CoxHealth recruiting 100 nurses overseas

To address a nursing shortage, CoxHealth is recruiting overseas.

During the next year, the health system plans to hire around 100 nurses, largely from the Philippines, where English is one of the official languages. The nurses will begin arriving this fall, according to a news release.

“A nursing shortage is facing the United States, and we at CoxHealth believe we must try new solutions to fill the gap,” said Karen Kramer, CoxHealth’s chief nursing officer, in the release. “We always want to supply the health care that our community needs and feel that bringing nurses to us is a good way of doing that.”

Kramer said the overseas hiring would complement its efforts to recruit local nurses and health care professionals.

A lack of nurses in the Show-Me State has been documented by the Missouri Hospital Association, which predicts a need of 117 registered nurses per year through 2022 in the seven-county Ozark Workforce Investment Area. The turnover rate in the region is 17.4 percent, nearly two percentage points higher than the state average. CoxHealth employs over 3,000 nurses, according to the Springfield Business Journal archives.

Once screened, overseas nurses are then interviewed online via Skype. The potential hires are asked about their assessment of clinical skills, English proficiency and organizational fit. Applicants must have a bachelor’s in nursing and a minimum of two years of experience. They’re required to hold the same certifications as local nurses and also pass an English proficiency exam.

“We have been very impressed by the people we have interviewed so far,” Kramer said in the release. “The U.S. and the Philippines have developed similarly strong standards for nursing over the past 50 years, so we feel that these individuals will seamlessly support our organization.”