60 Minutes Foreign nurse recruiting

ruffhouser · Jun 10, 2002

I would definately have a problem with the situation described by prn nurse. I feel that our agencies need to see what can be done to recruit and retain nurses here. There money will be much better spent. They spend all of this money to bring these nurses over. Will they be worth the investment over the long run? Or will they be a liability? Many of them cannot speak English very well. Or if they do, one cannot understand them. Will there be legal problems if they do not have a good working knowledge of our language? What about charting?

I had my son in the ED a couple of years ago to have a finger sutured. His nurse was a Filipina. Sweet lady, but I couldn't understand a word she said. At least I knew how to take care of my son once we got home in spite of not being able to understand her. I felt sorry for her other patients though. Her patient teaching must have been a nightmare for them.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Jun 10, 2002

Recruitment from other countries such as south africa is unethical and down right dispicable. My problem with all of this is, if there isnt money to raise salaries here how do they justify bringing nurses from those countries along with their whole families, supplying their visa's, rent, all moving expenses, bonuses, and who knows what else.

Also, according to their statistics,, 1in 5 people in south africa are HIV positive. What are the chances that these nurses, with no adequate precations arent actually exposed and just havent converted yet. Do we get to pay the bill for their care then, or perhaps is that part of their goal, to get better medical care in the states by bringing their positive family members along with them. I'm not bashing them for wanting proper care, but quit honestly we have enough here to take care of without bringing in others to drain our already shaky health system.

Considering their 1 to 5 ratio, what are the chances that at least half of those coming in will be either HIV or Hep pos. and how will that affect those treated in our hospitals?

Sleepyeyes · Jun 10, 2002

Originally posted by mattsmom81
I wish they would have spent more time focusing on the reasons behind the shortage and appropriate solutions. IMO they spent way too much time focusing on foreign recruitment.

I agree. Concurrently there was an article in our newspaper about nurses being recruited with hiring bonuses. (It's here on a thread somewhere....) I wrote to the editor and outlined the problems as briefly as possible.

We really need to educate the public here, folks. I keep seeing articles on the teacher shortage, and nothing appropriate on the nursing shortage.

I must be missing something. Who runs the media, anyhow? more suits?

:confused:

EricaCCRN · Jun 10, 2002

I too was disgusted at the 60 minutes report. It seems that the liberal media will take any opportunity to bash the big bad Americans. Instead of warning the public on how bad conditions are, the reasons for these conditions, whose to blame for them, and examining possible solutions, we were inundated with pity for the third world countries losing their RNs to us. Too bad for them. I pity their citizens but these people just want a better life. If CBS really wanted a "cause" then they should have looked at the "slave" labor that the imported nurses are held to as well as their own good ol' citizens...US!! Working conditions are horrendous and what do they do? Point out that S Africa has 10:1 nurse patient ratios. What about here where some floor chicks (and guys) have 15 patients? This burns me:( !!! And I will now go don me flame retardant suit since I was verbally bashed on another site for saying that foreign recruitment is bad for us.

susanmary · Jun 10, 2002

ERICACCRN -- couldn't have said it better myself. The focus on "60 Minutes" was how the US was luring away South African Nurses to fill our own shortages. Yes, this is unethical. A better show would have been on nursing in 2002 -- the nursing shortage -- why there is a nursing shortage. I'm signing off this post now & am going to the "60 Minutes" website to suggest this. Hospitals are spending millions recruing foreign nurses who commit for TWO years -- let's recruit our citizens into nursing by making it a desirable profession (once again). Short term incentives don't work. Safe staffing, adequate resources, reasonable benefits -- insurance, sick time, vacation time, available/affordable child care, good tuition reimbursement, good pensions -- these will bolster recruitment AND retention.

Good thoughts to you all.

Sue:nurse:

mattsmom81 · Jun 10, 2002

Great idea, Sue! Let's all of us bombard the 60 minute website with our opinions of their show and how they SHOULD BE coverin the nursing shortage!

grazie`parknh · Jun 10, 2002

Of course Hospitals are recruiting overseas. That is where they will find "Good Girls" who will do exactly as they are told.

They don't want nurses they want obedience.

live4today, RN · Jun 10, 2002

Originally posted by NRSKarenRN
June 9, 7 p.m. ET/PT

NURSING SHORTAGE - As over 120,000 nurse positions go unfilled in the U.S., recruiters must seek nurses in countries like South Africa, which can ill afford to lose them. Lesley Stahl reports.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13502.shtml

Boy, I wish I could get on national television and tell the world that many nurses are here and ready to work IF ONLY the hospitals would STOP overlooking us! I'm a nurse who wants to return to nursing, AND I even speak English already! Duh! :rolleyes:

EricaCCRN · Jun 11, 2002

These posts are great. Glad to see I am not the only one who feels this way.

You are right about the number of nurses here that are not practicing due to the shit that we are force fed.

I also agree with the comment made about the foreigners only being a "quick fix" with their two year committment.

Absolutely right about the obedience stuff. They can hold these foreign nurses over a barrell with the threats of deprotation if they rock the boat (aka UNIONIZE). I have worked with many of these nurses (mostly Phillipino) who take whatever management dishes out & act as the little snitches too in order to suck up.

prn nurse · Jun 11, 2002

The Filipino nurses I work with are here to stay. They are not here for a couple of years. Most have been here ten years or more and have brought their children, spouses, cousins , brothers and sisters over also. Most came alone and within two years brought the spouse and kids over. If the spouse is a nurse also, they came at the same time. When their parents come to visit, pop always has chest pain during his visit , and the U.S. taxpayer foots the bill for his by-pass operation. I've seen so many Filipino moms and pops recovering from their U.S. taxpayer surgeries, I couldn't begin to count them. When you hear someone is coming for a visit, you know there is a surgery on their agenda.

And don't dare complain about one of them....any criticism is circulated amongst them and it might take a year, but they will write you up and harass you until you are out of there. In my city, there are three large hospitals. Quite a few hold down full time jobs in two hospitals. And most have relatives working in the same hospital or in one of the other hospitals. Anything that happens in one hospital, they call their relatives, and everyone that is Filipino knows what is going on in the other hospitals. They don't advertise this. You might be working with a nurses' spouse or sister, and they won't bother to inform you.

Knowledge is power.

fergus51 · Jun 11, 2002

There was an article in the paper where the BC nurses union was called racist and regressive for putting a stop to overseas recruitment right now. The only reason they have is over 300 members have had their jobs changed or eliminated with the budget cuts, so they want to make sure nurses already working here get first dibs on the vacant jobs. Anyone want to tell me how that's regressive or racist (especially considering there are visible minorities among the 300 whose jobs the union is protecting)?

Peeps Mcarthur · Jun 11, 2002

Because racism sells papers and companies that own hospitals also own newspapers.

Integrity in journalism is a thing of the past.