On Wednesday, November 9th, I attended the workshop “Policies, Barriers, and Incentives for Skilled Labor Migration and Immigration: Healthcare as a Special Case”. Many notable individuals coming from universities and institutes around the country came together to discuss the case of skilled worker immigration in healthcare. In this specific workshop, the individuals are considering the issues, barriers, challenges, opportunities, and ethical considerations for recruiting and retaining immigrant health care workers. One of the biggest debates throughout this workshop was the importance of skilled health care worker migration vs. immigration.
The speaker that touched greatly on worker migration vs. immigration was Diana Vellos Coker. She discussed the possibilities of migration for doctors and nurses and visa limitations. Most of the visas that are available to nurses are in the form of temporary visas. The process to get a green card, however, is a very long, drawn out process. There is initially a visa screening process to ensure that the nurse’s credentials are appropriate. First, they must have a visa that is valid for 5 years and this must stay current. They also must pass and English requirement, and finally be able to prove that they have a certain skill set to bring into the US. Then, depending on the country of origin, many nurses must wait 8-15 years to receive their green card. However, during this time, they are recommended not to leave the US because then their visa status can get reevaluated which would not qualify them for the green card anymore. The barrier to leave the US can prove to be very difficult if they have other family members in their country of origin, but if went against it, they would lose their chance of immigrating. In the past, this green card process has taken only 3 months, so much has changed throughout the years.
Another argument that was brought forward regarding immigration practices is the necessity of these immigrant health care workers. Currently, it is not a shortage of nurses that cause the problem of health care within the US, but rather a geographic misdistribution. There is a severe lack of health care workers in medically underserved areas, or rural areas, and also in long term care facilities. This is due to poor work environments, high turnover rates, and a lack of faculty to prepare nurses. If immigration laws were to provide a green card incentive for working in such areas, then it is likely that this health care issue can be mended. Otherwise, many of these immigrant nurses are just going into areas that don’t necessarily need the extra work force. Unfortunately, putting in place any sort of immigration incentive is a very abstract idea and is not likely to pass, so immigrants will still have to withstand long immigration processes and their immigration will not be used to solve the health care maldistribution issue.
It seems unfair that countries throughout the world that are in need of health care workers do not receive the necessary help. If aid is not given, the vicious cycle of poor health and the spread of infectious disease will continue. In order in improve the standard of living in such areas; the amount of health care workers must increase. With the help of incentive programs, a possible increase in immigrant workers can potentially be reached.
ReplyDeleteSkilled Labor Migration and Immigration seem a problem that the counties should concern about it. During lecture, the professor had said that nurses are parts of this global market as many countries, both those that are high in resources and are low in resources, are reporting shortage of nurses. The countries should balance the right of people to migrate and needs of people left behind. Old people need a lot of health care. That mean the countries need to increase the health care workers. The incentive program is a good idea to increase demand of immigrant healthcare workers.
ReplyDeleteDeveloping countries need to give their well-educated and skilled workers a reason to stay and help improve their home country. If not skilled workers will continue to migrate or immigrate to places where they can get jobs for right amount of money for their educated and skilled minds. If not we will still have an imbalance of where there are skilled and unskilled workers in our world.
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