Foreign recruitment of nurses-thoughts?

NancyRN · Oct 6, 2002

So does a nurse only care if she's paid to care? There's a name for people who offer "love" in exchange for money.

If you're a nurse, you care about other nurses as well as the patients who are paying you. If conditions for nursing are deplorable, they're deplorable. It doesn't matter where you're from.

By the way, I consider myself to be a Native American because I was BORN here. Freedom of Speech is the right to take an unpopular stance and not be imprisoned for taking it.

It may be unpopular to be a Patriot, but a Patriot I am. It's interesting that people who boast about being tolerant are the most intolerant of Free Speech.

-jt · Oct 6, 2002

It has nothing to do with who cares more about whom. Its nothing against those nurses who are recruited.

People have the right to work wherever they want to. If we want to live in Europe & find work there thats fine. If a foreigner wants to live here & find work here that should be fine too. After all, that IS how we all got here to begin with.

Theres nothing wrong with people coming here from other countries & finding employment.

Whats wrong is when they are lured here from places where there are already not enough people with their skills & when their own countries need them. Whats wrong is that they are being lured from these places SOLELY for the benefit of the US hospital industry - regardless of their own countries needs - just so our rich hospital industry can AVOID spending the money to fix the problems that are keeping its own local people from working in these jobs.

Whats wrong is that these recruits will be obligated (forced)

to work under the unacceptable conditions that we are refusing to work under. Whats wrong is if its unsafe for us, its unsafe for all, yet these nurses will be made to bear it all,no matter how unsafe,if they dont want to be sent back.

Whats wrong is that instead of being made to repair these conditions, these employers have gone to Congress & are pushing for a law that will reduce the strict qualifications & credential requirements of these recruits & allow the employers to bring in hundreds of thousands more - without limit.

And then the pressure to spend the money to fix the problems will be off them & they will NEVER have to fix anything because they will have enough of those unsuspecting foreign nurses stuck there - forced to work for those inadequate wages, poor benefits, & in those unsafe conditions - & to keep quiet about it & put up with it - under threat of loss of visa. Thats whats wrong.

We have American RNs refusing to work in jobs because they feel the working conditions are unsafe & the job does not compensate them well enough. Then we have RNs employers refusing to make the needed improvements & instead just going across the ocean to bring back people who will for various reasons be obligated to work in those same unacceptable

conditions. We also have farm owners who cant find local people to work their farms because of unsafe conditions and poor compensation. So the farm owners drive across the border to bring back people who will for various reasons work under those same unacceptable conditions.

What is the difference between these employers? They are both exploiting people to avoid spending an extra buck - while they fill their own pockets with the profit.

And both employers are thumbing their noses at the American workers who are demanding better from them. Its wrong & its disgraceful.

Foreign recruitment should occur only in other countries that have a surplus of RNs & should not be the main avenue for staffing American hospitals. Hospital administrators need to be looking in the mirror - not overseas. The focus needs to be on our employers making the needed improvments to make our job safe & properly compensated for. Foreign recruitment should not be used as an alternative to doing that.

But with this bill in Congress, that cheaper alternative is exactly what the American Hospital Association is hoping for.

sjoe · Oct 6, 2002

jt--exactly right, once again.

-jt · Oct 6, 2002

>

Healthyone & GlobalRN - on these points you are both right.

And we can all do both of them

Find your representative at http://www.Congress.org

copy, paste & email:

"Message to Congress

Immigration and the Nursing Workforce

I believe the U. S. healthcare industry has failed to maintain a work environment that is conducive to safe, quality nursing practice and that retains experienced U. S. nurses within patient care. I support continuation of the CURRENT certification process to apply to all foreign-educated health care workers regardless of their visa or other entry status. I OPPOSE efforts to exempt foreign-educated nurses from current H-1B visa program requirements. Over-reliance on foreign-educated nurses serves only to postpone efforts required to address the needs of the U.S. nursing workforce. The cause of instability in the US nursing workforce must be addressed - namely, the unacceptable working conditions and inadequate compensation which are driving US nurses from the job and keeping them away.

The practice of changing immigration law to facilitate the use of foreign-educated nurses is a short-term solution that serves ONLY the interests of the hospital industry, NOT the interests of patients, domestic nurses, or foreign-educated nurses.

The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 requires that all foreign health care professionals, except physicians, must be certified by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) or another independent, government-certified organization qualified to issue credentials. The certification process verifies that the foreign health care worker's education, training, or experience meets all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements for entry into the United States. In addition, any foreign license submitted must be validated as authentic and unencumbered. If the health care worker is a registered nurse (RN), the nurse must have passed an examination testing both nursing skill and English language proficiency. Please OPPOSE attempts to diminish these standards.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) condemns the practice of recruiting nurses from countries with their own nursing shortage, and so do I.

Foreign-educated nurses brought into the United States tend to be placed in jobs with the same unacceptable working conditions that US RNs are refusing, but with the expectation that these nurses, as temporary residents and foreigners, would not be in a position to complain. I abhor this exploitation of nurses.

Please vote to oppose efforts to exempt foreign-educated nurses from current H-1B visa program requirements so that our employers must begin to create real, long term solutions to the problems in our workplaces, rather than using increased recruitment of foreign nurses as an alternative to making the needed improvements."

Sincerely,

healthyone · Oct 6, 2002

globalRN,

you're the whiner and complainer. i speak my mind with full conviction as to my arguements. i don't just backlash when something affects me personally. i am socially conscious and involved and get involved in many issues...not just the ones that affect my people or me personally--that's your area. i care about my patients...if i only wanted to care for other nurses' welfare i would have gone into law or administration, not nursing. in my training, caring for co-workers is part of the total picture of caring. not the forefront. i have no idea what you received (or interpreted) from your training.

i'm very involved in the well being of people in general. from your responses i doubt you can say the same. you seem selfish and unconcerned about the bigger picture and indifferent to the fact that americans really would benefit more from their own people caring for them primarily and that foreigned trained nurses should not get more of a silver spoon that a native. i'm so embarrased for you that you find that hard to comprehend.

i am part Native myself, and can definitely speak about the ethnic perspective. you mentioned that america really belongs to the natives and immigrants. how ignorant of you to delete the huge contributions of africans to this country, brought here unwillingly several hundred years ago. your perspective is so limited, globalRN. it would probably help you a little to research more intelligently on subjects that you debate so hotly!

nurses like you scare me...rather, people like you scare me. you just argue on and on and don't stop because someone has offended you. you don't really care about the issue at all, just that your bee is in a bonnet because other people may not be impressed with the care your people give in a GENERAL SENSE. if you don't like it why don't you start workshops on how to change the perception? there...that's a good pat answer for you.

as for your harping on an on about how to help myself...God! i have already explained to you in a simple way, i am not interested in your patronizing career recommendations. including my pending nursing degree, i have 3 health professions under my belt. i hardly think i need your help in the area of self-sufficiency. i only used myself as an example to make a point that my experience is like many others'. you must of missed that point with your ranting and raving. Is that similar to the 'wonderful' care you were referring to when working with your patients--hammer them down and patronize them until they feel like they couldn't survive with your self-reported 'great nursing care'. God, i hope no one i know ends up on your tours anytime soon, global.

in a way, i'm glad you interacted with me on this bb...it will give you a chance to see yourself through someone else's eyes. it doesn't really seem to me that you give yourself a chance to do that in your everyday practise. if you had, i don't think you would have missed the boat so completely on this issue.

NancyRN · Oct 6, 2002

Thank you, jt for an eloquent message. I've sent it to my Congressman in Ohio!

Sleepyeyes · Oct 6, 2002

Ditto jt, from sunny (overworked, underpaid, understaffed) FL :)

pfleige · Oct 6, 2002

pfleige:

You are in violation of allnurses posting rules and repetative posting of your website is being removed from posts that are not related.

Please cease or your posting priveleges will be revoked, an action we really don't want to take.

sjoe · Oct 7, 2002

Note to healthy and global--you seem to be unfamiliar with the "ignore" feature on this BB. If there is someone whose posts you do NOT wish to read, simply go to any one of these posts, click on "profile" and make the selection that puts them on your ignore list. Magically, you'll not be tormented with ANY of this person's posts in the future.

Give it a try and give the rest of us a break!

-jt · Oct 7, 2002

>Ditto from sunny (overworked, underpaid, understaffed) FL >

Good for you guys! But dont thank me. I didnt compose it. I just copied & pasted from the sample on the ANA websites governmental affairs page. Its what its there for & Ive made much use of it myself. I hope more RNs do too instead of just complaining

Thanks

globalRN · Oct 7, 2002

sjoe, thank you for your welcome but belated suggestion.

After healthyone's 2nd rant on this thread,

I had already quarantined her and her rabid ranting via the 'ignore' button.

I am disappointed that when foreign nurses were used as scapegoats, or when their collective character/background were impugned there was very little response from this board.

-jt · Oct 8, 2002

Little response?? Are you kidding? Did you see the responses on this topic over at the Nursing Activism/Politics page??? 4 pages & 77 responses already - most not objecting to the nurses who are recruited, just objecting to the practice of foreign recruitment as a way for the hospitals to avoid spending the money to make the improvements in the workplace that are needed to attract US RNs back to the job.

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=23525