Global Scholarship Alliance and its partner universities and hospitals welcome international nurses for master?s degree, academic and clinical training. The four and a half year program is designed to help tackle the global nursing crisis.
Cincinnati / Brooklyn NY (PRWEB) April 6, 2005 -- Global Scholarship Alliance (GSA) today announced the arrival of 28 foreign nurse-scholars as part of the company?s innovative cultural exchange program. The four and a half year program combines intense academic study at an American university with part-time clinical experience in partner hospitals. The 28 nurse-scholars from the Philippines will pursue Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) degrees at Xavier University in Cincinnati and Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. GSA?s mission is to help ease the global nursing crisis by developing the next generation of nurse leaders and educators.
Participants in GSA?s program receive full MSN scholarships to American universities and are eligible to work part-time at a university-affiliated hospital during the period of study. Upon completion of the program, nurse-scholars are required to return to their home countries for at least two years, where they will lead and train the next generation of nurses as clinical instructors, nurse leaders, or hospital administrators.
The program is designed to benefit everyone involved. American universities receive additional masters-level students with full scholarships; hospitals receive an additional quality labor resource for four and a half years; nurse-scholars receive full scholarships and world-class healthcare experience; and the source country benefits from well-educated nurses and leaders that return to help develop their country?s next generation of nurses.
Susan Schmidt, dean of nursing at Xavier University commented, ?We are so excited to play a part in advancing the nursing profession globally. The education and academic training these outstanding foreign students receive at Xavier will directly improve healthcare in their communities when they return home. At the same time, we are able to enhance the diversity and worldwide recognition of our MSN program. Xavier has always been an innovator, and the program that Global Scholarship Alliance has put together represents a true competitive advantage for the university.?
GSA?s program also helps U.S. hospitals achieve their goals of maintaining safe nurse-patient ratios, and increasing staff diversity and continuity of care by reducing dependency on staffing agency nurses. The hospitals achieve these objectives within nursing union guidelines and without displacing positions that would otherwise go to U.S. nurses.
Ensuring Quality
The Global Scholarship Alliance selection process ensures that only first-rate nurses are accepted into the program. GSA carefully evaluates educational transcripts, licensing board scores, work histories and clinical experiences, references and background checks. Prospective nurse-scholars are required to possess a baccalaureate degree in nursing (a bachelor?s of science in nursing or an equivalent degree), a registered nursing license in their home country, two or more years of hospital experience, and must pass the U.S. nursing exam, as well as a language proficiency exam. The nurse-scholars are then hand-picked by representatives from the universities and hospitals through face-to-face interviews in the nurses? home countries. Those selected must also meet U.S. licensing and immigration requirements before arriving in America.
?GSA presents a totally unique, and dramatically more effective approach to solving the global nursing shortage,? said Elaine McGuire, chief nursing officer at TriHealth in Cincinnati. ?The last thing we want to do is hire an international recruitment agency to drain the nursing talent from a foreign country. It doesn?t do any good to improve our situation by making someone else?s worse. GSA?s social mission is what attracted us to the program.?
?Many Americans are unaware that the nursing shortage is actually a global crisis,? stated Todd Bol, GSA?s founder and current president of international operations. The current method of one-way recruiting from foreign countries to the United States and other developed countries is not sustainable and is harmful to home country health care systems.?
?Global Scholarship Alliance represents a coordinated effort to improve nursing globally,? stated J. William Deville, chief executive officer at Global Scholarship Alliance. ?What we offer is a long-term, financially sound, sustainable and socially responsible solution to the problem.?