Abstract
This essay explores the roles of nurses and the impact of migration on global health systems. The international health sector has witnessed diverse and complex transformations. The global and national trends in relation to the provision and delivery of medical care have a huge impact on the world’s population. Some of the challenges affecting international health include shortage of nurses, and the brain drain experienced in developing nations. Nurses should take the leading role in tackling the challenges affecting the global health sector. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has assisted nurse leaders by educating them on how to make strategic evaluations. The migration of nurses from less-developed countries towards industrialized nations is inevitable in this era of globalization. The current trend in migration suggests that the developing nations are losing their nurses to the industrialized nations, which further exacerbates the challenges faced by their health systems.
Roles of nurses in global health
The global health sector has experienced diverse and complex transformations. These changes include massive transformations in the nature of health care delivery systems. The international and national trends in relation to the provision and delivery of medical care have a huge impact on the global population. Some of the challenges currently affecting the nursing profession include a shortage of qualified nurses, human resource diversity, and societal beliefs. Other challenges include imbalances and global migration of nurses, as well as the dynamic advancement in technology and storage of patient information (Dickenson‐Hazard, 2004).
Ferguson (2008) argues that nurses and other medical professionals are worried about the future of health care. The question medical professionals should ask themselves is how they can influence change in the global health sector? The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has assisted nurse leaders by educating them on how to make strategic evaluations. They have also been taught how to plan and efficiently guide change in their nations’ health sectors. The LFC program has helped nurses in more than 70 countries. Graduates from the ICN LFC program are not only equipped to handle changes and challenges, they have been successful in managing and guiding transformations in collaboration with other health care stakeholders in their respective countries (Ferguson, 2008).
Nurses have an influential role to play in the global health care system, some of them include:
- Reduction of maternal mortality and infections within health care institutions.
- Initiate the implementation of modern quality improvement strategies.
- Develop training programs in the management of diseases such as AIDS and TB.
- Develop a modern human resource management system.
- Establish performance assessment tools to evaluate the performance of nurses.
- They should assist the regulatory bodies in the establishment of national nursing policies in their respective countries.
- Develop structures that assist in the strengthening of leadership capabilities of nursing leaders.
Global migration/recruitment of nurses
The migration of competent nurses from less-developed countries to the highly industrialized countries is inevitable in this era of globalization. This movement of highly skilled nurses from one country to the other has positive and negative impacts to the recipients and providers of this human resource. Those who have potentially benefitted from this migration of nursing human resources are the nurses and the countries from which they originate. These countries gain from the remittances made by immigrant nurses to their families. The disadvantages may include the impairment of health care delivery in the developing countries which lose their nurses to industrialized nations (Pittman, Aiken & Buchan, 2007).
Even though nursing migration has had different impacts in various countries, there is an alarming global trend in which the less-developed countries with the smallest number of qualified nurses continue to lose them to the industrialized nations. Evidence from various studies has revealed that most developing nations finance the training and education of nurses. Losing them to industrialized nations suggests that it is an enormous public subsidy offered by the poor nations to the wealthy countries (Auerbach, Buerhaus & Staiger, 2007).
Migration of health care workers has created a huge shortage of nursing staff in Sub-Saharan Africa. The health care systems in this region are in a deplorable condition. The shortage of nurses further exacerbates the problem. Dovlo (2007) argues that the burden faced by these nations is multiplied by migration. Their weak medical systems serve as catalysts, which encourage nurses to seek better employment opportunities abroad hence creating a shortage of nursing staff.
References
Auerbach, D. I., Buerhaus, P. I., & Staiger, D. O. (2007). Better Late Than Never: Workforce Supply Implications Of Later Entry Into Nursing. Health Affairs, 26(1), 178-185. Web.
Dickenson‐Hazard, N. (2004). Global health issues and challenges. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 36(1), 6-10.
Dovlo, D. (2007). Migration of Nurses from Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review of Issues and Challenges. Health Services Research, 42(3P2), 1373-1388. Web.
Ferguson, S. L. (2008). Thriving while working on the edge: nurses leading change worldwide. International Nursing Review, 55(4), 367-368. Web.
Pittman, P., Aiken, L. H., & Buchan, J. (2007). International Migration of Nurses: Introduction. Health Services Research, 42(3P2), 1275-1280. Web.