Nursing shortages, Baby boomers and the immigrant nurse Part 2
It has been a couple of weeks since we reviewed the ongoing poll about foreign trained nurses in the USA and the trend towards blaming immigrant nurses for taking the jobs which should or should not belong to American Nurses.
The opinion is almost equally divided between the main two options - please review poll thread for further information.
Now what we really should investigate is when we say 'foreign nurses' who are we really referring to? Are we referring to Green Card holder? Or are we referring to foreign born and trained RN's? Is there a difference I hear you contemplating? Well I could predict that this would alter the opinions because those who are finger pointing may well have Green Cards themselves, even though they have probably lived for most of their lives in the USA, or have parents who remain legal Aliens and not US citizens.
Nobody complains about legal Aliens who are not RN's in the same way yet the majority and I say majority loosely because it is my opinion that almost 100% of nurses in the US are either 'legal aliens' or are already 'US Citizens, the exception these days are some Canadians who are still on working visas.
I am pretty sure somebody will prove me wrong, but hey that is the fun of these blog's and hopefully initiates some good conversation in a safe environment.
It is also my belief that the ones who criticize have no to little complaints against British, Canadian, Australian, and any other English as a first language speaking RN? The main complaints seem to be against Filipinos, Indian, and any RN who has an accent. Ok now I will bow my head and wait!
So I leave you with a thought If you are a Green Card Holder who trains in the US to be a RN, are you taking the jobs from the American Nurses or is this acceptable????
I am a Japanese citizen who has done all nursing training and RN licensing in the US while paying almost five times the going rate for coursework. I find myself increasingly frustrated with the seemingly impossible and expensive task of legally acquiring a green card. At the same time, I read of granting comparatively easy amnesty to 12-20 million ILLEGAL aliens who are living and working in the country. Obama's plan to educate US citizens as nurses suffers from lack of classrooms, facilities, available teachers, and time to keep up with the "Boomers".
hi,i was just around and i could not let this topic pass me by like that,me being a green car holder(taking American's jobs)i really don't know how to start,but hope you get my point.one:all this nurses(Rn's with greencards)never get where they are on a silver plate.one this i have to say about american..i think they are slow..and very slow.i'm in east coast..Philadelphia.and all the american i know..have nothing to live for or nothing they wish to acomplish in life.after all..the americans..right.
Two nursing school is not easy..or cheap.so if you have the time,money and effort and the right documents...go ahead,why should we waste out time talking about what we know is the reality..discremination is still alive.white to black,and black to africans from africa e.t.c
all i'm trying to say is..if me and an american apply for a job..they get to be picked first because there name sound amrican...by so saying..let me just be.i din't get here on a silver plate.i wake up 5am 7 days a week just to make ends meet.and i pay taxes..i don;t know what you talking about.
i'm currently working on my LPN and in 2 yrs..i'm coming for those RN amrican jobs.
Let me tell you. I have been in health care for 34 yrs. The past 9 as an ICU RN, previously Nursing adm, QM and first of all a medical technologist for 22+yrs. And I have always worked with "immigrants" and I do not mean that negatively. It has been as enriching and rewarding as frustratiing at times. But mostly a completely positive experience. I guess I am mostly frustrated with poor english skills, otherwise no issues.
So my message...get over it. The immigrants will continue and nursing jobs will dry up as economic crises increase, facilities closing or down sizing.
As an aging baby boomer, I just want a good RN to take care of me when I need it.......I don't care where she grew up.
Oh please spare me the kumbaya and/or American racist/discrimination argument.
Do these discussions have to be plagued with bipolarity?
This is a gray issue.
I am a natural born American, I was not raised with a sliver spoon in my mouth. I worked my way through college, bought my own car, and my own home on my own. I say welcome to the profession if you were educated here in the USA. I say if you're earning your nursing degree out of USA stay in your own country, your nation needs your nursing skills as well. It has been my experience that not all foreign nursing schools share the same standards, I have observed this through practice. That is not to say that all US nursing schools are great, but the schools meet the state's standards through accreditation. Anyone can study for the NCLEX and pass the exam, this does not confer that your nursing school's training is competent or akin to the state's standards.
I also know that here in Southern CA, some hospitals, like Huntington are receiving 600 applications per new graduate nurse position. We are in a recession, so I can see how the immigrant nurse can be made out to be the scapegoat. However, I say buy American--Nationalism does NOT mean racism. If you are naturalized you are an American, if you have a green card, become a citizen if you can. What is wrong with a little national protectionism when the economy is sour? I do not think that their is anything wrong with that. My state's unemployment rate is 16%, BUY AMERICAN!
Finally, there are some people who will make the whole argument out to be a racist thing, I really do not think that it is. If you were a nurse manager hiring a new graduate nurse, would you: A) Hire the nurse educated in the US with English as there first language? B) Hire the nurse educated in the US with English as there second language? C) Hire the nurse educated in Europe, who speaks fluent spanish with english as their second language or D) Hire the nurse educated in China with english as their second language?
Who would you hire out the the 600 applicants? My guess is that you would hire A or B.
I am a Green card holder who came to the US with my US citizen husband and kids. I am foreign educated as an RN an have a BSN in my country, and like any RN in this country I too sat for the Boards, I have a license that enables me to practice and says I am competent to so, and green card that says I am a legal alien able to work for any employer in this country. I don't believe I am taking anything from anyone, in fact I believe it is an asset to have people that can provide cultural competent care to increasing diverse populations in the US. This sounds like ethnocentrism to me, let's try an be a little more objective, a lot less judgemental and avoid stereotyping.
So I leave you with a thought If you are a Green Card Holder who trains in the US to be a RN, are you taking the jobs from the American Nurses or is this acceptable????
Interesting thought. I am a foreign born (New Zealand) nursing student. Will I be taking away jobs from "real" americans or is living here for 9 years considered to be enough.
While it is truth that the job market has slow down during the current economic times, it does not represent the reality, and the shortage is and still will be a major problem for the USA now and in the future. At the hospital where I work, there is not hiring and they have reduced the overtime. In fact, the per diem nurses are struggling because it has been harder for them to find open shift. On the other hand, they said that they would not use more agency RN's, but the fact is, they have been using them because there are not enough RN's to cover all the shifts.
The hospital decided not to give us a raise this year, blaming it on the economy, but they have renovated the hospital by just finishing a new 5 stories building, plus they will remodel the entire old place. One can't figure out how come they have the money for all this but not to raise salaries.
I am a foreign born nurse, but I was trained in the U.S. I am Spanish and English speaking, and I had not trouble understanding my patients, and they have not trouble understanding me, in fact, I receive a lot of compliments for my "beautiful accent" (go figure). And, I come very handy when the Spanish only patient is on the floor.
Inmigrant nurses are not taking jobs away, nor they are depleting the wages, on the contrary, they are a solution to the problem. The economy will eventually bounce back. I am seeing several bew hospitals being build around the city, and I wonder: how are they going to find RN's to fill those hospitals needs. The difficulty finding jobs is temporary, but eventually, it all will go back to normal, and the inmigrant will be the ones saving us from increasing the patient to nurse ratio.
I think that, if the U.S. had all the nursed needed, they would not be using the inmigrant RN.
This sounds like ethocentrism to me, let's try to be more objective, a lot less judgemental and try not to stereotype. I think it is an asset to have foreign nurses providing cultural competent care to increasing diverse populations in the US. I am a foreign educated RN with a BSN, I took the Boards like any RN in the US and my license says I am competent to practice, I also have a green card that says I can be employed by anyone in this country. So no, I don't believe I am taking anything from anyone and jobs should always go to those more qualified for the role.
I noticed that no one seems to talk about all the LPN's who have been pushed-out of the hospitals and other acute care settings as a result of the 'domino effect' of imported nurses and hospitals seeking so-called "magnate status." The side effect for new LPN's like myself (a baby-boomer who went to nursing school after retirement) is that we never were able to benefit from that all important first year of hospital experience after graduation. Instead, with not much less training than an RN, have been relegated to pill pushing in nursing homes. Yet, I don't see too many accelerated LPN to RN programs which would greatly reduce the so-called nursing shortage and link the career ladder between CNA and RN which is where I beleive many of the LPN's started from. Any thoughts?
If I am a nurse manager, I will hire an experienced nurse who can speak and understand English whether its her first or second language. I don't also care if she's a foreign trained or US trained as long as she brings her knowledge and skills at work and uses a lot of common sense. That's what you called not being racist
tokada46
1 Post
I am a Japanese citizen who has done all nursing training and RN licensing in the US while paying almost five times the going rate for coursework. I find myself increasingly frustrated with the seemingly impossible and expensive task of legally acquiring a green card. At the same time, I read of granting comparatively easy amnesty to 12-20 million ILLEGAL aliens who are living and working in the country. Obama's plan to educate US citizens as nurses suffers from lack of classrooms, facilities, available teachers, and time to keep up with the "Boomers".