The Nursing Shortage: Foreign-Educated Workers Aren’t a Long-Term Solution

CGFNS VisaScreen Applications by Country of Education, 2022. Reprinted from CGFNS International. CGFNS Nurse Migration Report 2022: Trends in Healthcare Migration to the United States.

“Rather than relying on importing foreign-educated nurses, high-income countries should aim to ensure an adequate domestic supply of new nurses as well as retention of those already in the workforce.”

Increased nurse migration as a stopgap in the United States.

Demand for nurses in the United States is expected to grow to 3.3 million within this decade. But without quick action to replenish the nursing workforce, analysts project a potential shortfall by 2025 of 10% to 20% or as many as 450,000 RNs. To close this gap, the United States would need to more than double the number of new graduates entering and staying in the nursing workforce every year for the next three years.

An immediate solution would be for the United States to authorize increased migration of qualified nurses from other countries. But faced with growing shortages of their own, countries that historically have exported nurses could impose restrictions, as […]

2023-03-30T10:39:01-04:00March 30th, 2023|Nursing, Nursing shortage, Public health|1 Comment
Read More

Why the Recruitment Experience of Foreign-Educated Nurses Matters for Us All

There’s been talk of a coming nursing shortage for a number of years. A recent report from the US Department of Health and Human Services National Center for Health Workforce Analysis found that of the 3.9 million RNs, the average age is 50, meaning many will retire in the next decade as they reach 65. And this is coming at the same time the number of Americans over 85 years of age is expected to double, from 6.3 million in 2015 to 13 million by 2035.

These data indicate that there may be fewer nurses, particularly in some regions of the country and in some areas of care, at a time when the need for nursing care is increasing. As with other nursing shortages, when schools are unable to graduate enough nurses to fill the gap (the shortage of qualified faculty continues to force schools to turn away qualified students), some hospitals will turn to recruiting foreign-educated nurses (FEN), many of whom are experienced and and have at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing. […]

2020-02-12T11:02:50-05:00February 12th, 2020|Nursing, nursing research|1 Comment
Read More

Workplace Discrimination: A Survey Among Newly Arrived Foreign-Educated Nurses

By Sylvia Foley, AJN senior editor

Table 2. Outcome Metrics by Recruitment Model Table 2. Outcome Metrics by Recruitment Model

This country has often relied on foreign-educated nurses (FENs) to ease nursing shortages—and  with more shortages predicted for as early as next year, it’s likely we’ll do so again. A positive workplace environment is a known predictor of staff retention; yet little is known about how FENs experience their jobs. To learn more, Patricia Pittman and colleagues surveyed more than 500 FENs. This month’s original research CE, “Perceptions of Employment-Based Discrimination Among Newly Arrived FENs,” reports on their findings. This abstract offers a brief overview.

Objective: To determine whether foreign-educated nurses (FENs) perceived they were treated equitably in the U.S. workplace during the last period of high international recruitment from 2003 to 2007.
Background: With experts predicting that isolated nursing shortages could return as soon as 2015, it is important to examine the lessons learned during the last period of high international recruitment in order to anticipate and address problems that may be endemic to such periods. In this baseline study, we asked FENs who were recruited to work in the United States between 2003 and 2007 about their hourly wages; clinical and cultural orientation to the United States; wages, benefits, and shift or unit assignments; and job satisfaction.
Methods. In 2008, we administered a survey to FENs who were issued VisaScreen certificates by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign […]

2017-07-27T14:48:52-04:00January 27th, 2014|nursing perspective, nursing research|3 Comments
Read More

AJN’s January Issue: Perceptions of Employment-Based Discrimination Among FENs, Self-Management of Incontinence, Book of the Year Awards, More

AJNJANAJN’s January issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss, including two continuing education (CE) articles, which you can access for free.

Experts say that nursing shortages could reappear as soon as 2015. Historically, foreign-educated nurses (FENs) have been essential in filling those spaces. This month’s original research article, “Perceptions of Employment-Based Discrimination Among Newly Arrived Foreign-Educated Nurses,” surveyed FENs to determine whether they perceived they were being treated equitably in the U.S. workplace.

Earn 2.5 CE credits by reading this article and taking the test that follows. If you’re reading AJN on your iPad, you can listen to a podcast interview with the author by clicking on the podcast icon on the first page. The podcast is also available on our Web site.

Incontinence can have many distressing physical and social outcomes, and many sufferers try to deal with the condition on their own. “Self-Management of Urinary and Fecal Incontinence” provides nurses with strategies that can be incorporated within the framework of self-management to control urinary, fecal, or dual incontinence. Earn 2.3 CE credits by reading this article and taking the test that follows.

Violence is a recognized public health problem in the Unites States, and the media’s focus on recent tragic stories has likely reinforced the common perception that mental illness causes violence. “Mental Health and Violence,” an article in our Mental Health Matters column, reviews the relevant research and describes how all […]

2016-11-21T13:05:44-05:00December 26th, 2013|career, nursing research|0 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Go to Top