We are called upon to lead

The paper "Global Nurse Migration: Its Impact on Developing Countries and Prospects for the Future" by Khaliq, Broyles and Mwachofi explores the global nurse migration experience in developed and developing countries. Nurses choose to migrate from developing countries in response to economic and political instability, and poor salaries and working conditions in their home countries. These factors also interfere with the home countries' capacity to deliver education for health professions and to provide adequate support for a healthcare system. The paper clearly outlines the catastrophic outcomes of nurse migration for developing countries where inadequate numbers of trained and experienced nurses remain to support education and administration. Many well-documented references in the paper report overburdening of the remaining workforce, reduced access to care, increased risk of patient mortality, increased maternal, infant and under-five-year mortality rates, reduced life expectancy, increased incidence of communicable diseases and reduced immunization, all resulting from shortages of health professionals, leading to increased nursing workload and burnout.