Comparing Difficulties in Starting Work in the United States for Internationally Educated Nurses from High and Middle/Low-Income Countries

Research has shown that a significant of nurses migrate to the United States from all around the world making up 3-5% of the United States (US) nursing work force. The immigration process has many difficulties surrounding it. Some nurses are actively recruited to the United States and some research has shown that if they are recruited from low-income countries they are more likely to be recruited unethically than if they are recruited from high-income countries. This study added to the pool of knowledge on internationally educated nurses by answering the following objectives; 1) identify the top high and middle/low income countries from which nurses were recruited, 2) describe who helped internationally educated nurses (IEN) to find employment in the US, and see if there results significantly differed from high income countries versus middle/low income countries; and 3) compare the difficulties experienced while starting work in the US as an RN by high-income country nurse migrants and middle/low income country nurse migrants. This study found that most IEN emigrated from middle/low income countries. It also found that middle/low income nurse migrants are more likely to had found employment in the US by a recruitment agency or family/friends. Finally it showed that middle/low income nurse migrants were more likely to have difficulties surrounding starting work in the US, while high-income country nurse migrants were more likely to report no difficulties upon starting work in the US.Bachelor of Scienc