CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nurses have been the backbone of the healthcare system throughout the entire COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve worked long hours in difficult and dangerous situations, and research shows it’s led to a lot of burnout and many choosing to leave the profession.
Hospital systems are getting creative when seeking solutions to the nursing shortage. Novant Health has the goal of hiring 300 international nurses through its international nurse fellowship program.
“We have known this was coming in North Carolina specifically," Tracey Whitley, the manager of nurse residencies for Novant Health said. "Projections would be that we were either going to be the second or ninth state in the U.S. with the largest nursing shortage."
The pandemic accelerated the projection. Researchers at UNC found that 10 years from now, North Carolina could be short tens of thousands of nurses.
“With so many nurses going into travel nursing, which was very lucrative at the time, nurses re-evaluating if it’s time to retire, which is one of the reasons we were going to go into the shortage to begin with,” Whitley said. “Our workforce has been aging and being a bedside nurse is very challenging and hard on your body.”
Novant Health is working to recruit and retain skilled nurses at a time when hospital systems across the country are competing for the same employees. They recently started an international nurse fellowship, so far hiring more than 100 international nurses.
“COVID amplified the need for nurses," Karol Alonzo-Jarvis, the assistant nurse manager for the international nurse fellowship program at Novant Health said. "We want to help the nurses with their workload, and there’s just nurses wanting to better their lives in the U.S. There’s a lot more opportunities here."
The international nurses must meet the same requirements as the nurses here, but it gives the hospital system a new group of people to recruit from, helping to fill in the gaps of the nursing shortage.
“I feel very blessed to be working in Novant Health,” Seema George told WCNC Charlotte.
She’s the first nurse hired as part of the international nurse fellowship program to arrive in Charlotte.
“I see a lot of floating,” George said. “They have the staff, but then they float to other units, so we share the staff.”
George has more than 20 years of experience, first in India and then in Canada.
At a time when recruiting and retaining skilled nurses is challenging, this program allows Novant Health to grow and diversify its workforce. They then provide yearlong wrap-around services to ensure the nurses and their families adjust to their new homes.
“This program is a win for Novant Health, but it’s a win for these people,” Whitley said. “This international community that’s able to come and as they say in our interview time and time again, experience the American dream.”
For George, that means continuing her education and moving up the ranks.
“Since we moved for the better future for my kids and my family, I want to stay, I want to bring some change and I have started my master’s program in leadership and administration,” she said.
International recruiting isn’t a new concept. National organizations estimate about 15% of the nurses in the United States are educated in another country.
Contact Chloe Leshner at cleshner@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
WCNC Charlotte is part of seven major media companies and other local institutions reporting on and engaging the community around the problems and solutions as they relate to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a project of the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative, which is supported by the Local Media Project, an initiative launched by the Solutions Journalism Network with support from the Knight Foundation to strengthen and reinvigorate local media ecosystems. See all of our reporting at charlottejournalism.org.