Strategic Planning for Future Delivery of Care: Onboarding Foreign-Educated Nurses

Caregiver competency to ensure public safety is an expectation for every health care worker within the United States. The current nursing workforce has 4.5 million active, licensed registered nurses (RNs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), and licensed practical nurses (LPNs).1 The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected in 2014 that a 50% reduction of that same workforce would be attributed to the upcoming retirements, escalating around 2022.2 The nursing shortage in the United States is cyclic in nature and may need to be supplemented once again with foreign-educated nurses (FEN).3, 4 The Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended in the 2010 report Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health that targeted educational investment in FEN is needed to promote nursing competency.5 Knowledge deficit presented by FENs show ignorance of the system of the new country, health care policies, and regulations.6 Successful FEN integration in the health care environment requires supportive leadership and targeted competencies operationalized at the organizational level.