Integrating Immigrant Health Professionals into the US Health Care Workforce: A Report from the Field

Abstract

Since 2001, the Welcome Back Initiative (WBI) has implemented a program model in ten US cities to help foreign trained health professionals enter the US healthcare workforce. This paper reviews how the WBI has worked toward achieving this goal through community needs assessment, the development of a comprehensive program model and ongoing program evaluation. Since 2001, the WBI has served over 10,700 immigrant health professionals. Of these participants, 66% were not previously working in the health sector. After participating in the WBI's services, 23% of participants found work in health care for the first time, 21% passed a licensing exam, and 87 physicians were connected to a residency program. As the US is facing a major shortfall of health care providers, the WBI is uniquely positioned to help fill a gap in provider supply with qualified, culturally aware, experienced clinicians that the current medical education infrastructure is unable to meet.

Qualification programmes for immigrant health professionals: A systematic review

“…The first category refers to programmes combining teaching and clinical practise (n = 11 [15, 18–21, 41, 42, 46, 51, 52, 54]). The second category refers to programmes only offering teaching (n = 10 [22, 25–27, 39, 43, 44, 47, 50, 55]) or practise (n = 2 [40, 48]), whereas programmes in the third category (n = 8 [14, 23, 24, 37, 38, 45, 49, 53]) offered primarily elements of social support, such as mentorship [23, 37], peer support [45], reflection through exchange with local staff [14], case management and counselling [38], career advice [45], social support or group activities. Within the third category, two programmes relied on media-based teaching only via videoconferences or web-tools (n = 2 [24, 49]).…”

“…Within the third category, two programmes relied on media-based teaching only via videoconferences or web-tools (n = 2 [24, 49]). However, in most cases (n = 4 [23, 38, 45, 53]) these social support elements were combined with teaching.…”

“…Most programmes focused on language, communication and consultation skills, including aspects of doctor-patient-relationship (n = 13 [18, 21, 23, 39, 41–43, 45, 47, 49–52], teamwork (n = 6 [15, 41, 42, 45, 47, 54]) and cultural and ethical aspects (n = 9 [18, 19, 21, 39, 41, 49, 50, 52, 53]). Medical standards, clinical practise (n = 10 [14, 22, 23, 27, 41, 42, 49, 52–54]) and the health care system (n = 8 [15, 20, 38, 41, 45, 50, 51, 53]) were also common topics. National examination preparation was likewise part of the delivered content (n = 10 [18, 20, 22–27, 50, 55]).…”

Motivations of nurses who migrate to Canada as domestic workers

“…Attrition is even greater for internationally educated nurses who are much more likely to be working outside the nursing profession. For instance, in the USA, Fernandez‐Pena () found that 66% of internationally educated health professionals were not working in the healthcare sector. Furthermore, most of those who were working in the health sector were not working in roles that commensurate with their education and experience.…”

Supporting the Integration of Refugee and Asylum Seeking Physicians Into the US Health Care System

“…The WBI is a network of 10 centers in 9 states providing orientation, counseling, and support to foreign-trained health workers. 9 Another nonprofit program, Upwardly Global (UpGlo), helps work-authorized skilled immigrants DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-18-01010…”