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Rights of the International Nurse Highlighted at Conference

23 February 2006

"We have come away with a shared agenda on how we can help internationally recruited nurses." - Peggy Vidot, Adviser, Health Section, Commonwealth Secretariat

With critical nursing shortages in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, the migration of nurses from one country to another has become an important issue: What rights do nurses have when they are recruited to work in another country? Do they receive equal benefits and pay as local nurses? How do they deal with different cultural norms and discrimination?

These questions were posed at a conference sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat along with the International Centre on Nurse Migration (ICNM) and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in the UK, on the topic 'Creating Positive Practice Environments for the International Nurse'. More than 80 delegates ranging from nursing professionals to recruitment agents attended the two-day conference at Marlborough House, the Secretariat's headquarters in London, UK, from 20 to 21 February 2006.

"You can imagine how nurses feel when they come into [the UK] and do not feel welcomed," said Sally Taber of the Independent Healthcare Forum. "There are cultural issues which a nurse from, say The Bahamas, wouldn't know about."

Over the past decade in particular, the migration of nurses from developing to developed countries has become a hot topic among health professionals and policy-makers. The conference at Marlborough House was the first of its kind on the topic of nurse migration.

"In most countries, apart from the US, massive recruitment of nurses has only happened in the last ten years," stated Annette Kennedy of the ICNM. "There has been no research on what makes a nurse want to leave home and how does a nurse adapt when in a new country."

Delegates listened to presentations by a range of speakers including Peggy Vidot, Health Adviser at the Secretariat. Ms Vidot focused on possible reasons nurses might choose to migrate and listed a number of factors, including difficult working conditions, poor salaries, heavy workloads, and diminished opportunities for advancement. She also outlined the need for programmes to be put in place for when nurses return to their home countries after working abroad for a number of years.

Another speaker, Sylvia Denton, President of the RCN in the UK, said the issues raised at the conference were right at the top of health-care agendas around the world.

"We need to find ways in which we can and must help internationally recruited nurses," said Ms Denton. "We need to tell potential recruits what to expect from the country they are going to, ask nurses what they want when they go abroad and remember that the best package for the nurse equals the best practice for the patient. Without these nurses, we would be lost."

A conference paper outlining the conclusions and agreements which came out of the two-day meeting will be presented to Commonwealth Health Ministers at their annual meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, on 21 May 2006.

"We have come away with a shared agenda on how we can help internationally recruited nurses," commented Ms Vidot. "Commonwealth Health Ministers will be discussing 'Human Resources for Health' when they meet in Geneva in May, so the conference is very timely."

 

CNIS - Commonwealth News and Information Service Issue 273, 22 February 2006