Exploring the Challenges Immigrant Nurses have with the Working Life Integration Process
Alimambo, Yvonne; Gabrillo, Juan Manuel; See, Sacha (2019)
Alimambo, Yvonne
Gabrillo, Juan Manuel
See, Sacha
2019
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019060314408
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2019060314408
Tiivistelmä
This study is part of the TyöPeda project by the Ministry of Education with Arcada University of Applied Sciences. The purpose of this study is to identify the challenges that immigrant nurses experienced in integrating into a new work environment. The questions that guided this were: what types of accreditation and recognition of prior learning strategies exist for immigrant nurses in transition; what types of core competencies they need to have when working in the healthcare profession; and what type of challenges they face at the workplace during the transition. The study uses a literature review of 30 articles from Academic Search Elite (EBSCO), PubMed, SAGE, and ScienceDirect. Inductive qualitative content analysis is used, guided by the Graneheim and Lundman’s (2004) concepts, procedures and measure to achieve trustworthiness. Transition theory by A.I. Meleis is used as a conceptual framework. The major findings are categorized into cultural, intrapersonal, licensing and education, profession-specific, and social. Cultural, that include belief, language, and values, is the most common category from the articles that were reviewed. There also exist intrapersonal conflicts: anxiety, isolation/loneliness, and homesickness during the transition. There is also a lack of standard accreditation process for the immigrant nurses’ previous education and experience. Profession-specific includes orientation, role confusion, and skills mismatch. This comes from a lack of orientation, unclear expectations, and differences in practice between the source and host countries. Interpersonal conflicts, racism, and discrimination are under Social. These extend from co-workers, patients, visitors, and at institutional levels. The study recommends further researches to be conducted to identify coping mechanisms and interventions to overcome the challenges identified, and also to see more extensive studies specifically on immigrant nurses integrating to working life in Finland.