complexity of international workforce migration. It entails a lot. Even as you can see. To really understand this tread. It will be much better to read all the posts.

As I have said earlier. Internationally Educated Nurses who are already residing in destination countries need much support, we shouldnt be recruting more nurse due to the ethics of brain drain, we should be helping the nurses in destination countries integrate more into the system.

The case of philippines is also complex. Philippines have long trained nurses for export internationally. Even now, some doctors in the Philippines are training as nurses. In return the government gets an economical boost from the remittances sent by Philippine nurses. However, lately the power of remittances in alleviating poverty has been much debated. Also, the ethics of brain drain applies to the Philippines as now it is currently experiencing a shortage of health care professionals.

Internationally Educated Nurses have diverse strengths with a wealth of experience. However, they need a good support upon arrival in their destination countries. International recruitment of nurses is unethical. As Jan has said, it rubs donor countries of their health care professionals. Countries with shortage of nurses should find internal solutions to workforce issues such as increasing capacity for nursing students, addressing retention issues.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

I'm a Canadian trained nurse who worked in the USA, then came back about 7 months ago. Immigration and customs and finding a job were all minimal paperwork (with the exception of importing a car.) The RN Board did not answer phone calls or return them. They also required an FBI criminal record check, and a Canadian one. The FBI paperwork I found out was going to take a few months at least.

Anyway, if I can answer any questions...

[nikkitan]

hello everyone. i would like to ask more about quebec. are there a lot of filipino nurses there? is it true that quebec is hiring nurses who have no experience and no ielts required? as long as they get to learn french? if so, can anyone give me any advice about the 40 days integration? your advices would mean a lot to me. thank you.