Help with some research questions: Migration of Mexican Nurses to the USA.

[tanyaalmaguer]

hello, this is tanya from tec de monterrey school of nursing. some of my classmates and i are working in a research about the international migration of mexican nurses to another countries. i was wondering if you could help me answering a few questions about this. i am focusing on united states, and their hospitals. these are very general questions, you can answer them based on your experience working as a nurse in the states, and also with your great experience about this very important issue. thanks!!!!!

1. approximately how many patients a day receive medical attention? (in a regular american hospital)

2. how many of these patients are hispanic?

3. how many of these patients speak only spanish?

4. how many nurses do currently have? (in a certain hospital)

5. how many nurses do you think are needed per patient?

6. do you believe there is a shortage of nurses in the hospital?

7. what percentage of your nurses speaks spanish?

8. do you think an american hospital would you be willing to hire nurses from mexico, who are bilingual and are qualified to do their work as it should be? if yes, why?

9. do you believe there is a difference between the handling care comparing a mexican nurse from an american nurse? if yes which you think are the differences?

10. if given the case, how much money would your hospital be willing to pay for a suitably qualified mexican nurse?

(is their salary the same as an american nurse? differences?)

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

I will give a general answer. Pay is not determined by race, age, sex or religion. That is against the law. Equally qualified nurses should be able to do the same work. I am in Texas, and more and more patients are Hispanic, but we do not hire nurses based on language skills as we have an interpreter service. OUr hospital has about 100 patients per day, but we are small compared to many. So the number will vary depending on the size of the hospital. We have several nurses who have moved here from Mexico and I would be happy for them to care for me or my family.

[Asystole RN]

1. approximately how many patients a day receive medical attention? (in a regular american hospital)

highly depends upon the hospital and the population size/service area of that facility. we're talking a range of 2 a day to 2,000

2. how many of these patients are hispanic?

in north dakota, 4. mesa arizona several hundred.

3. how many of these patients speak only spanish?

very small percentage.

4. how many nurses do currently have? (in a certain hospital)

5. how many nurses do you think are needed per patient?

depends upon acuity.

6. do you believe there is a shortage of nurses in the hospital?

in any given hospital, yes. in general, no.

7. what percentage of your nurses speaks spanish?

i have seen maybe 5% speak fluent, with 30% able to get by with broken spanish.

8. do you think an american hospital would you be willing to hire nurses from mexico, who are bilingual and are qualified to do their work as it should be? if yes, why?

no.

9. do you believe there is a difference between the handling care comparing a mexican nurse from an american nurse? if yes which you think are the differences?

different standards of care depending upon the origins of that mexican nurse. there are "american standard" facilities in mexico and many not so much. having spent a good amount of time in mexican hospitals with a volunteer surgical team i can say the quality is variable.

10. if given the case, how much money would your hospital be willing to pay for a suitably qualified mexican nurse?

(is their salary the same as an american nurse? differences?)

the same.

[LadyAscheRN]

1. approximately how many patients a day receive medical attention? (in a regular american hospital) our hospital services between 1300-1600 patients per day, on average...so i am told

2. how many of these patients are hispanic? i really don't have a way of telling - these numbers are not released to us. personally, i would say probably 1 in 7 or so would identify themselves as hispanic

3. how many of these patients speak only spanish? i get 1 or two patients a week that speak only spanish. now yiddish on the other hand...i get patients that only speak it often

4. how many nurses do currently have? (in a certain hospital)our current nursing staff is 226 rns, according to published literature

5. how many nurses do you think are needed per patient? i personally think it should never be more than 8:1, but our state (ny) has no laws either way

6. do you believe there is a shortage of nurses in the hospital? absolutely not - the "nursing shortage" is a lie of epic proportions. we have grad nurses who have been out of school since last (2009!) fall that are beating down our doors trying to get a job as anything, even taking jobs as cnas and techs to try to get a foot in the door.

7. what percentage of your nurses speaks spanish? about 25% of our nurses speak at least 1 language beyond english

for the last 3 questions, us law prohibits discrimination for employment, hiring, pay and promotions based on race, sex, religion, etc. i think that nursing is all about the person, not the culture behind them, and you can have good nurses and bad nurses that have a similar cultural background.

good luck on your paper.

[caliotter3]

The number of want ads for nursing jobs in my area that specify speaking Spanish as a requirement for consideration for employment gives an indication of the preferential treatment that occurs in the local job market. In spite of this, my employer has anecdotally stated to me that they cannot attract or retain enough Spanish-speaking nurses to service the company's client base.

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

Yeah in a lot of home health agencies they'll pay $1/hr more which when you consider the base pay is quite significant for the same work.

I have been sent to patients houses where Spanish is the primary/only language and I was ill equipped to deal with them.