Advancing Nursing Migration Research: Observations and Opportunities

Purpose:  The purposes of this umbrella review were to identify the state of nursing research focused on the experiences of nurses who migrate globally and identify implications for advancing the global nursing research agenda.

Methods: The body of research examining the migration experiences of nurses has grown during the past two decades resulting in a number of knowledge synthesis studies. While the breadth and focus of these studies is quite diverse, an umbrella review or synthesis of these studies was undertaken to summarize what is known about the migratory experiences of nurses worldwide. The databases Medline, CINHAL, EMBASE and Cochrane were used to conduct a search of reviews published between January 1995 and January 2015 (systematic, integrative, meta-analysis) using the key words, migration, immigration, global nursing, global nursing workforce, international nursing, and nursing experience.  Inclusion criteria were: 1) written in English; 2) employed some type of review method (systematic, integrative, meta-analysis); and 3) included a specific focus on the migratory experience of nurses. Studies without a specific focus on the migratory experiences of foreign or internationally educated nurses were excluded. 

Results:  Twelve review studies were included based on predetermined inclusion criteria. The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia were the most frequently cited destination countries. Many nurses reported negative experiences when migrating. Experiences such as discrimination, communication difficulties, social and professional isolation were frequently reported. Migrating nurses faced difficulty adjusting to their new professional role and were stressed by the lack of a comprehensive orientation to the workplace. Some studies noted few guidelines relative to best practices for positive socioprofessional integration.  When available, well adaptation programs lead to greater job satisfaction and integration into the workplace.  

Conclusion: Additional research studies using quantitative and qualitative methods are needed to advance this body of research. Future studies that increase the number of country and nurse population specific research are needed. Given the paucity of family and gender specific research in this area, more research is warranted.  Research describing the experiences of migrating nurse faculty is in its infancy stage and thus more research may advance the global nursing research agenda. Nursing research examining the impact of best practices on improving safe and effective transitions to workplace and career integration in destination countries worldwide is sorely needed.