Call to action for advocacy of immigrant nurses during COVID‐19 pandemic

Tayaben, Jude Laoagan; Younas, Ahtisham

The increase in the migration of nurses has a global effect on the healthcare system (Li et al., 2014). Immigrant nurses are essential team players of the global nursing workforce and play a vital role in improving the global health care system and providing culturally sensitive care. According to the Trines (2018), the global immigrant population of nurses is 15.2% in the UK, 23.3% in Australia, 26.7% in New Zealand, 18.7% in Switzerland, and 7.7% in Canada. Patel et al., (2018) determined that 1.3% to 23.1% registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed practice nurses, and nursing aids in the US are immigrants (non-US born and non- US citizens). Possibly, the actual number of immigrant nurses in the developed countries cannot be estimated accurately because many of these nurses have not obtained the practicing license and are working as personal care attendants, home, and developmental support workers.