141st APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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283338
Foreign-trained versus US-trained registered nurses: Analysis of educational qualifications and working experience


Monday, November 4, 2013

Olena Mazurenko, PhD, MD, MS, Department of Health Care Administration and Policy, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Gouri Gupte, PhD, MHA, Department of Health Policy and Management, Boston University, Boston, MA
Title: Foreign-trained versus US-trained registered nurses: Analysis of educational qualifications and working experience. Aim: To examine the association between educational qualifications and working experience among foreign-trained nurses (FTN) versus US trained registered nurses (US RNs). Design: Cross-sectional analysis of data from National Sample of Registered Nurses from 2008. Subjects: Foreign-trained and US trained RNs that are certified to practice in United States. Findings: FTN represented a 4.64% of nursing workforce in 2008. Significantly higher proportion of FTNs had a diploma in nursing only (26.8%) versus US RNs (13.4%) (p<0.001). On the other hand, significantly more FTNs reported having a Bachelor degree in nursing (56.1%) vs, US RNs (35.7%,p<0.001). The percentage of US RNs who reported being enrolled in formal training to advance their degree was significantly higher (26.7%) than FTNs (17.2%) with majority of respondents being enrolled in Master level programs (41.7% versus 40%, p<0.001). US RNs had on average 3 years less working experience than FTNs and the difference was statistically significant. Significantly higher percentage of FTNs worked in hospital settings (76%) than US RNs (67.6%,p<0.001). More US RNs reported working in ambulatory care setting (12.3%) than FTNs (4.3%). Higher percentage of FTNs were employed full-time (74%) versus US RNs (63.6%,p<0.05). Conclusions: Considering the variation in educational background and work experience between FTNs and US RNs, recruitment and retention strategies should understand the integration issues. We suggest utilization of various management models to assist health care managers in dealing with this diverse workforce.

Learning Areas:

Administration, management, leadership
Public health or related nursing

Learning Objectives:
Compare nursing education and experience for US trained and foreign trained nurses. Discuss strategies for addressing the disparities in nursing workforce. Discuss development of transitional programs to better integrate foreign trained nurses in the workforce.

Keyword(s): Health Care Workers, Migrant Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have personally developed an idea for this empirical project, ran the analysis and developed the abstract. More importantly, I have done previous research on foreign trained specialists who practice in United States for 2 years and thus I am an expert in this topic.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3141.0: Health Administration Roundtable I- Workforce Issues