Amid COVID health worker shortage, foreign-trained professionals sit on sidelines
Colorado is among five states that have adapted licensing guidelines to allow foreign-trained health workers to lend their skills amid pandemic-induced shortages.
Credit: Brandon Thibodeaux / KHN
Sussy Obando graduated from six years of medical school in Colombia, and then spent a year treating patients in underserved communities. Yet when she moved to the U.S., that wasn’t enough to be able to practice medicine here. Author: Markian Hawryluk (Kaiser Health News) Published: 9:53 AM MST January 26, 2021 Updated: 10:02 AM MST January 26, 2021
COLORADO, USA As hospitals nationwide struggle with the latest covid-19 surge, it’s not so much beds or ventilators in short supply. It’s the people to care for the sick.
Amid covid health worker shortage, foreign-trained professionals sit on sidelines
As hospitals nationwide struggle with the latest covid-19 surge, it s not so much beds or ventilators in short supply. It s the people to care for the sick.
Yet a large, highly skilled workforce of foreign-educated doctors, nurses and other health practitioners is going largely untapped due to licensing and credentialing barriers. According to the Migration Policy Institute think tank in Washington, D.C., some 165,000 foreign-trained immigrants in the U.S. hold degrees in health-related fields but are unemployed or underemployed in the midst of the health crisis.
Many of these workers have invaluable experience dealing with infectious disease epidemics such as SARS, Ebola or HIV in other countries yet must sit out the covid pandemic.