International Recruitment of Nurses: A Look at the Industry and Voluntary Codes of Ethics

By Shawn Kennedy, AJN interim editor-in-chief

A significant number of foreign-educated nurses (FENs) come to the United States each year to work; although the exact number is unknown, consider that in 2009 alone, more than 14,000 FENs passed the NCLEX exam for licensure to practice here. Many come because they’ve been actively recruited by firms acting as agents for hospitals and nursing homes; others come on their own. Some are recruited from developing countries that, because of severe internal nursing shortages, can ill afford to send qualified nurses abroad. And some FENs learn that what they expected—or were led to expect—doesn’t match what they actually find when they arrive.

In the June issue of AJN, you’ll find a comprehensive study examining the international nurse recruitment business, an industry that’s gone through rapid growth in the last decade. Supported by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Patricia M. Pittman and colleagues conducted interviews with industry executives and focus groups with FENs. […]

2016-11-21T13:17:21-05:00June 7th, 2010|nursing perspective, nursing research, students|4 Comments
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Turf Wars Aside, How Do NPs and MDs Really Differ?

By Christine Moffa, MS, RN, AJN clinical editor

There’s been a lot of talk lately about turf wars between NP’s and physicians, especially when it comes to the much discussed U.S. shortage of primary care providers. Before going back to school and getting a master’s in nursing education, I batted around the idea of becoming a nurse practitioner. It seemed like the ideal next step for someone who was happy being a clinician but wanted to take on an advanced role.

However, there was something that didn’t sit right with me about becoming an NP—namely, my fear of public perception. I’m not sure most people know exactly what the role of an NP is and how it differs from that of a physician, particularly in primary care. I’ve seen patients call their primary care NP “doctor [insert first name here],” which to me illustrates the confusion.

When people ask me the difference, I myself have a hard time articulating it. How do I respond when someone says something like this: “if entry to medical school and residency is typically more competitive than for advanced degree nursing programs, and if physicians spend a longer time attending tougher programs, how do you justify their doing the same work as NPs?” (For instance, when I was in school we, along with the NP candidates, were only required to take two semesters of pathophysiology!)

Now, I’ve been to an NP as a patient, and I was happy with the care I received. She certainly […]

2016-11-21T13:18:07-05:00April 20th, 2010|career, nursing perspective, students|6 Comments
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What Matters to Today’s Nursing Students?

By Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN interim editor-in-chief

I just came back from the NSNA (National Student Nurses Association) convention in Orlando. What a crowd!  There were over 3,500 attendees, mostly nursing students and some faculty. And contrary to what one usually thinks of students on spring break, this group was serious and focused. Some impressions I took away from the meeting:

2016-11-21T13:18:16-05:00April 12th, 2010|students|1 Comment
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To Address High Turnover Among New Nurses, A Virtual Training Tool With Real-Life Problems

At this week’s National Student Nurses Association conference in Orlando, Johnson & Johnson’s Campaign for Nursing’s Future is unveiling a free virtual training program called Your Future in Nursing, which can be found at the Web site DiscoverNursing.com. (Sidenote: the site has many other resources for men in nursing, student nurses, and others, including a fairly vast collection of Profiles in Nursing, which is worth browsing through to get a sense of the really broad range of people who work in the nursing profession.)

You can download the virtual training program for free or order the CD through the DiscoverNursing.com Web site. Designed to address the extremely high turnover rates among first-year nurses who often feel woefully unprepared for the realities of the workplace, the program (full disclosure: we’ve watched a trailer, but we haven’t tried it yet ourselves) sounds intriguing (and a virtuous subsitute for a half hour spent on Facebook):

The interactive training tool allows nurses to select a 3D nurse character and navigate through the rooms of a virtual hospital. As they tour the hospital, nurses interact with animated versions of the people who will shape their first year on the job – hospital administrators, nurse managers, doctors, other nurses, patients and their families. Nurses work at their own pace to respond to different, real-life nursing scenarios they would normally encounter throughout the hospital. In addition to getting immediate feedback on each answer, sections close with a video message from an experienced nurse mentor who […]

2016-11-21T13:18:19-05:00April 8th, 2010|students|2 Comments
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In Long-Term Care, What’s Favoritism?

By Sheena Jones, an LPN who is in training to be an RN at Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, NY

Is it really fair when we get the favoritism speech from our superiors when we supply residents who have no family or friends with hygiene supplies? When there are two roommates and one has family and friends who visit daily and bring her all that she could need or want and the other has nothing and no one? Am I wrong for getting a couple of supplies from the dollar store for her? We all know that the hygiene supplies in many facilities are watered down and cheap. Am I wrong for buying someone some socks when they have none? We can’t share supplies or clothing between patients, so do I let someone walk around with nothing? If these people were my family or friends I would want someone to make them comfortable. They can’t leave the facility to go shopping with family or friends, and many of them have lost most of their mental capacity and have no one to help them—but that does not mean that they should walk around less put together than someone with a family? Do we just let these residents go without?

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2016-11-21T13:18:26-05:00March 31st, 2010|nursing perspective, students|3 Comments
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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.
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