FROM OWR colLwMNIsTs htermtiond Affairs Globalization
G
and Nursing
LOBALIZATION has a variety of meanings to different people. To US health care professionals, it carries the message of exporting and importing products and services as well as creating new partners in health care throughout the world. What then might US nurses perceive as their roles in globalization? Schools of medicine, public health, and business are concerned with globalization issues that include implementing health care services and research abroad. In addition, the reality of embracing and accommodating foreign competitors into the US market, much as other nations have accommodated a multinational presence in their countries, is troublesome. There are many ways we can pursue global partnerships. Many of us have participated in the “export” method, through consultations with health care institutions, schools of nursing, ministries of health, and other government agencies overseas, etc. However, the “import” aspects of globalization require further examination as most schools of nursing in the United States are still making foreign nurse admissions difficult. The advanced knowledge and sophistication of the discipline of nursing in North America is unique. The status of nursing has increased exponentially with the advances of the women’s movement on this continent; the relationship between the two is a positive one. Nurses must be cognizant of the opportunities that global relationships and the concomitant increasing status of women offer us. We have much to learn and understand about the culture and professional status of women and nurses around the world before we undertake global partnerships in nursing. Admission policies for many US public universities and the accompanying restrictions imposed by many state boards of nursing for foreign nursing students have created seemingly unsurmountable barriers and a negative message from the United States. Because nursing curricula offered by schools in North America are ideal for foreign nurse studies and are of the highest caliber in the world, admission to these schools is eagerly sought after by foreign nurses and their sponsoring agencies, when they know about them. Too often, US public universities are rejected as too difficult to enter and at too high a cost.
JOAN E. UHL,
PHD,
RN
Associate Dean fbr Acaa’emicAffairs Directs of Graduate Studies School of Nursing Vnivcrsity of North Caroha
at Chapel Hill
CB 7460 Cawington Hall Cbajd Hill, NC 27599
Copyright 0 1991 by W.B. Saunders Company 8755-7223/91/0701-0001$3.00/O 2
Partnerships
Tolerance for and acceptance of credentials of foreign registered nurses (RNs) appear to be major barriers to facilitating global partnerships. The majority of international nurses who are academically qualified to pursue admission to North American schools of nursing are already RNs in their own countries. Yet, there appears to be a great deal of hesitancy by US schools and state boards of nursing to acknowledge the foreign credential. Most often foreign nurses are required to pass the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing School examination and the Test of English as a Foreign Language before initiating the US or Canadian admission process to schools of nursing. In addition, in many states in the United States, foreign-educated and -credentialed RNs must also pass the RN-National Council Licensure Examination before being permitted to work and to participate in clinical practica experiences in their graduate education. As a large proportion of foreign nursing students already have earned the RN certification, the state board requirement is an additional hardship and one that inhibits global partnerships. Many foreign governments-the World Health Organization, the United States Agency for International Development, and Kellogg and other foundations-provide educational fellowships for nurses in developing countries to seek higher education. Since the United States has been providing nursing education opportunities at all levelsBSN, MSN, and a doctorate in nursing-for many decades, it is clear that nursing schools in the United States are most often selected for graduate studies. However, it appears that US nursing schools within public universities are not marketed well overseas. Those of us in schools of nursing would do well to pay attention to the business world’s globalization strategies by marketing our nursing curricula with accompanying partnership commitments and by welcoming foreign nurses as colleagues in international health care. Knowledge and skills in nursing research are most urgently sought by foreign practicing nurses and nurse educators. Potential educators, practitioners, and researchers are anxious to pursue studies to better prepare themselves to provide quality nursing care and to develop the profession of nursing in their home countries. Political action, a conceptual foundation of nursing, and a working knowledge of research methodologies in nursing, are requirements for nurses who are attempting to establish nursing as a valid and contributing discipline. It only has been during the past decade that foreign governments and institutions have recognized the value of educated nurses and their roles in education, research, and in the health care of the people of their nations. An opportunity is before us now to seek to join with nurses of other countries to solidify collaborative health care for the 2Ist century.
Journal of Proft?rsional Naming, Vol 7, No
1 (January-February),
199 1: p 2
G
and Nursing
LOBALIZATION has a variety of meanings to different people. To US health care professionals, it carries the message of exporting and importing products and services as well as creating new partners in health care throughout the world. What then might US nurses perceive as their roles in globalization? Schools of medicine, public health, and business are concerned with globalization issues that include implementing health care services and research abroad. In addition, the reality of embracing and accommodating foreign competitors into the US market, much as other nations have accommodated a multinational presence in their countries, is troublesome. There are many ways we can pursue global partnerships. Many of us have participated in the “export” method, through consultations with health care institutions, schools of nursing, ministries of health, and other government agencies overseas, etc. However, the “import” aspects of globalization require further examination as most schools of nursing in the United States are still making foreign nurse admissions difficult. The advanced knowledge and sophistication of the discipline of nursing in North America is unique. The status of nursing has increased exponentially with the advances of the women’s movement on this continent; the relationship between the two is a positive one. Nurses must be cognizant of the opportunities that global relationships and the concomitant increasing status of women offer us. We have much to learn and understand about the culture and professional status of women and nurses around the world before we undertake global partnerships in nursing. Admission policies for many US public universities and the accompanying restrictions imposed by many state boards of nursing for foreign nursing students have created seemingly unsurmountable barriers and a negative message from the United States. Because nursing curricula offered by schools in North America are ideal for foreign nurse studies and are of the highest caliber in the world, admission to these schools is eagerly sought after by foreign nurses and their sponsoring agencies, when they know about them. Too often, US public universities are rejected as too difficult to enter and at too high a cost.
JOAN E. UHL,
PHD,
RN
Associate Dean fbr Acaa’emicAffairs Directs of Graduate Studies School of Nursing Vnivcrsity of North Caroha
at Chapel Hill
CB 7460 Cawington Hall Cbajd Hill, NC 27599
Copyright 0 1991 by W.B. Saunders Company 8755-7223/91/0701-0001$3.00/O 2
Partnerships
Tolerance for and acceptance of credentials of foreign registered nurses (RNs) appear to be major barriers to facilitating global partnerships. The majority of international nurses who are academically qualified to pursue admission to North American schools of nursing are already RNs in their own countries. Yet, there appears to be a great deal of hesitancy by US schools and state boards of nursing to acknowledge the foreign credential. Most often foreign nurses are required to pass the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing School examination and the Test of English as a Foreign Language before initiating the US or Canadian admission process to schools of nursing. In addition, in many states in the United States, foreign-educated and -credentialed RNs must also pass the RN-National Council Licensure Examination before being permitted to work and to participate in clinical practica experiences in their graduate education. As a large proportion of foreign nursing students already have earned the RN certification, the state board requirement is an additional hardship and one that inhibits global partnerships. Many foreign governments-the World Health Organization, the United States Agency for International Development, and Kellogg and other foundations-provide educational fellowships for nurses in developing countries to seek higher education. Since the United States has been providing nursing education opportunities at all levelsBSN, MSN, and a doctorate in nursing-for many decades, it is clear that nursing schools in the United States are most often selected for graduate studies. However, it appears that US nursing schools within public universities are not marketed well overseas. Those of us in schools of nursing would do well to pay attention to the business world’s globalization strategies by marketing our nursing curricula with accompanying partnership commitments and by welcoming foreign nurses as colleagues in international health care. Knowledge and skills in nursing research are most urgently sought by foreign practicing nurses and nurse educators. Potential educators, practitioners, and researchers are anxious to pursue studies to better prepare themselves to provide quality nursing care and to develop the profession of nursing in their home countries. Political action, a conceptual foundation of nursing, and a working knowledge of research methodologies in nursing, are requirements for nurses who are attempting to establish nursing as a valid and contributing discipline. It only has been during the past decade that foreign governments and institutions have recognized the value of educated nurses and their roles in education, research, and in the health care of the people of their nations. An opportunity is before us now to seek to join with nurses of other countries to solidify collaborative health care for the 2Ist century.
Journal of Proft?rsional Naming, Vol 7, No
1 (January-February),
199 1: p 2
