The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) reports nursing as one of the country’s top occupations based on demand. The Association expects the workforce to increase from 2.71 million nurses in 2012 to approximately 3.24 million over 2022. This figure represents a 19 percent projected growth over a ten-year period. Further projections exist in the demand for additional 525,000 replacements in the same period. However, the growth is not fast enough to meet the rise in demand for RN services. This finding shows that the country has continuously experienced nurse shortages. The situation would experience further deterioration because of the country’s aging population. As a result, the AACN projects a deficit of close to 1 million nurses by 2022 (AACN, 2014).
The shortage has created a demand for foreign nurses to help fill the gap. The findings show that nurse migration predominantly occurs from low-income countries into the US. Currently, as Li, Nie, and Li (2013) report, almost 8 percent of RNs in the US are foreign educated. Of this figure, over 80 percent come from developing countries, with the Philippines accounting for close to 30 percent. Other notable source countries include India, China, South Korea, Ghana, and South Africa. However, high-income countries have also become a source, with the UK and Australia leading the pack (Li, Nie, and Li, 2013).
Ideally, the recruitment of foreign nurses has tripled since the shortage was first reported in 1994. Aiken (2007) notes that most of these individuals find substantial employment in urban-based hospitals. Also, they are most likely to have a bachelor-level education than their native-born counterparts. Furthermore, unlike their native peers, foreign-educated nurses add an ethnic diversity to the practice. The diversity shows an upward movement to fill the need for health care workers that can take care of the needs of an increasingly racially diverse America (Aiken, 2007).
References
AACN. (2014, April 24). Nursing Shortage. Retrieved from American Association of Colleges of Nursing : http://www.aacn.nche.edu/media-relations/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage
Aiken, L. (2007). U.S Nurse Labor Market Dynamics are Key to Global Nurse Sufficiency. Health Services Research, 42 (3), 1299-1320.
Li, H., Nie, W., & Li, J. (2013). The benefits and caveats of international nurse migration. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 1 (3), 314–317.
