The presence of foreign nurses in Italy: towards the ethical recruitment of health workers

Journal title SALUTE E SOCIETÀ
Author/s Gennaro Rocco, Alessandro Stievano
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2013/3En
Language English Pages 15 P. 19-33 File size 685 KB
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In this article, we describe the situation of the foreign nurses who work in Italy: where they mainly come from, and the main fields where they are employed. Moreover, it describes how this phenomenon is related to Italy’s shortage of nurses. Notwithstanding Italy needs to train about 35,000 new health professionals a year, yet its training capacity is limited. This shortage of nurses and other health professionals can jeopardize Italy’s ability to provide the health services its population needs. Within this context the IPASVI Nursing Board and the Transcultural Italian Nursing Association adopted the Global Code of Practice (WHO) on the International Recruitment of Health Workforce. Its objective is to ensure that the global demand for the recruitment of health personnel does not negatively affect countries with weak health systems. Hence, the "Manifesto for Health Workforce Strengthening" was drawn up, and then launched and adopted by a group of Italian organisations active in Italy within the framework of health cooperation, public health and international migration.

Keywords: Health workforce, foreigner nurses, shortage, international recruitment, general public needs, Manifesto for health workforce strengthening.

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Gennaro Rocco, Alessandro Stievano, The presence of foreign nurses in Italy: towards the ethical recruitment of health workers in "SALUTE E SOCIETÀ" 3En/2013, pp 19-33, DOI: