Hot topic of the day: Hospitals in U.S are actually recruting..

SuzzieZ · Dec 25, 2008

"Sory , this is my first post , pls ignore above post , i dont know how to do formatting"

" pinoyNP wrote: Just as a follow-up to the situation on hospitals in SE Michigan and my previous posts on foreign nurse recruitment. I just found out that my hospital has actually recruited nurses overseas. A group of ICU nurses from the UK and Australia will start working in our unit in the next few weeks. Don't know the detail as to how their visas were processed and how long it took to go through but the Management Team actually went to the aforementioned countries and did the recruitment in person. These nurses are experienced from what we're told. I guess I'm out of the loop in terms of nursing issues at work since I am not part of the nursing department anymore. "

Could you provide us more information on SE Michigna ?

I heard same news and it's highly possible that there is an alternative way to fill up the nursing shortage in U.S.

Friend of mine lost her job but refused to move to other part of the States where there are many vacancy unfilled . ( simply she's been there for years and own house and family ).

It's possible that those nurses who refuse to relocate will continue to be un-employed.

Any comments pls !!

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Dec 25, 2008

As many know, Michigan's economy sucks while 2 of the Big Three Auto Makers are on the verge of bankruptcy. However, the situation with the Big Three has been going on for years. The biggest employer in SE Michigan was the auto industry for many years, however, the Healthcare Industry seems to have taken over the top spot in the last year or so as many plants closed. Michigan hospitals were still agressively hiring until this last year as some hospitals saw a decline in admissions from their insured patient base.

I posted the above quote as I have previously been in agreement with others in this forum that there are no more foreign nurses coming to the US of late. That is attributed to retrogression, of course. During a down time at work, I was sitting around staff nurses when the topic of new foreign nurses coming to work on our unit was brought up by one of the RN's. I got into the conversation and was told that the nurses were coming from the UK and Australia. It was apparent that the staff nurses were aware of this development for a while now. Our hospital have sponsored Filipino nurses in the past and because Detroit shares a border with our northern neighbor, many Canadian nurses staff our hospitals here through the TN1 Visa. I am a nurse practitioner in that unit, thus, I am not privy to meetings about RN staffing and nursing issues so that's why I said I was out of the loop on this one.

I have been unable to talk to the Unit's Manager. One of the Assistant Managers was available and I did talk to this person who said that indeed these foreign nurses are starting soon. From what I was told, the nurses have Visas (not clarified to me what they were) and have been sponsored as far as two years back and have now received their visas. I wonder about that time frame as I would assume some may have waited much longer than two years. They are ICU nurses in their home countries and were hired based on that qualification. I questioned why internal hiring was not done as many floor nurses would be willing to fill vacant ICU staff nurse positions, however, the idea was it's easier to train nurses who are already familiar with ICU routines. There apparently weren't enough external applicants who have ICU experience. Be aware that our SICU is a high volume unit with trauma, multi-organ transplant, open heart, and vascular patients with high acuity. Many nurses come to gain experience only to leave a year or so later when they get admitted to Nurse Anesthesia programs in and out of the state.

It seems like the ball was already rolling for these nurses at one time before more economic woes began to happen in the area. That must explain why they were able to get through the visa processing but that is just my speculation. I would be glad to talk to more authoritative people about this at work in the next few weeks. I have no problem with foreign nurses coming. I was foreign nurse at one time too. But I agree that local RN's who have lost their jobs should consider relocating to areas where the job openings are still available. I think most areas of the country are still hiring especially for experienced nurse positions. Michigan with it's cold winter climate may not be too attractive to most RN's but we have great hospitals here and I am very happy with the hospital I work for. I love the diverse work force, the challenging patient cases, and the teaching hospital environment.

I normally would be focused on the Christmas holiday instead of being online but thought I'd respond to the post today. At any rate, Happy Holidays to all.

allnurses Guide · Dec 25, 2008

Hmm.. only makes sense if they are on H1B visas. There are still no visas for people processing from 2 years ago. They may be eligible for the H1B if they have specialist ICU training and/or experience. Or of course, the Aussies could be on E3 visas.

Hushdawg · Dec 27, 2008

I've seen this in the Philippines too, there are hospitals actively recruiting from among the students of certain nursing schools promising that if the nurses-to-be sign contracts that they will have jobs by the time they graduate.

The US hospital staff are also headhunting in hospitals here in the Philippines and filling heads with promises that they really should not be making.

That's a huge problem here actually, a lot of empty promises to get the hopes up of nurses who get everything in line and still have to wait for retrogression to be lifted or for the new Schedule 5a visas to be implemented in order to actually move on with their career.

If you American-stationed nurses want to help Filipinos then you should complain about these illegitimate business practices being done by the hospitals you work for.

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Dec 27, 2008

I've seen this in the Philippines too, there are hospitals actively recruiting from among the students of certain nursing schools promising that if the nurses-to-be sign contracts that they will have jobs by the time they graduate.
The US hospital staff are also headhunting in hospitals here in the Philippines and filling heads with promises that they really should not be making.
That's a huge problem here actually, a lot of empty promises to get the hopes up of nurses who get everything in line and still have to wait for retrogression to be lifted or for the new Schedule 5a visas to be implemented in order to actually move on with their career.
If you American-stationed nurses want to help Filipinos then you should complain about these illegitimate business practices being done by the hospitals you work for.

Well, I think it's unfair to say that there is any indication of illegal activity on my hospital's part in hiring the foreign nurses from the UK and Australia. I wouldn't jump to those accusations without knowing the real story behind the matter. I highly doubt that the hospital I work for would violate the law that way.

However, I think it's very irresponsible for recruiters in the Philippines to promise US jobs to students who are not even practicing nurses yet and have not shown that they are qualified to work even in the Philippine setting. Remember that the nurses my hospital hired were experienced ICU nurses.

As far as recruiters head-hunting in hospitals, I don't think the practice is illegal. There are hospitals in the Philippines where the standards compare to US hospitals. Think of St. Luke's, Makati Medical, Philippine Heart Center. I think ICU nurses there would do great in US settings.

The biggest issue is visa availability and with retrogression in place, it takes a long time to get an employement-based immigrant visa petition to get processed. Obviously, there are other ways to go around the matter of foreign nurse recruitment as evidenced by the foreign nurses coming to our facility. Also, note that there are no nurses coming from the Philippines to our facility in this batch.

suzanne4, RN · Jan 1, 2009

Any nurse that is coming over now to the US has been in the process for several years if they are coming under the green card. For the E-3 visa from Australia, it require the BSN or the equivalent as a specialist, usually for the ICU type areas. For the H1-B for those from the UK, this also requires the BSN or significant work experience as an RN in a specialty area. And suspect that these nurses were sponsored or petitioned sometime ago as MI usually will bring over Canadian nurses with the TN Visa and they do not have any waiting to go thru once they have the VSC in hand.

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Also depends on the facility in MI, those that are unionized usually do not permit temporary work visas such as the H1-B, but will permit what is called the Treaty Visa, which is what you see being used by nurses from either Canada or Australia. Those from Mexico are also covered under the TN Visa, just like those from Canada.