US needs foreign-trained healthcare workers

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 2, 2007

It was no flyer I applied through, the hospital is not actively recruiting foreign nurses. I'm talking about bone fide internet job vacancies that any nurse from the USA is able to apply for. In this case the hospital is unable to fill all their vacancies.

I believe that the hospitals could easily fill their vacancies with the nurses who are already here if they drastically improved working conditions and treated us with respect. I do not even think they'd have to raise wages to do this.

mpoova · Oct 2, 2007

I believe that the hospitals could easily fill their vacancies with the nurses who are already here if they drastically improved working conditions and treated us with respect. I do not even think they'd have to raise wages to do this.

I am confused!

Silverdragon102, BSN · Oct 2, 2007

I am confused!

In what way are you confused. If you read some of the threads in the general forum you will read of poor working conditions, poor support from management and abuse from patients and relatives again with no support from management to make a few. If working environments improved then work moral would improve and less people would leave. This in turn would have an impact on foreign nurses and visas.

leslymill · Oct 2, 2007

Not all foreign nurses wanting to come to America are from "third world" countries. Not that I'm putting down those who are, nor their reasons for wanting to come to the USA.
I have 11 years experience in nursing in the UK - where I grew up. I have a job offer from a US hospital - where they need a nurse for a post they can't fill. I could have applied for over 10 jobs on the 1st 2 pages of their vacancy ads. It's a decent hospital, with decent ratios. I've been offered the exact same wage as any other nurse would be with the experience I have.
Thanks to retrogression I can't get there. I'm in no-man's land - unable to make plans because I have no time scale to work with. The hospital is also at a loss because they are without a nurse that they want.
Don't you think that where there is a clearly proven need (remember that the hospitals have to advertise the job vacancies for some time before they are allowed to petition for a foreign nurse) that the immigration process should be a smooth one, as it is in Canada & Australia??
I have skills & experience to offer my US employer. I want to come over to enhance my own learning & nursing expertise. I want new life experiences for my children - who between them are academically bright & have sporting/artistic abilities so would make a good contribution to their schools in the USA.
Is what I'm asking or wanting so bad?

Well I wish it were so simple to just open our doors and arms to you. However:

Right now we are suffering for a 12 million count invasion of illegal aliens from the south. High risk states are requiring nurses get ceus in Bio terrorism. We are in a major war fighting terrorists in two countries with a McCarthy minded president bullying friendly nations he considers rogue states. Our shortage of nurses is not related to a shortage of nurses it is related to a shortage of nurses WILLING to work.

rkm · Oct 3, 2007

Foreign nurses are a very tiny minority in the US nursing workforce:

http://www.nfap.com/pdf/071003nurses.pdf

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 4, 2007

Foreign nurses are a very tiny minority in the US nursing workforce:
http://www.nfap.com/pdf/071003nurses.pdf

40% is not a tiny minority-

Here is an eye-opening statistic: 40% of all US nurses are foreign-born.

(http://www.aarp.org/research/interna...icy_forum.html)

In fact, the fastest growing group among the RN work force are foreign-born nurses, not US-born nurses.

(http://healthaffairs.org/press/novdec0301.htm)

Here is a table that demonstrates the impact: (http://www.ailf.org/ipc/ipf031104.asp):

The above a is a cut and paste of one of my older posts; I see that two of my links are bad. However, the AARP article gave US gov't stats showing 40% of the US RN workforce is foreign born. Before anyone flames me and pulls the immigrant card, I am posting this to show that our jobs are being out-sourced, but it is being done within our borders by importing nurses. My point is that hospitals will not listen to us, their plan is to replace us. That is my point.

lost_stranger · Oct 4, 2007

40% is not a tiny minority-

Where did you get 40% from? The article says less than 4% of the US registered nurse workforce are foreign nurses and that is much lesser than that of NZ, UK, Ireland and Canada.

http://www.nfap.com/pdf/071003nurses.pdf

Rep · Oct 4, 2007

Wow, if we foreign nurses comprise 40% of the nursing population then we could make a difference. We could demand higher pay, better condition and lots of benefits. I know we are still a minority. I see lot of American nurses than foreign nurses. I only know that Filipinos are the majority among the foreign nurses.

RGN1 · Oct 4, 2007

The article says LESS THAN 4%!!!!! There's no "outsourcing" going on - please don't mis-represent the evidence. You're entitled to your opinions but don't alter the figures to suit your arguments!!

elkpark · Oct 4, 2007

Actually, the numbers (percentage of foreign-born nurses in the US) are all over the place -- you can pretty much pick whatever number suits the argument you are trying to make (pro or con). The organization (NFAP) that cites the 3.7% figure has, if you look at their website, an obvious pro-business, pro-immigration agenda. Below is a current link to the AARP article (quoting the 40% figure), plus articles in other sources that say 8% and 14%. I'm sure there are lots of other sources out there that quote other figures, but I'm not interested in taking the time to do a serious search.

http://www.aarp.org/research/international/gra/gra_fall_2005/policy_forum.html

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/556417_6

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/23/3/78?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&minscore=5000&resourcetype=HWCIT

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 4, 2007

Where did you get 40% from? The article says less than 4% of the US registered nurse workforce are foreign nurses and that is much lesser than that of NZ, UK, Ireland and Canada.
http://www.nfap.com/pdf/071003nurses.pdf

If you are addressing me, I did not alter any figures, or contribute to the article in any way. I simply posted it.

You may want to actually look at it.

"Immigrant nurses account for 40 percent of the nursing workforce in the US."

http://www.aarp.org/research/international/gra/gra_fall_2005/policy_forum.html

RNGrad2006 · Oct 5, 2007

If you are addressing me, I did not alter any figures, or contribute to the article in any way. I simply posted it.
You may want to actually look at it.
"Immigrant nurses account for 40 percent of the nursing workforce in the US."
http://www.aarp.org/research/international/gra/gra_fall_2005/policy_forum.html

I looked at the article but none of the quoted figures were referenced. Without a source to back up what you are saying it is hard to know if it is accurate.