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Sunday, 30 October 2011: 11:00 AM
Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to become familiar with the challenges of professional and cultural integration of internationally educated nurses in the context of globalization.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to develop evidence-based strategies to facilitate internationally educated nurses' professional integration in the nursing workforce.
Globalization has affected various financial and economic sectors, including the health care labour market. Internationally educated nurses (IENs), for example, are being recruited to Canada in increasing numbers to address acute nursing shortages. This trend is not new, nor isolated to Canada, but it does raise questions about how this influx has impacted both IENs and their Canadian nursing colleagues. We conducted a qualitative study to explore the experiences of internationally educated nurses and understand the processes of professional, cultural, and social integration into their new workplaces. It was devised to explore: 1) the nature of Filipino nurses’ experiences of working in a Canadian Midwest province in the first three years after immigration; 2) the nature of Canadian born nurses’ experiences of working with internationally educated nurses. Guided by a postcolonial feminist theoretical approach, the study explored how structural factors like race, gender, ethnicity, culture, and the socio-political context intersect with internationally educated nurses’ perceptions of professional, cultural and social integration in the nursing workforce. Data was collected through open-ended individual interviews and participant observation sessions. Based on Carspecken’s work, thematic content analysis was used to analyze data. Findings reveal that the internationally educated nurses experienced feelings of social and cultural isolation and homesickness. It also made evident a number of other issues that need to be addressed: cultural adaptation to living in Canada, communications between health care providers, interdisciplinary work, caring for First Nations’ patient needs, and how Canadian nurses’ concerns can cast doubt on the IENs’ professional competency. From this session, participants will 1) become familiar with the challenges of professional and cultural integration and 2) learn to develop evidence-based strategies to facilitate internationally educated nurses’ professional integration in the nursing workforce.