Global Nursing Migration

This article explores the impact of global nursing migration on healthcare systems and the role of the international code of practice. It includes literature reviews, evaluations, and discussions on the topic.

Running head: GLOBAL NURSING MIGRATION 1
Global Nursing Migration
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Global Nursing Migration
Introduction
Global Nursing Migration refers to the migration of health practitioners (nurses) from
their home country due to historical, political, economic and political reasons to other nations.
The migration of nursing practitioners across the globe has played a significant impact at the
national level. Whether the impact is positive or negative all depends on one's interpretation of
the relevant kinds of literature on the topic. Different arguments have been set forth regarding the
migration of nursing practitioners. However, this paper is set fundamentally to review several
pieces of pieces of literature on the topic through presentation of their concise summary,
evaluation of the roles and contribution of the nurses in the literatures and finally a discussion of
the how the literature address the international code of practice as brought forth by the world
health organization.
Review of Literature
An article by The World Health Organization (2018) presents solutions to the health
workforce migration. In other words, it comprises of an international law of practice. According
to the World Health Organization (2018), global nursing migration has been periodically
increasing especially from low-income nations with fragile health systems. The code of practice
aims at strengthening the health system by setting voluntarily principles to guide the global
recruitment of health nurses (World Health Organization, 2018). The article also addresses the
national reporting instrument whereby the world health organization promotes informational
exchange on issues circumnavigating health systems and personnel with regard to migration. At
this point, the members of the State have to submit a report to the World Health Organization

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after a period of every three years to explore interventions regarding the execution of the code of
practice (World Health Organization, 2018).
Literature by Micheal (2018) regarding immigration of medical practitioners from the
economic crisis across the globe outlines significant aspects of the topic. Migrant play significant
roles in the workforce of the developed nations (Micheal, 2018). Some of pull and push factors
affecting migration include historical, trade and political relationship and economical differences
between the nations (Micheal, 2018). The health worker migration has come under scrutiny due
to the associated negative impacts in the nations of origin (Micheal, 2018; Aluttis, Bishaw, &
Frank, 2014). The article also presents an analysis of the foreign nurses and other health
workforces in developed nations such as the USA, Canada Australia, and the UK. These data can
be presented through the figure below.
Retrieved from: (Micheal, 2018)
Abarcar and Theoharides (2017) present their literature which emphasizes on global
migration of medical practitioners as the causal agent of reduced supply of educated individuals.
The origin countries of the migration process lose the talents incurred by their education system

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to train migrating nurses (Abarcar and Theoharides, 2017). Migration of nurses across the world
benefits the developed nations who address their concerns regarding workforce shortage while
undermining the less developed countries that suffer from a scarcity of health professionals (Li,
Nie, & Li, 2014). The international code of practice aimed at addressing the crisis by
discouraging the active recruitment of health workers by developed nations. In response to the
international code practice, destination nations have responded by prohibition staffing from
particular nations.
Labonté, et, al. (2015), bring forth an article addressing various aspects regarding global
nursing migration. Seventy percent of the nursing graduates from Philippines travel abroad
(Labonté et, al., 2015). Some of the pull factors include the availability of jobs, personal
development, stable socio-political environment, attractive salaries, professional working
environment, career advancement opportunities and retirement benefits (Labonté et, al., 2015).
Push factors include low wages, limited career development opportunities, lack of work
resources, unstable political environment and limited educational opportunities (Labonté et, al.,
2015). However, the migrants face some challenges which include leaving their family, language
barriers, cost t of traveling abroad and inability to adopts to new clinical practices.
According to Robert (2014), 70% of the nurses who migrate from the Philippines went to
Saudi Arabia. Migration is guided by the power and resource allocations structures (Robert,
2014). Africa has 25% of the global health challenges but only retains three percent of global
health workers. “Skilled workers” is a vital resource upon which every country is competing.
The role of the private and public regulation is periodically being examined in line with
professional training as a fundamental strategy of curbing global nurse migration circuits that
generate tendencies towards management and markets.

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Evaluation
Nurses play a significant role in the training and education sector. The level of education
of the current nurses determines the future scope of the nursing profession (Brom, et, al., 2016;
Ellenbecker, et, al., 2017). For instance, India is made up of plenty of unregistered colleges
which in turn lead to the development of nurses with inadequate skills and knowledge thus
tainting the reputation of India in Canada (Robert, 2014). Additionally, Nurses play a significant
role in determining the standards of education. In India, the government is promoting an
education program that complies with the international standard (Robert, 2014). As we all know,
international standards are designed by the world health organization which is an institution
made of a collection of international experts in the nursing profession.
Nurses play a significant role in promoting patients’ safety during clinical practice.
Therefore, nurses ensure that their professional skills are updated and advanced to meet the
patients’ needs (Ammouri, et, al., 2015). This can be illustrated through an article by (Labonté et,
al. (2015), who presents “career development opportunities” as a pull factor in global nursing
migration.
The role and contribution of a nurse with regard to the nursing administration include
financial resource management, policy planning, and coordination of the nursing practice
(Penner, 2016; Patton, Zalon, & Ludwick, 2018; AbuAlRub, & Foudeh, 2017). Information
obtained from registries is vital in examining the pattern and implications of nurses’ migration
(Buchan, and Sochalski, 2015; Twigg, 2016). Policy planning has been illustrated by Micheal
(2018), who emphasizes the role of the international code of practice in minimizing global nurse

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migration. As we all know, the international code of practice was made by the WHO which is
made of a collection of international experts in the nursing profession.
Discussion
The world trade organization emphasizes on quality transformative education among the
nursing professionals (Siyam, and Roberto, 2014). A similar concept has been illustrated through
a journal by Robert (2014), which emphasizes an education system that complies with the
international standards in India. Reducing global nurse migration should be based on improved
data, information, and cooperation (WHO, 2017). A similar strategy is brought forth by Micheal
(2018), who emphasizes that the success of the code depends on global dialogue, cooperation
and interchange of information. The world health organization initiates a policy-oriented
framework to promote ethical recruitment of health professionals (Aluttis, Bishaw, & Frank,
2014). This aspect has been expressed through Abarcar and Theoharides (2017) who argues that
some countries have started responded to the code by banning the recruitment of health
professionals from some nations. The code recommends nations to address the factors that lead
to migration of the health practitioners while acknowledging the rights of the nurses (Abarcar
and Theoharides, 2017) A similar aspect has been addressed by Robert (2014) emphasizes the
freedom of the Indian nurses to migrate overseas as it is a source of foreign exchange to the
country.
Concussion
As viewed in the review above, one has to come into a consensus that global nurse
migration leads to an advantageous effect on the developed nations while negatively impacting
the less developed nations. However, the execution of the global policy of practice plays a

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significant role in minimizing the side backs associated with the program. The implementation of
the international code of practice calls for nurses' contribution. A collaborative effort is necessary
for addressing the impact of global nurse migration.

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References
Abarcar, P. & Theoharides (2017). The international migration of healthcare professionals and
the supply of educated individuals left behind [online]. Retrieved from:
https://sites.tufts.edu/neudc2017/files/2017/10/paper_393.pdf
AbuAlRub, R. F., & Foudeh, F. N. (2017). Jordanian Nurses' involvement in health policy:
perceived benefits and barriers. International nursing review, 64(1), 13-21.
Aluttis, C., Bishaw, T., & Frank, M. W. (2014). The workforce for health in a globalized
context–global shortages and international migration. Global health action, 7(1), 23611.
Ammouri, A. A., Tailakh, A. K., Muliira, J. K., Geethakrishnan, R., & Al Kindi, S. N. (2015).
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Brom, H. M., Melnyk, B. M., Szalacha, L. A., & Graham, M. (2016). Nurse practitioners’ role
perception, stress, satisfaction, and intent to stay at a Midwestern academic medical
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migration. International journal of nursing sciences, 1(3), 314-317.

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