The Nursing Village around the World: How the US is Influencing Nurse Migration
Every nurse would agree that sharing skills, knowledge, experience, and technology to improve lives of patients worldwide is indisputably necessary. What is the role of US nursing in this unfolding phenomenon? With the effects of increased globalization the world is becoming a global village. How is the migration of nurses to the US affecting worldwide health care? A starting point for this discussion would be to evaluate the experiences of internationally educated nurses in the US. What has been their journey? Internationally educated nurses comprise a growing percentage of newly licensed RNs in the US, a trend that will continue. 68% of these nurses have at least a bachelor’s degree in nursing compared to 50% of US educated nurses.(1) The most common ways nurses find work are through either the placement model where nurses work for the medical center. Integration and wages are more likely to be equal to US educated nurses in the placement model. In the staffing model n...