psherpa

Dear All, Thanks for all your comments. I personally cannot speak for everyone within USIRNs. Like generations of immigrants who came to this country, I am sure if you look in your family history you will find somewhere that a member of your family moved here to pursue some dreams of their own--or the American Dreams as we call these days, please if you consider us from the perspective of your first generation of your family members who moved here, maybe we can find some common points from where we can get this discussion on immigration debate move forward. If we were in some other other professional lines where we were competing with American citizens, we would not be so stupid and dumb to press on with this petition, but the important thing to consider is we USIRNs are not taking away American citizens jobs. We all know and understand what Americans are going in these difficult desperate times with the state of the current American and global economies, and that there is a hiring freeze going on through most health institutions, and these are things we never saw coming. And also, we would not have vouched for this petition had it not been all the information that we acquired regarding Ameican nursing shortage were actually highlighted by the American government websites (eg HRSA), the established media outlets such as PBS, ABC, NBC and prominent newspapers such as New York Times and others (as you can all see on the website). And this nursing shortage situation was continuously reinforced in our nursing classes across all nursing schools. As early as ten days ago (March 8, 2009), this article was covered by Reuters. U.S. healthcare system pinched by nursing shortage By Will Dunham Will Dunham Sun Mar 8, 8:10 am ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. healthcare system is pinched by a persistent nursing shortage that threatens the quality of patient care even as tens of thousands of people are turned away from nursing schools, according to experts. The shortage has drawn the attention of President Barack Obama. During a White House meeting on Thursday to promote his promised healthcare system overhaul, Obama expressed alarm over the notion that the United States might have to import trained foreign nurses because so many U.S. nursing jobs are unfilled. Democratic U.S. Representative Lois Capps, a former school nurse, said meaningful healthcare overhaul cannot occur without fixing the nursing shortage. "Nurses deliver healthcare," Capps said in a telephone interview. An estimated 116,000 registered nurse positions are unfilled at U.S. hospitals and nearly 100,000 jobs go vacant in nursing homes, experts said. The shortage is expected to worsen in coming years as the 78 million people in the post-World War Two baby boom generation begin to hit retirement age. An aging population requires more care for chronic illnesses and at nursing homes. "The nursing shortage is not driven by a lack of interest in nursing careers. The bottleneck is at the schools of nursing because there's not a large enough pool of faculty," Robert Rosseter of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing said in a telephone interview. Nursing colleges have been unable to expand enrollment levels to meet the rising demand, and some U.S. lawmakers blame years of weak federal financial help for the schools. Almost 50,000 qualified applicants to professional nursing programs were turned away in 2008, including nearly 6,000 people seeking to earn master's and doctoral degrees, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing said. PAY DIFFERENCES One reason for the faculty squeeze is that a nurse with a graduate degree needed to teach can earn more as a practicing nurse, about $82,000, than teaching, about $68,000. Obama called nurses "the front lines of the healthcare system," adding: "They don't get paid very well. Their working conditions aren't as good as they should be." The economic stimulus bill Obama signed last month included $500 million to address shortages of health workers. About $100 million of this could go to tackling the nursing shortage. There are about 2.5 million working U.S. registered nurses. Separately, Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Nita Lowey, both Democrats, have introduced a measure to increase federal grants to help nursing colleges. Peter Buerhaus, a nursing work force expert at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, said the nursing shortage is a "quality and safety" issue. Hospital staffs may be stretched thin due to unfilled nursing jobs, raising the risk of medical errors, safety lapses and delays in care, he said. A study by Buerhaus showed that 6,700 patient deaths and 4 million days of hospital care could be averted annually by increasing the number of nurses. "Nurses are the glue holding the system together," Buerhaus said. Addressing the nursing shortage is important in the context of healthcare reform, Buerhaus added. Future shortages could drive up nurse wages, adding costs to the system, he said. And if the health changes championed by Obama raise the number of Americans with access to medical care, more nurses will be needed to help accommodate them, Buerhaus said. ------- And American Nursing Shortage was covered in the program NOW in PBS a month or two ago. We all understand the timing of our petition is at the worst possible time in the US economic history. When tens of millions of illegal immigrants can come out to the streets across many big cities in the US seeking their rights, and when President Obama himself promised Immigration Reforms in his primaries and esp. in Hispanic Channels, I think we international RNs should be allowed to press forward our concerns and something which is endorsed by fellow American citizens, the media houses, and some of the well-known American senators themselves. As regards to some personal questions regarding my qualifications, I am a qualified RN from NY State. And please, I am definitely not from that tiny percentage of previliged families from the third world countries who can afford to send their kids to the most expensive universities anywhere in the world. I went to NYU with my own savings, borrowings from my relatives and with loans from banks. As regards to contributing back to my home country Nepal, flying to Nepal is quicker than walking for days in my mountain terrains back home. So, flying time matters more than the geographical distance in today's global world. If Dr. Paul Farmer, President Carter, Clinton and rich personalities like Bill and Melinda Gates, and someone as poor as Greg Mortenson (please read "Three Cups of Tea") can contribute globally from America to such an extent, and my own personal hero late Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand can do so much in my own country, so can I with my qualifications and experience (if given the opportunity). AND for that matter, I shall not ask you to go and serve in the US inner-cities and in reservations and ask you to volunteer for community services, even though President Obama certainly encourages every American to do it! To me it is a personal decision that one has to make. I will help my country one day and that is my dream, and nothing that someone can force me to. Coming from one of the poorest contries in the world, I can definitely take so many positive aspects of US medical and nursing practices back to Nepal and improve the health care situation there. But you will have to let me stand on my own feet first. Please do forgive me but I shall refrain from answering personal questions from this point onwards, but anything to do with USIRNs and my international friends, I shall be more than happy to answer. Our petition was not supposed to be offensive in any regards, but if it has, our sincere apologies. A famous Tibetan Rinpoche (revered monk) says "In Silence we find our answers" and I shall certainly encourage you to spend some good amount of time in our website and you will realize why we decided to make this petition. If it still does not make any sese, once again, our sincere apologies. Lastly, I thank Suzanne from the bottom of my heart for her generous services to Allnurses. Thanks and our hearts are with Americans in these difficult times.

I understand the need for more nursing educators and more importantly, nursing programs in the the schools throughout the country. You can browse the nursing shortage section in our website where it lists thousands of qualified students being turned away because of lack of educators and not enough nursing programs in the country as well. However, if you have read the entire article in the link you sent, you will see that and I quote here, "The national nursing shortage has eased up from a national rate of about 13% just a few years ago to less than 6.5%, Buerhaus says. This is due in part to a trend in which nurses are coming out of retirement or increasing their hours to help make ends meet when spouses are laid off. Plus, some healthcare organizations have instituted hiring freezes.The national nursing shortage has eased up from a national rate of about 13% just a few years ago to less than 6.5%, Buerhaus says. This is due in part to a trend in which nurses are coming out of retirement or increasing their hours to help make ends meet when spouses are laid off. Plus, some healthcare organizations have instituted hiring freezes." So, take away points here are that contrary to expected numbers of baby boomers retiring and the predicted nursing shortage on this fact, some are thinking of coming back or have come back because their spouses might have been laid off due to the current crisis. Plus, there seems to be hiring freeze related to the crisis. So, I do not think just relying on this trend one can say that this is a permanent solution to the nursing shortage crisis, because you can not expect baby boomers generation to continue working forever. Time will come when they will have to retire, No? I therefore think your suggestion that nursing shortage crisis will be better off next year might come out to be true, but only in response to the current crisis. Thanks

Please endorse the petition at http://usirns.com/info/shortage or at http://usirns.com/ Greetings to all US International Registered Nurses in these horrible times! Our battle with the US immigration continues but I think time has come when we can not remain passive and get united behind our effort to raise awareness of our unique immigration problem. A couple of us here in New York are trying to raise awareness of acute nursing shortage in America and champion the cause of petitioning to the Congress on behalf of US International Registered Nurses--educated, trained and licensed in the US--who in spite of the dire nursing shortage have no provisions to work in this country at present. We do understand we are acting a bit selfish when we are just advocating for the US International Registered Nurses and not for the entire registered nurses coming to this country from abroad, but our intention was never to discredit the international nurses qualifications or credibility and prove ourselves different otherwise. It was that we just got overwhelmed with so many other immigration, CGFNS certification, issues when we tried to advocate for the entire international nursing community that we at the end therefore decided to just focus on foreign nurses that were educated, trained and licensed in the US. Many South Asians, Filipinos, Caribbean, Africans, Europeans and Latin Americans RNs who were educated, trained and licensed here are in the same boat, so let us make that clear that no one is getting any preference over others. This is our collective effort to raise the issue and we are hoping that with the new Administration and with its promises to bring big changes in health care, we hope someone up there might listen to our unique immigration situation. I know they have their hands full with even bigger challenges, but people like us in skilled nursing profession, with passage of every day, it is one day less in our ability to provide health care, one day less in slowly losing our hard learned skills and medical/nursing knowledge. Its been months and we are still waiting. Please do visit the website and please don't forget to sign the petition. I think last year Rep. Sensenbrenner from Wisconsin and Rep. Wexler from Florida introduced the Emergency Nursing Supply Relief Act (H.R. 5924) but I think it did not make it through at the end. We are therefore urging US international registered nurses to help us endorse and spread the word around about the site and petition, and once we have enough petitions, we will start contacting various Senators/Congressmen and NGOs working towards helping immigrants like us. At least in this path, we would have done something and not waited in vain. We will all appreciate your help in whatever ways possible and all helpful advise, criticisms, diatribes against us will also be appreciated. Thanks Phudorji Sherpa, RN, BSN

Thanks there, it helps a lot. Will be happy to move to Vancouver if that is the case. Mucha Gracias!

A question, if I am a foreign student who recently got his license from the US, can I apply directly to CRNBC for temporary license before I take the October exam? Or do I actually have to pass Canada's nursing board exam in order to get temporary license? Thanks

Hi Suzanne, Thanks once again. Definitely not flirting with the immigration folks, sorry for the jokes or for my informality. My priority as per your advice would remain finishing my two semesters at NYU and then pass NCLEX. I understand that it won't be the final frontier for us international students, but as you have said so many times, that is the most-travelled path or the path for us. I will definitely remain faithful to the forum even in the school. psherpa

Hi Anna and Suzanne, Are you both saying that if the visa numbers has been tapped OR if EB-3 numbers (not sure which) is tapped when I am done with my NCLEX next June, are you saying that I will not be able to do AOS until they open up again? Or will they still accept new applications but won't issue new GC or visa? If not, that will make me walk the Road of Despair again. God, this country needs nurses in shovels of thousands and I am raising my hand! Plus, how do I know when the visa numbers have been exhausted to its limits? Suzanne, yes I do know about the 60 day grace period, and I should have something lined up right after school or I will have to go hunting for some Americans--whatever package they come in for that nuptial knots in NY Chinatown;). In my remote village in Nepal under the beautiful mountains, my folks used to tell me marriages are made in heaven, every time I pass Chinatown and see that Gate to Heaven, the prophecy seems to come true

Hi Suzanne, You have been the goddess, the savior, in these rough times. I was actually trying to pay money to immigration lawyers to find all these information that you already have in your forum. I had many questions and just reading all the questions/answers in your forum has helped me with most questions that had bothered me for quite some time. To add to the list of question, here is one more for you: Since I will not be enjoying the benefits for OPT once again, as I used it already for my first degree, after passing NCLEX exam, am I required to have to have an employer in order to petition for AOS or I can apply for petition on my own? Sorry if its a dumb question, but if I can on my own, that would be nice. Wherever you are, big hugs! psherpa

Hi Suzanne, Thanks for your information. That definitely helps. I would be happy to work in any state if they are ready to petition me. Thanks PSherpa

I am a senior nursing student graduating in May. This is going to be my second career, second bachelors degree, which means I will not be able to use my OPT. I am positive that I will pass NCLEX without any problem. I am thinking of enrolling in Kaplan for something like GRE after passing my NCLEX, so that it could provide me with some time to look for jobs and allow me to stay in the US legally. Suzanne, do you see any problem with my plans? I am also planning to apply for Visa Screen Certificate next year after completion of my school. I am trying to remain on top of things at the moment. As an international student who have completed nursing school here, am I eligible for EB-3 category? Only problem, I see with my position is that I don't have work experience to show after school? Or anyone in the forum, if you know any hospitals or recruting agency that have succesfully hired international nursing students who were educated in the US, please lend me your advice or information. Thanks PS