Nurse migration: the effects on nursing education

Foreign educated nurses' work experiences and patient safety-A systematic review of qualitative studies

AIM

The aim of this systematic review was to identify the evidence contributed by qualitative research studies of foreign educated nurses' work experiences in a new country and to link the results to patient safety competencies.

DESIGN

A systematic literature review of qualitative studies.

METHODS

Electronic searches in the Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library and Cinahl databases and additional manual searches in five scientific journals. A content analysis of 17 qualitative articles was conducted.

RESULTS

The analysis revealed one main theme: "Being an outsider at work" and two themes: "Cultural dissonance and Unfamiliar nursing practice. Two sub-themes emerged from the first theme; Loneliness and discrimination" and "Communication barriers". The second theme was based on the following two sub-themes: "Handling work-related stress" and "Role uncertainty and difficulties in decision-making". A better prepared and longer orientation period with continual clinical supervision including systematic reflection on practice experiences is needed to support foreign educated nurses in the transition period and strengthen their Patient Safety Competencies. Nurse Managers have an important role in ensuring the inclusion of foreign educated nurses and providing desirable working conditions.

Is there a need for a hospital pharmacy common training framework? Review of the literature on the impact of educational interventions on health outcome

BACKGROUND

With the update of the directive 2005/36/EU on the recognition of professional qualifications (2013/55/EU), the European Union (EU) legislation opened also to pharmacists the possibility to define specialisations via a common training framework (CTF).

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to review, synthesise and present published evidence on the impact of health educational interventions targeting healthcare professionals on patients' health outcomes that support a hospital pharmacy CTF in EU.

METHOD

The search was carried out in Medline and Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health Literature and was limited to English language full review articles or primary research published since 2000. Data were extracted independently and compared by three of the researchers.

RESULTS

Ten papers (9 primary research studies and one literature review) were identified. Almost one-third of the studies (30%, n=3) targeted pharmacists in their research. The majority of studies (80%, n=8) have shown that higher education levels among healthcare professionals improved patient outcomes. No study discussed the importance of a CTF.

CONCLUSION

The review of the literature has demonstrated the need for education and training of health personnel to improve patient outcome. Controlled studies about pharmacist education and training in European countries showed that the benefit of a CTF is lacking.

Cultural experiences of immigrant nurses at two hospitals in Chile

Objective

to explore the cultural experiences of nurses who immigrated to Chile. The study's theoretical framework was the Purnell Model for Cultural Competence.

Method

Leininger's Observation-Participation-Reflection method was developed at two hospitals in the city of Santiago, and ethnographic interviews were held with 15 immigrant nurses.

Results

among Purnell's 12 domains, the following were identified: Overview/heritage, Communication, Workforce issues, Family roles and organization, Biocultural ecology and Health-care practices. The difficulties were related to the language and its semantic meaning, the new responsibilities and the difficult relationship with colleagues. "In search of better horizons - the decision to immigrate", "Gaining confidence and establishing a support network - employability and professional performance" and "Seeking for people's acceptance - professional adaptation in a new cultural scenario" are cultural themes that represent their experiences.

Conclusions

the competence to offer cultural care demands the development of public policies and continuing education programs at health institutions, specifically focused on immigrant nurses.

Evolving global education standards for nurses and midwives

More than a a decade ago nurse experts identified information critical for their practice in the 21st century, initiated by the increasing globalization of healthcare and nursing education. Much has happened since then. We know more about the healthcare needs of developing and developed countries, although solutions remain problematic. Although nurses continue to migrate, exaggerating developing country health issues, they are plagued by the variability in how they are educated. For example, some countries prepare nurses in high school, while in other countries nurses are educated in institutions of higher education. Recognizing this variability, nurse leaders have undertaken several efforts to address this variability. The purpose of this article is to highlight several issues associated with global education in general, describe current efforts in nursing and midwifery to strengthen nursing education, and discuss why these efforts are relevant to maternal-child nurses. This information is particularly relevant when one considers the contributions appropriately educated nurses and midwives can make as achieving select United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

The effect of fluency in English on the continuing professional development of nurses educated overseas

BACKGROUND

In the United Kingdom, many nurses who were educated overseas and are not native English speakers are undertaking continuing professional development study within their host country. This study investigated the effect of fluency in English on the teaching and learning of registered nurses undertaking continuing professional development within a health and social care faculty in a U.K. university.

METHODS

A qualitative, interpretive method was used. Data were obtained through thematic analysis of semi-structured individual interviews with educators, nurses educated in the United Kingdom, and nurses educated overseas who were not native English speakers and were undertaking continuing professional development.

RESULTS

Participants included six educators, six registered nurses who were educated in the United Kingdom, and six registered nurses who were educated overseas and were not native English speakers. Educators resorted to generalizations in describing nurses' teaching and learning characteristics. Classroom dynamics that impeded nurses' learning were reported. Critical thinking, academic success, and integration within the classroom were affected by the ability to research, question, and discuss new or complex continuing professional development topics in English.

CONCLUSION

Fluency in academic nursing English is necessary for successful continuing professional development. Educators should use and develop strategies to encourage integration in the classroom between nurses who were educated in the United Kingdom and those who were educated overseas and are not native English speakers to support critical thinking and engagement by all participants.

Exploring the development of a cultural care framework for European caring science

The aim of this paper is to discuss the development of a cultural care framework that seeks to inform and embrace the philosophical ideals of caring science. Following a review of the literature that identified a lack of evidence of an explicit relationship between caring science and cultural care, a number of well-established transcultural care frameworks were reviewed. Our purpose was to select one that would resonate with underpinning philosophical values of caring science and that drew on criteria generated by the European Academy of Caring Science members. A modified framework based on the work of Giger and Davidhizar was developed as it embraced many of the values such as humanism that are core to caring science practice. The proposed caring science framework integrates determinants of cultural lifeworld-led care and seeks to provide clear directions for humanizing the care of individuals. The framework is offered to open up debate and act as a platform for further academic enquiry.

Is transition of internationally educated nurses a regulatory issue?

Based on a review of initial evidence, this article suggests that transition of internationally educated nurses (IENs) is a regulatory issue. Given the absence of global nurse regulation, the questionable credibility in many areas where national regulation does operate, and more important, the commercialization of nurse training in some countries to meet international demand, the quality and competence of IENs are likely to be varied in both quantitative and qualitative terms. This variability in quality and competence affect their ability and readiness to practice with direct implications for patient safety and quality of care. After description of a transition program as a proposed regulatory mechanism modeled after the National Council of State Boards of Nursing's Transition Initiatives, this article calls for comparative outcomes research on IENs and U.S. educated nurses to definitively determine if transition of IENs is a regulatory issue.