U.S. Plan to Lure Nurses May Hurt Poor Nations (and the US, too!)

[lindisfarne]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/24/world/americas/24nurses.html?ei=5094&en=eeafe847d1582758&hp=&ex=1148529600&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print
Beginning of article below

It is just ridiculous that we are thinking about bringing in foreign nurses. Why don't we try EDUCATING our citizens so they can do it and making the job one that people will want to stay with.

Nurses are LEAVING the field, despite fairly decent wages, because of the way they are treated and the way they feel they are being forced to treat their patients. Their patient loads are so heavy that many feel patient care is being compromised. Administrators are giving nurses less and less respect. Change these two factors, expand nursing schools, provide decent financial aid (including forgiving some loans with a certain number of years of employment as a nurse), and a decent wage, and Americans will be glad to take the job.

(I believe the decent wage is the issue for the corporate medical industry. It's far better for them to bring in foreign nurses, who don't demand a decent wage, nor do they demand respect and decent treatment.) Meanwhile, we're robbing developing countries of much needed medical professionals. (This approach hasn't been a great success in the UK).

===========================
As the United States runs short of nurses, senators are looking abroad. A little-noticed provision in their immigration bill would throw open the gate to nurses and, some fear, drain them from the world's developing countries.

The legislation is expected to pass this week, and the Senate provision, which removes the limit on the number of nurses who can immigrate, has been largely overlooked in the emotional debate over illegal immigration.

Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, who sponsored the proposal, said it was needed to help the United States cope with a growing nursing shortage.

He said he doubted the measure would greatly increase the small number of African nurses coming to the United States, but acknowledged that it could have an impact on the Philippines and India, which are already sending thousands of nurses to the United States a year.
<snip>

[Oversea Visitor]

1. Nurse shortage or better profits

:rofl:

[Mythsaje]

2. This is idiocy...

Nurses are a valuable commodity, and we need to do what we can to keep it a viable profession for our young people to pursue. They work hard, and get damn little credit for what they do. Often times it's the nurses who bridge the gap between harried and over-worked doctors and their patients, making sure that mistakes aren't made. And the nurses themselves are overworked and generally disrespected.

Fuck the loans. They should forgive the entirety of the loans after a certain amount of time working in the profession--they give back far more than they've received from the system.

Of course, I feel the same way about (good) teachers.

I think our whole education system needs revamped...ESPECIALLY the whole way we're expected to pay for college. But that's another subject entirely.

edited (belatedly) because I typed the word "patience" instead of "patients." Sheesh.

[greenman3610]

3. I know people who would like to become nurses

but there are no available class spaces or instructors.

seems like a good place to start.

[Mythsaje]

4. More "race to the bottom" crap...n/t

[lindisfarne]

7. Yes, the number of nurses expected to graduate won't meet the needs

for nurses. So why in the world haven't states been expanding their nursing programs? This has been known for at least 5 years (and probably much longer; I first heard about it 5 years ago) - surely by now we could have expanded capacity significantly.

[depakid]

5. Surprise, surprise

More lose/lose policies from Republicans and theocrats like Brownback.

Well, that's faith based medicine & economics for ya.

[Robeson]

6. It's all about profits. Get rid of those who have been making...

...good salaries. Those who have good pension plans. Those who are making a good living. Phase them out, and get cheap labor in. My wife has been a RN for 25 years, and she saw this coming 5 years ago.

[midnight]

8. Pay nurses what they deserve.

Don't give worker visas to foreign nurses and suppress American nurses salaries.