The healthcare industry continues to be pressured to perform well and ensure that the standards remain high for patients. However, staffing shortages are becoming a problem and it’s forcing healthcare businesses and centres to look overseas to fill the roles that are desperately required. Recruiting nurses overseas can help to resolve issues in terms of recruitment, but that’s not to say it doesn’t come with challenges. Here are 5 common ones that can arise when hiring nurses from overseas.
Language barrier can be a problem
As with any role in any sector, hiring an employee from overseas will come with some language barriers unless the nurse has learnt to speak fluent in the local language. Considering the challenges that come with working in the healthcare industry, having a language barrier can make the challenge even harder as communication is crucial within the role. How hospitals and health clinics can overcome these issues is by providing language classes to help the nurses to communicate better in the working environment.
Difference in education
Healthcare qualifications and education have different standards around the world, which means someone who may be considered qualified in one country, may not be elsewhere. This is where considerations need to be made about what types of learning are provided in the country the nurse is arriving from and whether their knowledge is sufficient to work.
Arranging permissions to work
This can be dependant on where the nurse actually resides from. If the nurse is being recruited from an area that will require work permissions, this may prove even more difficult. For example, the laws regarding immigration to the EU can be considered complicated and take time to pass. UK visa details would need to be arranged along with masses of paperwork to ensure the nurse has the right to work in the country. This isn’t a guaranteed process so all steps need to be considered carefully.
Differences in culture
It’s important to be sensitive around the cultural differences that other nurses will have. There will be certain actions that they have to take due to their religion or upbringing which should be considered. For example, in some cultures nurses may have to dress a certain way in front of men due to what they believe in. You need to be able to acknowledge the difference that they have and ensuring that there will be no major obstructions that will enable the nurse to fulfil their role.
Integrating into the workplace
How well a nurse integrates into the workplace is totally dependant on the environment and the people that are around them in the business. There is a suggestion that hiring nurses overseas can provide animosity amongst fellow nurses as they feel they’re underqualified, taking jobs and essentially harming the local healthcare industry. Fortunately, support can be provided to overseas nurses who feel they may not be integrating as much as they would have liked to.
Shortages are occurring around the world when it comes to fulfilling nursing roles and hiring overseas may be the way forward to overcome the issue we’re currently witnessing. Although this isn’t an immediate solution, it can be a temporary move that can be seen as positive to ensure that the healthcare sector is provided with the support that it needs.
