Immigration Advocates Claim Mexican Nurses Can Help Address Shortage
According to immigration advocates, Mexican nurses could help fill a critical need for bilingual medical personnel in regions with large immigrant populations. There is no limit on visas for Mexican nurses who can qualify to work in the United States under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Experts believe these nurses could address a shortage of Spanish-speaking nurses in the US. However, only a few Mexican nurses attempt to apply for TN visas, and very few of those who do apply succeed.
While Mexican nurses do have the equivalent of a US Bachelor’s degree in nursing, many of them do not have adequate English language skills to work in the US. Another factor affecting the employment of Mexican nurses in the US is the perception that the standards of medical training in Mexico are lower than that in the US. Employers would rather hire nurses from the Philippines, which is considered to have standards similar to those in the US.
According to the California Board of Registered Nursing, only 61 nurses educated in Mexico were licensed in the state from January 2005 through September 2007. However, El Centro Regional Medical Center in El Centro, California is looking to Mexico to address not only its shortage of nurses overall, but also the shortage of those who speak Spanish and understand Hispanic culture.
The hospital currently has a staff of 325 registered nurses, with an annual
turnover rate of 18 percent. The average age of registered nurses at the
hospital is 50, and they are expected to start retiring soon. The hospital
has 10 Filipino nurses on its staff and is about to hire an additional 25.
Three
years ago, Tomas Virgen, assistant chief nursing officer at El Centro Regional
Medical Center, who was born in Mexico but raised and educated in the United
States, saw that Mexican nurses could be the answer. He visited hospitals and
nursing schools in Mexicali, Mexico in order to find potential nursing
candidates. He then offered the candidates English classes and began training
them for the NCLEX, the US nurse licensing exam. The hospital has already
hired three Mexican-educated registered nurses and is about to hire a fourth.
Due to the apparent success of El Centro’s recruitment program, other US
hospitals with large Spanish-speaking population are now preparing their own
pilot programs for Mexican nurses.
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