International Nursing Review
Volume 56, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 198-205

Is the grass any greener? Canada to United States of America nurse migration (Article)

McGillis Hall L.* , Pink G.H. , Jones C.B. , Leatt P. , Gates M. , Peterson J.
  • a Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, 130-155 College Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1P8, Canada, Research and External Relations, Canada
  • b Department of Health Policy and Administration, Senior Research Fellow, United States
  • c School of Nursing
  • d Academic Affairs, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
  • e School of Nursing, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States
  • f Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Abstract

Aim: Little or no attempt has been made to determine why nurses leave Canada, remain outside of Canada, or under what circumstances might return to Canada. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of Canadian-educated registered nurses working in the USA. Data sources: Data for this study include the 1996, 2000 and 2004 USA National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses and reports from the same time period from the Canadian Institute for Health Information. Findings: This research demonstrates that full-time work opportunities and the potential for ongoing education are key factors that contribute to the migration of Canadian nurses to the USA. In addition, Canada appears to be losing baccalaureate-prepared nurses to the USA. Discussion: These findings underscore how health care policy decisions such as workforce retention strategies can have a direct influence on the nursing workforce. Policy emphasis should be on providing incentives for Canadian-educated nurses to stay in Canada, and obtain full-time work while continuing to develop professionally. Conclusion: Findings from this study provide policy leaders with important information regarding employment options of interest to migrating nurses. Study limitations: This study describes and contrasts nurses in the data set, thus providing information on the context of nurse migration from Canada to the USA. Data utilized in this study are cross-sectional in nature, thus the opportunity to follow individual nurses over time was not possible. © 2009 International Council of Nurses.

Author Keywords

United States of America recruitment Nurse migration Retention Canada

Index Keywords

education Education, Nursing, Continuing nursing education Foreign Professional Personnel psychological aspect nursing methodology research motivation human middle aged statistics nursing staff Salaries and Fringe Benefits ethnology salary and fringe benefit health personnel attitude Cross-Sectional Studies Attitude of Health Personnel United States career mobility foreign worker cross-sectional study Humans male Canada Emigrants and Immigrants Nursing Administration Research female personnel management Article organization and management Retrospective Studies Personnel Selection adult migration Analysis of Variance retrospective study employment
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-65649091324&doi=10.1111%2fj.1466-7657.2008.00706.x&partnerID=40&md5=78ddd8f98213a137e7a21e9801afc77d
DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-7657.2008.00706.x
ISSN: 00208132
Cited by: 11
Original Language: English