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| Avant is providing the following list of frequently asked questions to assist hospitals evaluating international nurse recruitment as a part of their overall staffing solution. This list has been compiled from a variety of resources including hospital nursing administrators and human resource professionals who have used foreign trained nurses at their facilities. This list will be updated periodically so please check back. |
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Why is retention so important? What types of activities can my hospital do to transition and retain foreign nurses? What international nurse recruitment options are available to me? What are the differences in these options? What are the primary reasons hospitals decide to work with a recruitment company? Why would my hospital select long-term contracts as a method of international nurse recruitment? Is the long-term contract option of international recruitment the most costly option?Is selecting an experienced recruitment company important? Why is preparing for culture shock so important? |
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What
are some of the most important issues to evaluate prior to beginning
international nurse recruitment? |
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| Why
is retention so important? International nurse recruitment should be directed at filling the hospitals core staff positions. Many foreign trained nurses are relocating family and would like to settle in your community on a permanent basis. Planning and preparing for the retention of these nurses from a cultural and professional perspective is vital. Although no formal studies have been done, some hospitals that began recruitment of foreign nurses in the mid and late 1980's report as high as a 50% retention rate fifteen year later |
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| What types of activities can my hospital do to transition and retain foreign nurses? Education is vital to preparing the various clinical areas of the hospital to receive foreign trained nurses. The education should be focused on cultural and practice differences, as well as measures each staff member can take to acclimate and transition the nurses. Also, understanding culture shock and the impact it will have on the foreign nurse and your staff is extremely important. |
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| What
international nurse recruitment options are available to me? Two staffing options are available from recruitment companies - long-term contract to permanent placement and direct placement. There also is direct recruitment by your facility as some hospitals have done primarily from the Philippines. |
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What
are the differences in these options? Companies that offer nurses on direct placement tend not to have as significant an infrastructure to coordinate the recruitment process. They may outsource the immigration and/or licensure process. In addition, they tend to lack the experience of clinically transitioning the foreign nurses to US hospitals. This experience is often vital in selecting nurses and also in preparing the nurse and hospital. |
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| What
are the primary reasons hospitals decide to work with a recruitment
company? Most hospitals choose to work with recruitment companies because international recruitment is not their core competence. They do not want to create an internal department to handle and monitor the licensure, immigration, education of in-house staff, clinical transition of foreign nurses, and social and cultural transition of the nurse and their families. In addition, they do not want to get involved in dealing with issues such as finding accommodations, purchasing cars or dealing with establishing a credit line. |
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Some
hospitals choose direct recruitment as a means of saving money on
contract fees. Why does this often times not result in an overall
financial savings? Once the nurses arrive, some may not be successful in transitioning for clinical, social or cultural reasons. Reputable recruitment companies should have replacement clauses for nurses that are not successful at a hospital. Lastly, if the hospital does not spend time researching practice differences, creating specialized orientation programs and preparing its staff, the foreign nurses may take an extended time to become productive and safe practitioners. |
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| Why
have some hospitals been very successful at direct international recruitment
and others have not? Hospitals that tend to be most successful in direct recruitment of international nurses when they create a department or staff dedicated to the initiative. In addition, they have knowledge and experienced nursing staff members to lead the department. This "International Nurse Recruitment Department" can then be responsible for much of the preparation, education and activities needed to be successful in the endeavor. |
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Why
would my hospital select long-term contracts as a method of international
nurse recruitment? |
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Is
the long-term contract option of international recruitment the most
costly option? Please see the answer to "Some hospitals choose direct recruitment as a means of saving money on contract fees. Why does this often times not result in an overall financial savings?." |
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| Is
selecting an experienced recruitment company important? Yes, very important. Many of the aspects of the international nurse recruitment process are learned through trial and error. Experienced companies should use their experience to build its infrastructure, prepare the nurses and receiving hospitals. |
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| Why
is preparing for culture shock so important? It is extremely important to understand culture shock and the overt and subtle impact it will have on the foreign nurse. The phases of culture shock can take a toll on foreign nurses and their family. It can lead to physical illness and signs of grieving and/or depression. |
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| What
steps can be taken to minimize culture shock? Preparing nurses and their families for culture shock and then closely monitoring for it can alleviate its impact on the nurse. Educating your staff, especially preceptors, can help in detecting the subtle signs of culture shock prior to making a significant impact or in extreme cases the foreign nurse returning to their home country. |
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My
hospital has ethical concerns about foreign nurse recruitment. What
information can be provided to address and alleviate the concerns?
ICN recognises the right of individual nurses to migrate, and confirms the potential beneficial outcomes of multicultural practice and learning opportunities supported by migration. ICN condemns the practice of recruiting nurses to countries where authorities have failed to implement sound human resource planning and to seriously address problems which cause nurses to leave the profession and discourage them from returning to nursing. ICN denounces unethical recruitment practices that exploit nurses or mislead them into accepting job responsibilities and working conditions that are incompatible with their qualifications, skills and experience. |
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