Addressing the global nursing workforce shortage: Lessons learned from Geneva

The avid recruitment of foreign-educated nurses into the United States is a growing global concern that has long been ignored by policy makers in the United States. Despite legislative silence, the United States remains a key player in the global migration of nurses through private sector recruitment. A lack of Federal attention to this issue jeopardizes the public's health and the nation's security. Efforts to scale up domestic education of nurses must be addressed in order to prevent an overwhelming influx of nurses from developing countries that cannot afford the loss of human and financial resources. With a predicted shortage of 800,000 nurses by 2020, foreign recruitment alone will not solve the U.S. nursing workforce shortage. The aim of this presentation is to 1) discuss factors affecting the global shortage of nurses, 2) identify new initiatives suggested at an international health workforce conference in Geneva to manage nurse migration, 3) define the role of the United States in nurse migration, and 4) analyze the Nurse Reinvestment Act and Immigration policies related to foreign nurse visas.