Nurse’s English-Only Suit
In “Nursing Profession in Need of Transfusion” (Metro, Feb. 25), staff writer Kenneth Garcia cites the national nursing shortage as a key factor impacting our troubled health care network and presents long-term solutions to the problem (i.e, better pay, upgrade in status, improved working conditions). Garcia, however, neglects to identify a primary impediment to the immediate improvement of this state of affairs, namely the absence of congressional action to change our immigration laws to allow a flow of highly qualified and dedicated foreign nurses to enter the U.S. medical system now--before matters worsen.
In a move that squelches overt accusations of apathy on its part, the U.S. House Immigration Subcommittee enacted the Immigration Nursing Relief Act in September, 1989. The bill purports to relieve short-term needs by allowing a restricted cadre of foreign nurses to adjust their status on temporary H-1 visas while maintaining a 6-year cap to their stay.
What has received little if any attention, though, is the unprecedented administrative and financial burdens imposed on our already overburdened health-care providers if they turn toward foreign recruitment.
As an example, the bill requires that a series of annual attestations be filed documenting the institutions’ efforts to fill nurse quotas with U.S. citizens. Some of the requirements are laudable, such as the required hospital-administered training programs.
It is beyond sound economic reasoning, however, that the bill demands that our hospitals first offer U.S. RN’s salary compensation above prevailing local rates. Similarly unjustified is the INS disclosure that this is “not to be considered an exclusive list of requirements” after all. So go ahead, buddy. Take your chances.
Before a labor-strapped institution can access the substantial foreign-born nurse pool, it must also consider that these attestations are considered public documents and are therefore open to the scrutiny and investigation of the U.S. Department of Labor. Projecting this precariousness further, unions and other “aggrieved” parties are welcome to file complaints and demand administrative hearings regarding those grievances--subjecting the hospital to the possibility of civil monetary penalties and administrative sanctions.
In short, the overall effect is further deterioration of the nursing crisis by making it more difficult--and tenuous--to petition for foreign-born professionals.
While improved wages and working conditions will help revive the U.S. nursing profession for the long-haul, legal immigration reform must be instituted if our health-care needs are to be met adequately in the not-so-distant future.
Considering what’s at risk, we owe it to ourselves to support our medical institutions in making this clear to Congress.
RUTH SHAMIR
Los Angeles