The attitudes of Turkish nurses towards the employment of internationally educated nurses.

AIM: To define the attitudes of nurses working in public hospitals towards the employment of internationally educated nurses. BACKGROUND: The employment of internationally educated nurses is expected to be an important strategy for solving the nursing shortage in Turkey and many other countries. METHODS: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with nurses working in seven public university hospitals in different geographical regions of Turkey in September 2015. The data were collected from 1061 nurses in these hospitals using a self-report questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, t-test and the Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: The participants generally did not have positive attitudes towards the employment of internationally educated nurses citing the possibility of experiencing cultural and professional difficulties. They also indicated that the employment of internationally educated nurses is not a real solution for the nursing shortage unless working conditions for nurses are improved. However, younger nurses have more positive attitudes towards employment of internationally educated nurses than older ones. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING POLICY: Defining the attitudes of the nurses working in clinical fields towards the employment of internationally educated nurses is an important issue, because it provides data for reviewing the existing policies and evaluating the possible issues that require attention during implementation of these policies. Policymakers may focus on both creating better working environment conditions and helping both the native and internationally educated nurses during the recruiting process.

Numbers of Brain Deaths and Deceased Donors in Hospitals in Istanbul Region That Have Transplantation Units: A Retrospective Analysis Between the Years 2005 and 2015.

BACKGROUND: Turkey is one of the countries facing a serious organ shortage problem, with thousands of patients with end-stage organ failure. The Social Security Institution started to increase the reimbursement for transplantation operations in 2007 to solve this problem, and this policy has continued since then. Although the number of transplantation centers and operations in Turkey increased in this term, according to organ donation and transplantation statistics from the Ministry of Health, the rate of organ retrieval from deceased organ donors has decreased. METHODS: This study was performed with the purpose of retrospectively analyzing (between the years 2005 and 2015) the number of brain deaths and donors after brain death in hospitals that are affiliated with the Istanbul Regional Coordination Office and have transplantation units. Data were collected via the website of the Ministry of Health. Hospitals were categorized as those directly affiliated with the Ministry of Health, university hospitals, and private hospitals. RESULTS: This study found that the number of transplantation centers has increased >3 times since 2005, and the number of private transplantation centers has increased 9 times for the same period. We also found that the number of brain deaths, donors after brain death in hospitals, and number of brain deaths and donors after brain death per hospital had varied throughout the study years. CONCLUSIONS: Although the number of transplantation centers has increased since 2005, the number of brain deaths and donors after brain death has not increased to the same extent for this period in these hospitals that have transplantation units.

Nurses' perceptions about health sector privatization in Turkey.

AIM: The aim of this study is to identify the perceptions of the nurses about the privatization implementation, as it pertains to privatization, health services privatization and the impact of privatization on nursing in Turkey. BACKGROUND: Turkey is taking important steps in health services privatization but the related choices made in political arena are not shared with the employees of the health institutions where the privatization implementations are to take place. METHODS: The study was conducted among nurses who are working for the state health institutions and the members of professional organizations of healthcare workers, which are operating in Istanbul in Turkey. Data were collected via Nurses' Privatization Perception Scale in 2009 and were analysed using mean calculations, analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney U-test, t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Cronbach's alpha analyses. FINDINGS: Nurses' perceptions of privatization in general, health services privatization and the impact of privatization on nursing were found to be negative in all of the three sub-domains of the scale, as well as their perceptions of privatization implementations measured throughout the scale. The conducted comparisons showed that nurses' perceptions of the privatization implementations varied in accordance with independent variables. CONCLUSIONS: The privatization implementations put in place in health services are perceived negatively by nurses. Policy makers in relevant fields are recommended to take the findings of this study into consideration.