Nurses Being brought in from another country

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Sep 9, 2006

As far as "cliquesh"-sp?- Yes it might happen, but take the opportunity to broaden your horizons and learn a different culture, and listen to what they have to say.

It's nearly impossible to listen to what they have to say if they're speaking in their native Tagalog language ninety percent of the time. I don't speak Tagalog.

bagladyrn, RN · Sep 9, 2006

Having worked with many nurses from other countries, I have no problem with the nurses themselves. I do see an issue with the hospital administration bringing in large numbers of nurses who are then "bound" to the hospital for a prolonged period of time, usually several years. These types of administration then tend to have an attitude of "if you don't like it there's the door" with local nurses because they have a group of nurses who can't leave. There is a reduced incentive for them to correct any problems that may have caused staffing problems in the first place.

To the international nurses - welcome! and please don't take the frustrations with management as a lack of appreciation for the help you give your fellow staff nurses.

StNeotser, ASN, RN · Sep 9, 2006

Generally, I find Americans welcoming.

I came to the USA seven years ago when I was not a nurse. I came here because I married an American in the UK and after five years of marriage he really wanted to go to the USA and I conceded to go. I got my ADN at a community college, having had something called a HND in Business from the UK that nobody would look at.

Not too sure about promotion prospects but for now I am perfectly happy to be a floor nurse and will think of doing the BSN at another time.

Obviously, being from the UK my first language is English.

There are nurses and also nurses aides from every continent in my facility; Uganda, Kenya, Mongolia, India, Nepal, Bulgaria, Ireland, Mexico, Belize, you get the picture. Many of these people are either still nurses aides but were nurses in their own country or are going through TOEFL or nursing school here.

We get the job done and are generally a happy group. As I said, I find the Americans generally to be a welcoming people.

suzanne4, RN · Sep 9, 2006

Foreign nurses recruited to work in the US must pass the NCLEX-RN exam, just like you, as well as pass a seires of English exams and have a Visa Screen Certificate. They are not brought in over night, it takes more than one year to get them over here. Did your facility just sign a contract to bring them over, or is it in the final stages?

If not already in the final stages, they will be hit with the retorgression and will not be able to get to the US for some time.

Please check out the International Forum here to learn more about what they actually have to go thru. It may be a real eye opener for many of you. Things are very different than many of you imagine.

And take a look at the use of the English language by many of the posters there, it may surprise you, and in a very nice way.............

Please check us out over there, we welcome you. :nurse:

alexmom2006 · Sep 9, 2006

I agree with Mrs Cleverclogs, a good nurse is a good nurse regardless of where they come from & what their color or race are, but if we shld. work as a nurse here we should/must be able to communicate effectively in the language spoken in this country.

With regards to the main topic of foregin nurses, I am a foreign nurse from the Philippines and having worked with nurses of different ethnic background, I find no difference between nurses from other countries and here in the US. There are good ones and bad ones,I have heard racist remarks & attitudes but I just brush them off as firstly I believe that basically-most people are good at heart and people who say racist remarks are just a few bad ones, and secondly, I have no time for narrow minded people who cannot appreciate the help that foreign nurses have brought especially with the ever growing nursing shortage.

I came here to the US in search of a better opportunity, a better life, I come from a poor nation where nurses are paid very low wages. I came here and I work hard, the dollars I earn are well earned. I work and I pay my taxes dutifully, and I am saying this because I want it be known that I did not come here to the US to mooch on the US govt or on anybody.

Overall, my nursing experience here has been great, I have learned to work and enjoy working with all kinds of nurses, and have learned to enjoy our diversity, learning about each others culture, tasting different kinds of food, etc..

So I hope that whoever reads this, whether you are american born or foreign born, you will go to work with an open mind and open heart and if you get to work with a nurse who comes from a different background, look not on your differences but appreciate their presence, appreciate that there is one more nurse to help care for the sick. May God Bless Us All !!!

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · Sep 9, 2006

I have worked with phillipino, india, german, canadian and russian immigrant nurses,... Most All have been excellent nurses spare a few slackers at one facility. These nurses took around 3 years time and effort to come to our country to work. Our own nurses have an average of 2 years at one facility so why would someone from another country stay longer?

KTYRN · Sep 9, 2006

Ok, here's my thought on this today. I think these nurses who are being brought in should be set up with a buddy or something like that. Another nurse who works at the hospital, but not on the same floor. They will already have a preceptor on the floor to train them etc... I think if they are set up with like a buddy or something, they will have someone to vent to, ask questions about the area, help them get to know peolpe etc... This is a first for our hospital and I would really like to see it go over well. I just know if I were going to a different country to work without my family, with different culture etc. I would be a little nervous. Our hospital doesn't have the best reputation as it is, what hospital does anymore? I just would really like this to be a positive thing.

caroladybelle, BSN, RN · Sep 9, 2006

As far as I'm concerned, the behavior of these nurses described in the first post, who've threatened to leave, is inappropriate and very low. I would feel terrible, as one of those Indian nurses, if I knew there were people who wouldn't want me there. It's stressful enough to learn new things, get to know new collegues and speak foreign language... no one would want someone to dislike you in addition to the already existing stress. I feel sorry for these nurses and hope they wouldn't be shown any bad feelings in front of their faces. Of course personalities can clash, but there shouldn't be prejudices before evn meeting these people.
What, by the way, means "clannish"? I googled and got 2 options, either "snobby" or "clinging together". In my case, I won't propably make "clans" with other international (from a different country from mine) nurses, as there are none in my future unit. In the same hospital yes, though.:wink2:

This answer may open a can O'worms and will be guaranteed to tick Madwife, but ...

"IT REALLY DEPENDS ON WHY THE FACILITY HAS TO IMPORT NURSES"

(please don't shoot the messenger, Marie IS right...and it most certainly is not "old chestnut")

My first job out of Nursing School. The place, central Florida. The time, 1995. The pay rate for an RN (w/license) was base pay of $12.50/hr. For that I was the RN for 10-18 patients, many fresh orthopedic surgery patients, most elderly with many comorbidities, some receiving blood products, some with epideral pain infusions. We had CNAs for physical cares and if we were lucky, an LPN for meds for both RNs (covering 20-38 patient's meds). If we were not lucky, we passed our own meds.

Okay, I was young and stupid and thought that was how all nursing was.

There were few benefits. I was paid 40 hours for 36 - since I worked 12 hour shifts. And most of us had regular schedules. The real hard to staff units, had straight M-F 8hr shifts, with no weekends, and paid either 32for 24 or 40for 32 weekenders.

I literally had been working for 18 monthes and 12 as relief charge, before I ever got a raise.

Things started to get ugly in 1996/1996. A new nurse (read MBA) manager was hired. The 36/40 plan, 32/40plan, and 24/32 plans were DCd. All regular schedules were thrown away.

And large numbers of staff from all departments quit.

Unionizing was discussed. The management hurriedly started organizing "information" meetings about "disadvantages" of unions, how management likes talking and working with employees to find answers to problems.

A bigger load of Bulldust has never been seen. Management had never given a darn about anything staff had to say.

Finally the CEO said that if the union came in, he would start importing nurses from the Philippines. The union was voted down......and as all good deeds get punished...he imported them anyway.

They were given special housing, assistance and advantages that the local nurses did not get.

Needless to say they did meet with a great deal of hostility from staff....and fat chance finding anyone from regular staff wanting to really buddy with them.

To make matters worse, this facility is in a very "working class" southern area - there are quite literally members of white supremacy groups with encampments close by, and that have served in local government. And some of them are occasionally patients. There are also many vets - of Vietnam, of Korea, of WWII. Some of them can be a bit curt and rude to Asian staff.

Heck, I receive some grief because I am Jewish, even though I am a local girl and pretty darn pale looking. It is going to be even harder on someone who does not look or act or speak "local".

Unfortunately when a nurse from foreign parts comes over, and meets with this, they often adapt by becoming more clannish/cliquish. I have worked on units, where I heard literally nothing but Tagalog for hours, where I could have literally been a piece of furniture, because I don't speak tagalog. It alienates me....what is it likely to do to the war vet that served in the Pacific.

I also have had trouble understanding nurses from India. Suzanne, nurses may be required to pass the NCLEX but as to speaking understandable English is debatable. The problem worsens when you deal with phone orders - how many times do we get orders or report from someone that we barely understand.

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Madwife, I love ya, honey....but don't dismiss this as old and tired. It is very real problem. And is going to cause problems for international nurses.

I love my fellow travelers even those travel "the long distance" but you have to face certain realities of the situation that you are going into.

As a traveler, even I tick off Florida nurses when on assignment in the winter....."because all travelers get paid more, housing, yadda, yadda". I have always been accepted more up North than down South. And the sad part, is I am usually taking a pay cut to work there.

PS. the unnamed central Florida facility has a "mileage" rule. They will not accept travelers that work within "X" miles.....but they will pay big bucks to import them from across the sea. That should tell you something about their priorities.

Sheri257 · Sep 9, 2006

I take issue with the reasons why nurses are being brought in form other countries.
If a hospital is SO short-staffed that they have to pull from other countries, then what is the reason for the short staffing?

In my area? Low pay. Plain and simple.

Yeah ... the law requires them to pay foreign nurses the same "market" wages they pay U.S. nurses. But the supposed "market" wages the federal government says they have to pay is actually way below market ... at least $3-$4 an hour less.

Few who live here will work for those low wages ... so they have to hire foreign nurses. And, of course, paying lower wages to foreign nurses saves them money.

:typing

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Sep 9, 2006

Please not that old chestnut

Thanks for the compliment (putdown). I'll never reply to these sort of threads again.:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

KTYRN · Sep 9, 2006

I take issue with the reasons why nurses are being brought in form other countries.
If a hospital is SO short-staffed that they have to pull from other countries, then what is the reason for the short staffing?

We are very short staffed. It's getting pretty bad and the attitude on the floors really stinks. People are tired and burnt out. The wages aren't the best, there is really no program in place for retention of staff. We are unionized and that does seem to help somewhat. It's just very frustrating. I finally got into a unit where the nurses actually work together as a team and they really stick together. I love it there, but I know the tension on the other floors is still pretty bad, It gets pretty cut throat. I see what some of the nurses do to each other, I can only imagine what it's going to be like when the nurses from India come in.

ortess1971 · Sep 9, 2006

I am conflicted about this issue...On the one hand, I agree with those who feel that facilities seem to be foolish about treating their existing staff like crap, and then turning around and hiring travelers, foreign or otherwise. They wonder why many of us "newbie nurses" have no loyalty to a hospital and would consider traveling in a freakin' heartbeat. But we have had travelers in our OR, both from the US and abroad, and they have been pleasant to work with and very skilled. Can't really blame them for taking advantage of the oppourtunities, just because the healthcare paperpushers have messed up things.