Nurses Being brought in from another country

purplemania, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2006

The corp. who owns us contracted with nurses in Kenya for 2 years, then spread them out among various corp hospitals. The first one we got is bright, cheerful and fun to work with, but her skills left a lot to be desired. I have to assess skills on the second nurse this week. Both used to work ICU but neither could start IV's or do many of the skills American nurses are charged with, simply because nurses in other countries do not always have the same level of responsibility as we do. HOWEVER, these ladies are an asset. When our census was low in the summer we had some grumbling because our regular staff was forced to take time off but the contract nurse did not. I don't know the terms of the contracts regarding level of pay, but overall my impression is we have two good nurses, as long as they are placed in the appropriate unit. They are certainly better than new grads!!

glasgow3 · Sep 10, 2006

The corp. who owns us contracted with nurses in Kenya for 2 years, then spread them out among various corp hospitals. When our census was low in the summer we had some grumbling because our regular staff was forced to take time off but the contract nurse did not. I don't know the terms of the contracts regarding level of pay, but overall my impression is we have two good nurses, as long as they are placed in the appropriate unit. They are certainly better than new grads!!

Ahhhhhh I hate those who grumble. Why on earth should citizens of the US, and regular staff/employees at that, become upset when non-citizens/employees continue to earn full paychecks while they must endure a reduction in their hours? How selfish of them. Don't they understand the corporation was FORCED to import those nurses because of the nursing shortage?:uhoh21:

Demonsthenes · Sep 10, 2006

The bringing in of foreign nurses to America has the effect of lowering wages, making nursing employment very tenuous and job security very poor, and lowering working conditions.

This is an example of "Monopoly Capitalism".

What is "Monopoly Capitalism"?

In " Monopoly Capitalism" capital is exported instead of the finished goods of production ( which is the case in true-traditional capitalism).

What is capital? Capital is money, labor, and industry.

Labor can be exported through outsourcing, unjust legal immigration which has the affect of displacing American workers (as in nursing), and illegal immigration.

Our money (capital) is been exported through our current huge governmental accounts deficit. This capital is being exported to China and other countries.

Our industries are being outsourced.

In "true capitalism" finished goods using the native industry and workers are exported using the native country's transportation system.

"Monopoly capitalism" destroys "true capitalsm" which is defined as having "free enterprise" and "competition".

In nursing, of course, the nursing industry is destroying "free enterprise" and "competition" in nursing by importing foreign nurses.

They don't want the "free market" and "free enterprise" for nurses and other workers to work! They want to "monopolize" the labor market!

The affect of "monopoly capitalism" is to impoverish the native citizenry and concentrate political and economic power in a very few entities and individuals.

According to Marxist dogma (I am not a Marxist, I am a mix between a libertarian and a conservative and a liberal) , "monopoly capitalsm" is the last stage of capitalism before the socialist revolution that over turns capitalsim. :nono:

catlady, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2006

I work with Filipina and Indian nurses; other than me sometimes having trouble with their accents, they're fine to work with.

Out of the blue, though, I've had several patients say negative things about the foreign nurses. I've tried to stay out of it, other than to point out that considering they've come to a strange country and have to work in a second language, they've done much more than I could hope to do.

charebec65 · Sep 10, 2006

They are certainly better than new grads!!

:madface: Hmmm..... It was my impression that at some point, ALL of us were new grads.....

ANnot4me · Sep 10, 2006

I moved from the US to New Zealand and I was there a couple of weeks and was doing a neuro assessment on a man who was less than 24-hours post a severe stroke (they thought he was going to die). He could speak, but made little sense. He did not know his name and several other things, but I asked him who the president was and he replied "Of what?" I laughed and apologized and asked him who Prime Minister was and he answered some past PM who I was not familiar with. I then asked him "Where are you right now? What is this place?" He replied "America?" His wife and I laughed and laughed. He then asked me if I was going to the free piss up at the station tonight and I looked puzzled and thought him mad and his wife translated and said they were going to a party with free alcohol on a ranch the night he had the stroke. The wife got a moment of seriously needed levity and we bonded. I'll never forget that man (he lived and made a great recovery). Regardless of the language difficulties, I established a great relationship with the family. I have lots of other similar stories and I must say that I have spoke English all my life and had several weeks of adjustment to the sound of a strong, southern Kiwi accent. For weeks I thought a "doofer" was a trapeze over the bed....

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Sep 10, 2006

I'm just not too concerned about hospitals taking 'stopgap' measures to fix their problems. Are they going to foreign sources to avoid fixing problems and to keep salaries down and working conditions poor? Yes, I think that is an accurate assessment.

However, the longer they DON'T fix their problems, the bigger those problems mount in terms of the relative 'shortage' in that facility: translation - nurses won't work there.

Foreign nurses cannot change that matrix. They couldn't recruit enough if they threw our borders wide open.

So, while I harbor the same general concerns vis a vi: motivations of management, I just think reality doesn't well suit their goals.

In the meantime, the cost/benefit ratio to that foreign nurse to have the opportunity to come here is shifted far in favor of the immigrant than it is towards the goals of management.

~faith,

Timothy.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2006

I'm just not too concerned about hospitals taking 'stopgap' measures to fix their problems. Are they going to foreign sources to avoid fixing problems and to keep salaries down and working conditions poor? Yes, I think that is an accurate assessment.
However, the longer they DON'T fix their problems, the bigger those problems mount in terms of the relative 'shortage' in that facility: translation - nurses won't work there.
Foreign nurses cannot change that matrix. They couldn't recruit enough if they threw our borders wide open.
So, while I harbor the same general concerns vis a vi: motivations of management, I just think reality doesn't well suit their goals.
In the meantime, the cost/benefit ratio to that foreign nurse to have the opportunity to come here is shifted far in favor of the immigrant than it is towards the goals of management.
~faith,
Timothy.

I agree.

edwards1a · Sep 10, 2006

I am a Canadian nurse who works 6 months out of the year in the US. We also get alot of foriegn nurses to work in the remote areas of Canada....there is a language barrier and also they have trouble with the work....they were not told what to expect when they got here...especially the part where they need to work alone with limited doctors and they have a hard time adapting to this....after being brought in they were to write the Canadain boards and have not been able to pass them yet after a 2nd try.....because they were brought in by an agency they make more then the average rn does despite not having passed thier exams...this does not sit well with us.....hope this is not happening in the US...have only worked with travels..US and Canadian and have not had a problem all the nurses I have worked with are great

PANurseRN1 · Sep 10, 2006

MrsCleverclogs: I agree about the language. I'm not native in English myself, but don't have a heavy accent and feel I'm able to communicate fluently (have learnt English since I was 10.) I know there are some "slang words" and abbreviations which may be alien to me, but I'm absorbing new words and am willing to learn. Anyhow, being able to communicate sufficiently is a definite must!

That's not a problem, and I doubt most people would have an issue with this. There's a big problem, however, with nurses from another country who hang together and speak their native language other than at break time. That's rude and only fosters ill feelings among staff.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2006

So what is the solution?

suzy253, RN · Sep 10, 2006

The corp. who owns us contracted with nurses in Kenya for 2 years, then spread them out among various corp hospitals. The first one we got is bright, cheerful and fun to work with, but her skills left a lot to be desired. I have to assess skills on the second nurse this week. Both used to work ICU but neither could start IV's or do many of the skills American nurses are charged with, simply because nurses in other countries do not always have the same level of responsibility as we do. HOWEVER, these ladies are an asset. When our census was low in the summer we had some grumbling because our regular staff was forced to take time off but the contract nurse did not. I don't know the terms of the contracts regarding level of pay, but overall my impression is we have two good nurses, as long as they are placed in the appropriate unit. They are certainly better than new grads!!

"Skills left a lot to be desired".........."assess skills on the second nurse".....

"could not start IV's, etc. etc."

And this is better than a new grad, which as the other poster pointed out that we were all new grads at one time? :rolleyes: :madface: