‘Human Security and Global Nurse Migration: A Mixed Methods Study of Filipina Nurses in Ireland’

Finlay, Hazel (2015) ‘Human Security and Global Nurse Migration: A Mixed Methods Study of Filipina Nurses in Ireland’. Masters thesis, Waterford Institute of Technology.

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Abstract

It is widely recognised and accepted that there was a serious nursing shortage in Ireland from the years 2000 to 2008 and that care deficits were increasingly being met by foreign nurses. According to Irish Nursing Board statistics active recruitment campaigns were successful in attracting 11,288 non-EU nurses to Ireland between the years 2000 and 2008. During this time migrant nurses accounted for 40 per cent of all newly registered nurses and they became an essential part of the health workforce in Ireland. Many of these nurses came from the Philippines as it was targeted as a major ‘nurse reservoir’. The recruitment of Filipina nurses to address gaps in Ireland’s health service during the more prosperous Celtic Tiger Period 2000 to 2008 forms part of the broader phenomenon of global or transnational nurse migration, a phenomenon that has global or transnational consequences for human security. The aim of this study has been to explore the ‘human security’ dimension of migration from the perspective of Filipina nurses recruited to work in Ireland’s health service from the years 2000 to 2009. The research findings and analysis of this study suggest overall migration has the capacity to enhance the security of Filipina nurses through increased income and remittance flows. However, just as migration can enhance human security it can also create new risks, vulnerabilities and threats that impact the well-being and security of Filipina nurses, their families and communities. Findings from this study highlight the need for a broad holistic view of human security, one that incorporates a wide range of both objective and subjective threats. In keeping with the human security framework findings from this study reveal ‘human security’ from the perspective of Filipina nurses relates not only to financial and economic security but also to human agency, feelings of safety and security, the ability to participate fully in the life of the community, human well-being and the building and stability of developments/capabilities gained. A feminist approach to the study of human security is used to highlight the relational nature of ‘human security’. In this study it brought to light the important role of Filipina nurses in achieving human security. It also revealed that migration through family separation and the loss of social supports can alter or damage relations of care and this can have implications for the well-being and human capacity of Filipina nurses, their families and communities. However, by placing security and gender at the centre of their migration experience, findings also reveal the strategies employed by Filipina nurses to overcome disadvantage. Filipina nurses through acts of social solidarity with other Filipino women continue to ensure the daily survival and security of their families and communities in Ireland and the Philippines.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
Uncontrolled Keywords: Nursing, global nurse migration
Departments or Groups: *NONE OF THESE*
Divisions: School of Health Sciences > Department of Nursing
Depositing User: Derek Langford
Date Deposited: 02 Oct 2015 10:59
Last Modified: 22 Aug 2016 10:27
URI: http://repository-testing.wit.ie/id/eprint/3106

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