Description:
No study has examined the longitudinal trends in National Council Licensure Exam for Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) applicants and pass rates among internationally-educated nurses (IENs) seeking to work in the United States, nor has any analysis explored the impact of specific events on these trends, including changes to the NCLEX-RN exam, the role of the economic crisis, or the passing of the WHO Code on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel. The purpose of the study is to understand the impact of the three aforementioned events and how they may influence current and future IEN recruitment patterns to the United States.
Methods:
The random effects panel data analysis analyzed 11 years (2003-2013) of annual IEN applicant numbers and pass rates for registered nurse credentialing.
A total of 177 countries were eligible for inclusion, representing findings from 200,453 IEN applicants to the United States between 2003 and 2013. Sixty nine percent of applicants were from the Philippines (58%) and India (11%).
Findings:
No significant changes were found in the number of candidates following the 2008 economic crisis or the 2010 WHO Code, although pass rates decreased significantly following the 2008 exam modifications and the WHO Code implementation.
Conclusions:
This study suggests that, while the WHO Code had an influence on overall IEN migration dynamics to the United States by decreasing candidate numbers, in most cases, the WHO Code was not the single cause of these fluctuations. Indeed, the impact of the NCLEX-RN exam changes appears to exert a larger influence.
Author(s):
Squires, A., Ojemeni, M.T., & Jones, S.
Complete citation if published:
Squires, A., Ojemeni, M.T., & Jones, S. (2016). Exploring longitudinal shifts in international nurse migration to the United States between 2003 and 2013 through a random effects panel data analysis. Human Resources for Health, 14(Supp 1): 21. Doi: 10.1186/s12960-016-0118-7
