Survey: Should nurses from other countries be recruited to aid in the nursing shortag

chronicTX · Jun 12, 2004

Listen foreign nurses still contribute to the US economy unlike outsourcing and labor export. American nurses are oppressed because there are powerful forces that are willfully exerting this oppression AND the resources available to nurses currently are unable to counterbalance such forces.
I have NO problem with international recruitment, why shouldn't people from countries where the U.S. consistently supports sweatshops and substandard living conditions by corporate exploitation not have the opportunity to flourish ?

:kiss exactly! thanks for the vote of confidence...

lee1 · Jun 12, 2004

It's interesting to know that some posts are against foreign nurses but one has to know what is the real issue concerning the "nursing shortage."
In my previous post, I said and I am saying it again. FOREIGN NURSES ARE NOT TAKING AWAY YOUR JOBS. IT IS THE KIND OF CORPORATE HEALTH SYSTEM YOU HAVE THAT GIVES US THE JOBS!
STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT FOREIGN NURSES GOING TO AMERICA AND START COMPLAINING ABOUT THE KIND OF CORPORATE HEALTH SYSTEM YOU HAVE. And do something about it. Assert your right as nurses who want to have a favorable working conditions, no overtime and for higher pay. Instead most leave the nursing profession for another career where the pay is better and the condition is comfortable. By doing this, hospitals will hire foreign nurses to fill the gaps thereby leaving no incentives to improve the "working condition" to entice American nurses to come back. Because they know foreign nurses are willing to work on "working conditions" not favorable to American nurses.
You can not blame us, foreign nurses, for wanting to have the American dream. Even if it takes to work overtime, work on night shifts, etc just to achieve that dream. Don't look on us but look on your employers and ask why.

NO, I don't blame you for a bad system. We are just saying that we really don't need foreign nurses and that the ability of the hospitals to play this game for the last 35 years is deplorable. There are plenty of our own nurses who would probably come back to the hospitals if the staffing ratios, salaries and working conditions improved. How does it get changed??? Not very easy when for SOME reason hospital lobbies have enormous amounts of money to use to keep salaries as low as they will go and THAT is the game.

I would like to make my politicians be held accountable as to where exactly my taxpayor money and yours goes. That is another dream it seems. Although we know that almost every hospital gets federal and state monies or they would not be able to exist. The other problem seems to be the hotel model (you know rip up the lobby floor at least 2x/year, etc., and oh, don't forget that patients are now clients and patient satisfaction means everything), they like to follow as that is a trick to entice patients to use their facility rather than someone else although we all know that it is REALLY where your MD and insurance companies demand that you go that counts. How much money is your hospital spending to look better, seem better but yet their nursing/pt ratios are jepordized. Who allows these decisions is another problem.

lcbaird · Jun 15, 2004

This month's survey Question:
Should nurses from other countries be recruited to aid in the nursing shortage?
Please take a minute to take answer our survey and please feel free to reply to this topic to post any comments that you may have on the topic.

There are nursing shortages in other countries also and we should not try to take nurses away from their homes. Also, there are differences in nursing training throughout the world. Some nurses would be able to adjust to our health care system and our roles and many others would not. Same old story

"a nurse is a nurse is a nurse". Not really.

swhyte · Jun 16, 2004

I am a Canadian RN. It is my intention to re-locate to the US. Not just to gain employment but to take a break from the cold. I am relocating to somewhere warm and may just find myself a job. Reading some of the responses

from the survey makes me want to re-consider relocating and looking for employment there. Although I respect your stance on the employment of overseas nurses. I have to think really hard. What do most of you nurses have against overseas nurses. We can learn so much from you guys and you can also learn about us. Nursing is universal we are one common denominator----Family focus and patient centred care..RIGHT? so whats so wrong about that ?

swhyte.Toronto, Canada

suzanne4, RN · Jun 16, 2004

Thank you for posting. I definitely have the same feelings as you.

And I am an American nurse.

:balloons:

menaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa · Jun 16, 2004

what about nurses who are from different countries like arabian countries?

all of us working for the same purposes, so, what is the problem

Sheri257 · Jun 17, 2004

Reading some of the responses from the survey makes me want to re-consider relocating and looking for employment there.

This poll is far from scientific. And, even if a lot of nurses feel that way, who cares? As much as I enjoy this board, I would never let it influence my own personal decisions.

Just as an example, if you read this board for any length of time, you'd think that every nurse on the planet is completely miserable. Of course, the nurses I know in real life aren't.

Sometimes you have to take this stuff with a grain of salt. Come to America. I voted for foreign nurses. Not all of us are closed minded.

:chuckle

Destinystar · Jun 17, 2004

:angryfire nurses here are being denied positions in preference to lower paid ip's from foreign countries. i dont think that a health care organization should be allowed to give a foreign nurse a postion if there is a us citizen who is willing to take it. it has brought the us nurses down. like employers out here will always hire a foreign nurse willing to be paid terrible wages over a us nurse who wants a fair wage. in california it is a major factor for nurses not wanting to work in the field anymore. employers here are so brazen to say that they prefer a foreign nurse to a us nurse because they are easier to push around, will work extra shifts, etc. many of the foreign nurses have complained about their poor treatment, wages, etc. but state they are forced to put up with it to maintain their sponsorship for a work permit. not there cause they want to be their. refuse to be a voice in improving working conditions.

suzanne4, RN · Jun 17, 2004

You need to read up on your facts first...............There are no more temporary work permits being issued to nurses. The are no longer being sponsored for a work permit. The only way that they can legally work in the US is with a green card, as a permanent resident, or with a NAFTA TN Visa if they are a citizen of Canada or Mexico. Either way, eveyone must now pass the full set of English exams and go thru the Visa Screen process.

Before, many of the nurses never even passed TOEFL. But those things have changed and now the nurses' English skills must be equivalent to those of a native speaker.

Any nurse in the US on an H1-B visa is not getting it renewed. They will either have to complete the requirements for a green card or they will have to leave the country.

Green card rulings state that the nurse must get equal pay............temporary visas do not require this................

Rep · Jun 17, 2004

Sometimes you have to take this stuff with a grain of salt. Come to America. I voted for foreign nurses. Not all of us are closed minded.

:chuckle

Yeah, I agree with you. Thank you! :)

Nemhain · Jun 17, 2004

No, I don't think we should recruit them, especially nurses from countries who already have a shortage (South Africa).

Rep · Jun 17, 2004

:angryfire nurses here are being denied positions in preference to lower paid ip's from foreign countries. i dont think that a health care organization should be allowed to give a foreign nurse a postion if there is a us citizen who is willing to take it. it has brought the us nurses down. like employers out here will always hire a foreign nurse willing to be paid terrible wages over a us nurse who wants a fair wage. in california it is a major factor for nurses not wanting to work in the field anymore. employers here are so brazen to say that they prefer a foreign nurse to a us nurse because they are easier to push around, will work extra shifts, etc. many of the foreign nurses have complained about their poor treatment, wages, etc. but state they are forced to put up with it to maintain their sponsorship for a work permit. not there cause they want to be their. refuse to be a voice in improving working conditions.

you can say "no" anytime but check your facts before you become so paranoid of foreign nurses. foreign nurses coming to america are on immigrant visa. which means they have the same equal rights as that of the americans except the right to vote. . therefore they are being paid according to what your labor laws stipulate. they have the voice to complain because they are legal residents unlike those who enter the us illegally. if you think these nurses working overtime, it is not they are forced but it is their willingness to take the job/shift when others are just thinking of a quiet evening ahead. now, you say who will take that shift? it's the foreign nurses!