It’s estimated that approximately 8% of all nurses in the US are internationally trained, which equals approximately 300,000 nurses, according to a survey released today by O’Grady Peyton, the international staffing division of AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AMN). It also found that some 86% of international nurses working the US have treated Covid-19 patients while 17% of them have themselves contracted Covid.
“At a time of prevailing nurse shortages, international nurses are providing a vital supplement to the workforce, filling some of the most demanding and critical patient care roles during the pandemic,” said Sinead Carbery, president of O’Grady Peyton. “Many hospitals would be on the brink of collapse without them.”
The survey also found that 19% of international nurses work in intensive care units compared to 15% of all nurses. In addition, 8% of international nurses work in emergency departments compared to 5% of all nurses. And 11% of international nurses work in psychiatric units compared to 4% of all nurses.
The majority of internationally trained nurses, 77%, are from one of these three countries: the Philippines, Jamaica and India. Some 10% of international nurses were trained in Africa.
More than a third, 36%, said they have “often” or “many times” experienced discrimination based on their country of origin or ethnicity. However, 81% said they would choose to work in the US again if they had their careers to do over while only 5% would not with 14% neutral.
The survey included 593 responses from international nurses.