The perspectives of internationally qualified nurses regarding their specialty skill transition to Australia: A cross-sectional survey.

AIM: To identify barriers and facilitators of speciality skill transfer for internationally qualified nurses in Australia from the nurses' perspective. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was distributed through social media, snowballing and nursing professional organization. Data analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. DATA SOURCES: Online survey data from participants matching the inclusion criteria were collected from July to September 2022. RESULTS: Survey results reveal facilitators (competence, scope of practice, linguistic sufficiency, understanding of decision-making) and barriers (lack of opportunity, transition pathways, confidence in overseas education, financial instability) for internationally qualified nurses' speciality skill utilization in Australia. CONCLUSION: Identifying and addressing barriers and facilitators, along with developing tailored transition pathways, are crucial for maximizing speciality skill utilization among internationally qualified nurses. These findings have implications for policymakers, healthcare organizations and nurses. They highlight the need to address barriers, facilitate smooth transitions and implement proactive measures for internationally qualified nurses to effectively utilize their specialty skills. IMPACT: The study addresses maximizing skill usage for internationally qualified nurses, identifies barriers and facilitators for specialty skill transfer in Australia and will impact policymakers, healthcare organizations and nurses by guiding strategies for safe nursing service delivery and optimizing patient care. REPORTING METHOD: STROBE checklist. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: A total of 71 internationally qualified nurses contributed their experiences and opinions. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER CONTRIBUTE TO THE WIDER GLOBAL CLINICAL COMMUNITY?: Lack of opportunity and the lack of transition pathways inhibit the use of specialty nursing skills by internationally qualified nurses. This study's findings contradict the result of other studies that suggest language is a significant obstacle to the utilization of specialty skills of internationally qualified nurses. TRIAL AND PROTOCOL REGISTRATION: The protocol is registered on OSF. The data for this study are available for sharing with the reviewers upon request. However, it is worth noting that ethical approval has not been obtained specifically for web sharing, and therefore, the data has not been posted in any repositories or public platforms.

Strategies employed by developed countries to facilitate the transition of internationally qualified nurses specialty skills into clinical practice: An integrative review.

BACKGROUND: Recruitment of internationally qualified nurses as a labour source is a long-standing human resource strategy being implemented to address the current and increasing global nursing shortage. Internationally qualified nurses transitioning into the health workforce of developed countries following immigration often possess specialty skills. A lack of a clear pathway of specialty skill utilisation makes recognising and using these specialty skills complex for many nurses. The ability for nurses to transition between countries and maintain specialty practice demands immediate attention in the current atmosphere of the global pandemic and the predictions to recruit more specialist nurses from overseas. AIM: To identify and synthesise strategies taken by various developed countries in transitioning specialist internationally qualified nurses into practice. METHODS: An integrative review was conducted to identify common themes, patterns, and best practices in order to inform policy development and improve the successful integration of internationally qualified nurses into the healthcare systems of developed countries. The study employed the Whittemore and Knafl five-stage integrative review approach. To conduct a comprehensive search, four electronic databases, namely Medline, CINAHL Complete, ProQuest Health, and EMBASE, were systematically searched in October 2021. The search was updated in March 2022 to ensure the inclusion of the most recent literature. Additionally, Google Scholar was utilised to avoid overlooking any important articles. Prior to the full-text review, three reviewers independently evaluated titles and abstracts. The included papers' quality was determined using the JBI critical appraisal tools. RESULTS: This study included 10 papers, comprising three studies and seven reports. However, none of these documents provided information on how internationally qualified nurses could transfer their specialty skills acquired overseas to developed countries after immigrating. The guidelines and policies reviewed only offered generic advice on becoming a specialist nurse. Although some countries mentioned that post-graduate qualifications were not mandatory for nurse specialists, the majority of documents in this review emphasised the need for a national framework of education at level eight or higher (equivalent to a post-graduate level) to attain the status of a nurse specialist. Moreover, the included documents did not provide clear information on whether an international specialisation degree would be recognised during the registration process. As a result, confusion persists regarding the requirement of post-graduate qualifications for nurses aiming to specialise and the recognition of international specialisation degrees during the registration process. DISCUSSION: The lack of consistency in defining nurse specialty and the skill transferability among institutions and state borders were evident in this review. According to all the 10 documents analysed, developed countries appear to have minimum policies on the transfer of internationally qualified nurse's specialty skills. Recommendations for policymakers, employers, and aspirant migrants have been proposed. Limited research has been done on how developed countries used their internationally qualified nurses' overseas-acquired specialist skills after immigration, indicating a lack of a distinct specialist skill transition pathway. CONCLUSIONS: This review presents data to support the need for greater research in this area to better utilise the abilities that internationally qualified nurses bring from their home country and put them to constructive use in the host country, especially in the context of a global pandemic.

Factors influencing Australian nursing and midwifery students COVID-19 vaccination intentions.

Background: Vaccination for COVID-19 has become a cornerstone management plan for many countries. Australian state governments made vaccinations mandatory for all healthcare workers. Despite evidence on the important role vaccines hold in preventing or decreasing serious disease, there have been many nurses and midwives who have demonstrated vaccine hesitancy. This hesitancy has also been present in undergraduate nursing and midwifery students. The aim of this study was to explore factors influencing Australian nursing and midwifery students' intentions towards receiving the COVID-19 vaccine; identify the barriers and facilitators to obtaining the COVID-19 vaccine; and understand students' perceptions of mandating the COVID-19 vaccine and identify any impact on their studies.. Methods: Cross-sectional mixed method study utilising an online survey platform. Data were analysed using binomial and multinomial logistic regression through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. A content analysis was completed for the qualitative data. Results: There were 715 participants and 556 who completed the survey in full. Nurses made up the majority of participants (n = 409), 133 participants were midwives and 30 were in dual nursing/midwifery programs. Education and communication were identified as two major factors that facilitate vaccine acceptance. Conclusions: Vaccines are integral in the prevention of contracting COVID-19 or reducing the severity of the symptoms. However, many nursing and midwifery students have shown reluctance towards getting vaccinated. The mandate to be vaccinated to attend clinical placement has led to the inability of some students to complete their course. The findings from this study are valuable in informing the future COVID-19 vaccination strategies and improving vaccine acceptance. COVID-19 remains a global health risk and therefore further research is needed of vaccine acceptance amongst the future health workforces. It is crucial knowledge for policy makers and healthcare services as they plan for any future pandemics and implement Australia's national vaccine strategy.

Evaluation of a digital application to support internationally qualified nurses' communication and leadership skills.

BACKGROUND: Internationally qualified nurses enrolled in Australian bridging programs to support professional registration lack confidence, and require support and time to develop communication and leadership skills in the clinical setting. Strategies that strengthen professional self-concept have been demonstrated to improve the nursing performance of internationally qualified nurses. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate an interactive mobile application called mPreceptor, specifically designed to support internationally qualified nurses' communication and leadership skills during a 6 week clinical placement. The application facilitated weekly learning content and activities in the areas of clinical communication and leadership, including self-assessment, goal-setting, case studies, and weekly detailed reflections while on placement. DESIGN: A quasi-experimental pre and post-test design with a non-equivalent comparison group was used to explore the effectiveness of mPreceptor on internationally qualified nurses' self-appraisal of professional self-concept, including leadership and communication skills, compared with standard clinical placement. The psychometrically tested Nurse Self-Concept Questionnaire, measured changes to perceived professional self-concept. RESULTS: Overall, there was a significant increase in Nurse Self-Concept following the clinical placement, confirming that the bridging program for internationally qualified nurses in Australia improves leadership and communication skills. Leadership skills were significantly greater for those internationally qualified nurses who engaged with mPreceptor. CONCLUSION: Further research is required to investigate the application of interactive mobile applications, as effective education resources to facilitate internationally qualified nurses' transition of skills and knowledge to the Australian healthcare context.