PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Immigrant nurses in long-term care facilities often have more “human capital” compared to American-born nurses, MU researcher finds

Findings can help create a more diverse, equitable workforce in nursing homes, which improves patient health outcomes.

Immigrant nurses in long-term care facilities often have more “human capital” compared to American-born nurses, MU researcher finds
2023-08-01
(Press-News.org) COLUMBIA, Mo. -- When assessing the skills and competencies or “human capital” of long-term care registered nurses in the United States, studies often focus solely on years of experience and traditional educational backgrounds. However, a new study conducted by a nurse scientist now at University of Missouri found that by incorporating additional criteria, such as ability to speak multiple languages, additional certificates or trainings and licenses to practice in multiple states, immigrant nurses often represent far more human capital than their American-born counterparts.

Roy Thompson, a postdoctoral fellow in the MU Sinclair School of Nursing who immigrated from Jamaica to earn a doctoral degree in nursing at Duke University, analyzed demographic data of more than 1,800 nurses working in nursing homes or long-term care rehabilitation centers in the U.S. Incorporating his additional criteria, Thompson and his research team compared the human capital of immigrant nurses to American-born nurses and found that immigrant nurses were far more likely to speak multiple languages, have additional certificates, years of experience, and had licenses to practice in more states than American-born nurses.

“By incorporating the additional criteria, we get a much better model for comparison, and I wanted to show that immigrant nurses often have a wealth of transferrable skills, are more mobile and adaptable given their experiences practicing in different long-term care settings,” Thompson said. “Immigrant nurses are crucial for diversifying the nursing workforce, as they bring a different cultural lens, a different racial lens, and a different linguistic lens.”

Thompson said most immigrant nurses belonging to racial and ethnic minority groups migrate to the U.S. from the Philippines, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the English Caribbean. While they might have a significant amount of human capital, they are often hired for underpaid, entry-level positions and forced to work their way up after arriving in the U.S.

“Previous research shows immigrant nurses experience discrimination, racism, exploitation, inequitable pay, and unfavorable treatment at work. I wanted to study the impact immigrant nurses have on long-term care,” Thompson said. “For example, there was some evidence that immigrant nurses were more likely to be assigned to COVID-19 units in long-term care during the pandemic. In fact, about 30% of nurses who died from COVID-19 were from the Philippines. While most nursing research focuses on hospitals, clinical research, patient populations and patient health outcomes, nursing homes and long-term care facilities tend to be an understudied, yet overregulated sector. I wanted to look deeper into the nursing home workforce itself.”

The long-term goal of Thompson’s research is to eventually improve immigration policies that currently typically restrict nurse migration to the US.

“Immigrant nurses are highly qualified, highly skilled and come to the U.S. with knowledge that the nursing workforce needs to improve health outcomes,” Thompson said. “For example, previous studies have shown that in nursing homes with higher proportions of immigrant nurses tend to improve health outcomes such as decreased rates of pain, use of physical restraints and falls.”

While Thompson became the first Black male to ever earn a doctoral degree in nursing from Duke University, he hopes to see more highly skilled immigrant nurses working in nursing homes going forward.

“As the median age of Americans continues to rise, we are starting to see more diverse patient populations receiving care in nursing homes,” Thomson said. “So ideally, we would want a more diverse workforce to better reflect the patients they are serving.”

“Examining Human Capital Among Foreign and United States Educated Nurses in Long-Term Care” was published in the Journal of Nursing Regulation.

Note: The study was conducted while Thompson was a doctoral student at Duke University.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Immigrant nurses in long-term care facilities often have more “human capital” compared to American-born nurses, MU researcher finds

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New insights into heterotopic ossification: Progenitor cells play a key role in aberrant bone formation

New insights into heterotopic ossification: Progenitor cells play a key role in aberrant bone formation
2023-08-01
In a new study published on 21 July 2023 by the journal Bone Research, a team of researchers from Johns Hopkins University, using a combination of lineage tracing and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), delved into the contribution of synovial/tendon sheath progenitor cells to heterotopic bone formation. The researchers identified a distinct population of Tppp3+ tendon progenitor cells that actively participated in the formation of ectopic bone in vivo. Their findings provide new insights into the intricate cellular processes driving heterotopic ossification and offer potential therapeutic targets to prevent and ...

Where Black adolescents live affects their mental health

2023-08-01
It’s easy to imagine that growing up in a neighborhood with safe and clean parks, little to no discrimination, and where people are not struggling financially makes for a lower-stress childhood. In contrast, neighborhoods with few community spaces, violence, and poverty create a higher-stress environment for a child to live in. Unfortunately, systemic and structural issues such as wealth inequality, residential segregation, barriers to home ownership, and environmental injustice in neighborhoods where Black American adolescents disproportionately reside make ...

Amazon dark earth boosts tree growth as much as sixfold

Amazon dark earth boosts tree growth as much as sixfold
2023-08-01
A type of soil called terra preta da Amazônia, or Amazon dark earth (ADE), promotes faster growth of trees and enhances their development in qualitative terms, according to an article published in the journal Frontiers in Soil Science.  The findings reported in the article resulted from studies supported by FAPESP (projects 20/08927-0, 18/19000-4 and 14/50320-4) under the aegis of its Biodiversity, Characterization, Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Use Program (BIOTA).  “ADE is rich in nutrients and supports communities of microorganisms that help plants grow, among other things. Native people of the Amazon have ...

Sweet smell of success: Simple fragrance method produces major memory boost

2023-08-01
Irvine, Calif., Aug. 1, 2023 — When a fragrance wafted through the bedrooms of older adults for two hours every night for six months, memories skyrocketed. Participants in this study by University of California, Irvine neuroscientists reaped a 226% increase in cognitive capacity compared to the control group. The researchers say the finding transforms the long-known tie between smell and memory into an easy, non-invasive technique for strengthening memory and potentially deterring dementia.   The team’s study appears in Frontiers in Neuroscience. ...

Links between attention and conscious perception highlighted in frontoparietal networks

Links between attention and conscious perception highlighted in frontoparietal networks
2023-08-01
Almost half of patients who experienced a stroke in the right cerebral hemisphere later develop a very unusual symptom: they lose the ability to perceive what is happening in the left side of space. As a result, they tend to eat only the right side of their plate, ignore people on their left, and have great difficulty finding their way around. This disorder, known as hemispatial neglect, does not involve basic visual abilities, which remain intact. “These patients see very well. The problem ...

NIH awards Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia $26 million grant to develop therapies for rare newborn genetic diseases

2023-08-01
PHILADELPHIA—A Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) team will seek to develop treatments for three rare, incurable genetic diseases with the help of a $26 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The research will focus on three genetic diseases that impact newborns in the first weeks and months after birth: Phenylketonuria (PKU), hereditary tyrosinemia type 1 (HT1), and mucopolysaccharidosis type 1 (MPSI), commonly known as Hurler’s Syndrome. PKU causes an amino acid—called phenylalanine—to build up in the body, and as long as treatment begins at birth, PKU is ...

False claims attacks on infrastructure focus of NSF-funded research

False claims attacks on infrastructure focus of NSF-funded research
2023-08-01
False claims and disinformation, especially in a social media-driven society, have become major problems with potentially severe consequences. Kash Barker, Ph.D., principal investigator and the Anadarko Presidential Professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Gallogly College of Engineering at the University of Oklahoma, is leading a team of researchers examining indirect attacks targeting infrastructure systems via unwitting users, supported by a $599,947 grant from the National Science Foundation's Secure ...

New survey reveals British public generally think disruptive, non-violent protesters should not be imprisoned

2023-08-01
Despite this prevailing negative sentiment, results showed the public generally think the most suitable punishment for disruptive, non-violent protesters is a fine or lesser penalty than imprisonment. The research, led by the University of Bristol, suggests public opinion may not be supportive of the Government’s recent legislative changes, through The Public Order Act 2023, which introduce harsher sentences for disruptive protesters. The online poll, conducted by YouGov this month, surveyed 2,069 adults of all political viewpoints across Britain. ...

While resolving a key asthma challenge, Hamilton researchers also create a new method to detect proteins in body fluids and other materials

While resolving a key asthma challenge, Hamilton researchers also create a new method to detect proteins in body fluids and other materials
2023-08-01
HAMILTON, ON, Aug. 1, 2023 – Based on decades of work to uncover the underlying mechanisms of asthma and other respiratory conditions, researchers at McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton have produced a simple, rapid test that can identify the presence of a key driver of severe asthma. John Brennan, director of McMaster’s Biointerfaces Institute, and Parameswaran Nair, a respirologist at the St. Joseph’s-based Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, led the creation of a new rapid test that can quickly and accurately identify white blood cells known as eosinophils, even when they are present in complex biological samples ...

Using gemstones’ unique characteristics to uncover ancient trade routes

Using gemstones’ unique characteristics to uncover ancient trade routes
2023-08-01
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2023 – Since ancient times, gemstones have been mined and traded across the globe, sometimes traveling continents from their origin. Gems are geologically defined as minerals celebrated for beauty, strength, and rarity. Their unique elemental composition and atomic orientation act as a fingerprint, enabling researchers to uncover the stones’ past, and with it, historical trade routes. In AIP Advances, from AIP Publishing, Khedr et al. employed three modern spectroscopic techniques to rapidly analyze gems found in the Arabian-Nubian Shield and compare them with similar gems from around the world. Using ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] Immigrant nurses in long-term care facilities often have more “human capital” compared to American-born nurses, MU researcher finds
Findings can help create a more diverse, equitable workforce in nursing homes, which improves patient health outcomes.