Cancelling travellers for Foreigners

mattsmom81 · Jul 27, 2002

i think she means the NEA prohibits importation of teachers as a bandaid solution to the 'teacher's shortage'.....and the nursing organizations should do the SAME for NURSES!

I totally agree...but it won't happen til nurses can unite like teachers do.....

thisnurse · Jul 27, 2002

erica...maybe we work at the same place.

our hospital is getting phillipinos

there are going to be a LOT of problems. our pts get angry when they cant understand some of our docs...add nurses to that and there are going to be plenty of unhappy pts.

our staff isnt very happy either. its going to actually make our jobs harder and everyone says they will refuse to orient them based on the language difficulties.

and there are going to be some safety issues as well.

they are getting paid less yes, but they are also getting their housing paid and they wont have to pay taxes on their income.

maybe if the hospitals would do that for US, more american nurses would stay in the profession.

this half baked solution isnt going to be easy for any of us

mattsmom81 · Jul 27, 2002

Erica and Thisnurse, good luck to you as you get your new imports...I agree this is just one more straw adding to the load on our backs.

It isn't a good situation. Maybe it isn't fair for us to blame them, but it's hard not to feel a bit resentful, because they are the 'quick easy fix' management uses to avoid dealing with the shortage. Good luck!

Flo1216 · Jul 27, 2002

We have interpreters for our pts but not enough.

semstr · Jul 27, 2002

Sorry, but it is not true about the teachers.

There are currently (since Sept.2000) 25 Austrian teachers working in New York highschools.

We have too many teachers here and after a language test these young teachers can go and teach in NY for one or two years.

Take care, Renee

EricaCCRN · Jul 27, 2002

I am trying not to blame them. Hey, if they want to better themselves & get their slice of the American Dream, good for them. Should make us proud, you know, that our country is so damn good (insert flag waving here). However, I have gotten burned by this. It is viewed as a bandaid on the nursing shortage, allowing management to avoid adressing problems that are the root causes of the shortage. In addition, the phillipinos I have worked with have been snippy, cliquish, and snitches for management, undermining the cause of their colleauges. So yes, Mattsmom, it is hard not being resentful toward them, too.

I for one, would like to know what is done to ensure these nurses know just what in the hell they are doing, too. After all, they are educated in a third world country where I would think the medical system & technology varies greatly from ours. I don't doubt there are some good ones (as there are shitty American nurses, too) but on the whole, how can we be sure they are up to snuff?

caloy · Sep 10, 2007

It seems that their are a lot of misinformation that is going around. As a new foreign nurse (filipino at that); i just wanted to say a few things.

1. We pay taxes too. (It's being taken out of each of my paychecks; otherwise someone is screwing with me bigtime:lol2:)

2. It's illegal for hospitals to pay us differently from other nurses. I think agencies deduct the cost of airfare and housing from their paychecks (otherwise, people might say they're getting it for FREE. and we don't want others to think that, do we?)

3. I don't know what's your idea of the technology in "third world countries"; but i never had any problems with computers or any machine on the floor. (hey, maybe they just made computers and other technology easier just for us "third-worlders")

4. How do you ensure that we know the hell we are doing? I dunno, maybe the NCLEX? some of us also take the CGFNS? How did your hospital ensure you knew what you were doing. I'll gladly take more tests as long as you take them too.

5. About the language issue. Isn't it more of a question of accent than the use of language itself? Isn't it just as difficult to understand, let's say an australian accent or a brooklyn accent? And not all of us have that accent. When people ask me in which college i studied, they are surprised that i didn't live or study here (and i have been here for less than a year). Plus, we can understand a bit of spanish; which could help with spanish-speaking patients.

6. One thing that makes me happy is that in reading other threads I saw the same number of positive experiences regarding foreign nurses as to negative experiences.

I agree that hiring us foreign nurses is just a bandaid approach. That what is needed is to offer more expansive nursing programs. But while you're complaining of terrible work conditions and higher patient-to-nurse ratio, wouldn't it be nice to think that there is another person beside you that would make the shift a little more bearable ( i mean, while waiting for a solution to the nursing shortage).

Silverdragon102, BSN · Sep 10, 2007

just like to add this thread is an old thread of 2002 and things have changed. Also at the moment foreign nurses not already nursing in the US are affected by retrogression and are stuck waiting for visa to be released.

TazziRN, RN · Sep 10, 2007

Umm......I thought that in order to work here a foreigner has to show that s/he is doing a job that cannot, for whatever reason, be done by a citizen?

Silverdragon102, BSN · Sep 10, 2007

Umm......I thought that in order to work here a foreigner has to show that s/he is doing a job that cannot, for whatever reason, be done by a citizen?

yes there are protocols that employers have to go through before a foreign nurse gets the approval to proceed with the process

woody62, RN · Sep 10, 2007

Umm......I thought that in order to work here a foreigner has to show that s/he is doing a job that cannot, for whatever reason, be done by a citizen?

There is a special classification of visas that allow foreigners into this country because their occupation is needed. Among those classifications are computer programmers, doctors and nurses. Do you really believe there are enough nurses in this country without having to import from outside this country? Ever wonder why, in inner cities hospitals a large portion of the staff is foreign born and educated?

Woody:balloons:

banditrn · Sep 10, 2007

I am currently on assignment in Pittsburgh where one of the large hospitals has just turned down travelers in lieu of their importation of Phillipino nurses. I am VERY opposed to this for a number of reasons. I ask you, would you prefer a foreigner to a US educated RN fluent in ENGLISH???!?!?!? What an outrage. I don't look for any media support on this, though, since it is not "PC".

Well, for this, you can thank Hilary Clinton, for one. I watched a piece on a news show where she asked congress to greatly increase the number of H1B visas that are given out.

These are the visas that are used so that companies can bring in foreign technical workers - including nurses, as I understand. The US companies love these visas, because, as a rule, the foreign workers don't make as much as their US counterpart might.

I also heard that Jon Edwards was in favor of this increase.