Internationally recruited nurses' experiences in England: A survey approach

Over the past few years, there has been an impetus to recruit internationally registered nurses to work in the National Health Service (NHS) to avert the labor shortage inherent in the United Kingdom.

To determine internationally registered nurses' perception of discrimination, support, and their adjustment to a new environment in the NHS in England.

A descriptive survey was used. Data were collected from 188 internationally recruited nurses using a questionnaire approach from 15 National Health Service hospitals in England. Data were analyzed using chi-square, Fisher exact, or Kruskal-Wallis tests.

The study had a 21% response rate. There were 81.9% females and 18.1% males who participated in the survey. A mean score of 7.55 and standard deviation of 6.82 were calculated for the number of years of experience of working in the NHS. The findings revealed many statistical differences between the different ethnic groups used in the study. Generally, internationally recruited nurses from Africa, in particular, perceived discrimination to be evident in the workplace, the support they received was limited, and their adjustment to a new environment was the weakest in comparison with the other internationally recruited nurses from the different data sets.

Although the needs of all internationally recruited nurses should be considered, it would appear that the needs of African nurses are the greatest because the study found that they experienced challenges in the working environment in the NHS.