Latest news with #HowardCatton
Euronews
13-05-2025
- Health
- Euronews
How do challenges facing Europe's nursing workforce compare globally?
Wealthy European countries' reliance on foreign-born nurses is exacerbating the shortage of 5.8 million nurses across the globe, according to a new report. The world's nursing workforce reached 29.8 million in 2023, up from 27.9 million five years earlier. But gaps remain, and there are major differences between wealthier and poorer countries, according to the report compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other groups. 'We cannot ignore the inequalities that mark the global nursing landscape,' WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement. The European region, which also includes Central Asia, is home to 7.2 million nurses and expects to add another million by 2030. There are 76.9 nurses per 10,000 people – a rate five times higher than in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean (which encompasses areas of North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and West and Central Asia). But Europe's nurses – who make up about three in five medical workers – are facing challenges that could have consequences for health across the continent. Here's how they stack up. In about 20 countries worldwide – mostly wealthy European nations – the number of new nurses entering the workforce is not keeping pace with demand for their services, the report found. That's due to a combination of nurses who retire and are not replaced quickly enough, as well as an overall ageing population with more complex health needs. In 2023, for example, 31 per cent of Europe's nurses were under the age of 35, while 21 per cent were 55 or older. But in Eastern Europe, older nurses make up a greater share of the workforce than younger nurses. In 23 European countries with data, 14 per cent of nurses are foreign-born, a level that is on par with the rest of the globe but makes these areas reliant on international recruitment to fill gaps in the workforce. Another 10 per cent of nurses were trained elsewhere. The WHO report said wealthy countries have made 'inadequate investments in education' in their own countries, and that their efforts to bring more nurses in from lower-income countries are worsening nursing shortages there. There are 'striking inequalities in workforce distribution which have driven a surge in international recruitment and inequitable migration patterns,' Howard Catton, CEO of the umbrella group International Council of Nurses, said in a statement. Despite its challenges, Europe has a more robust pipeline for new nurses than most parts of the world. For every 100,000 people, there were 42.7 new nurse graduates in 2023, compared with a rate of 25.3 globally. Many of the region's new nurses come from Central Asia, with western Europe producing far fewer graduates. The average wage for entry-level nurses in Europe was $2,508 (€2,205) per month, the report found. Even after taking purchasing power into account, European nurses had the highest starting pay in the world. The region is also better-equipped to help nurses advance their careers, according to the report. About two in three countries worldwide have leadership development programmes for nurses, with the highest rate in Europe at 78 per cent. But wealthy European countries should take steps to boost enrollment in nursing training programmes and incentivise nurses to stay in the profession, the report said.
Miami Herald
19-03-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
TruMerit and International Council of Nurses Launch Collaborative to Propel Nursing Workforce Development Worldwide
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / March 19, 2025 / TruMerit™ (formerly CGFNS International) and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) have announced the launch of a jointly operated clearinghouse for research, data, and policy solutions on the world's nursing workforce. The new collaborative, the Global Nursing Workforce Centre, will address the absence of a central repository to aggregate and analyze this knowledge and highlight gaps. It will mobilize evidence-driven capacity building strategies and policy solutions aimed at strengthening the global nursing workforce and, with that, the quality of patient care across diverse health systems. Focusing on the contributions of the nursing profession to global healthcare workforce preparedness, the Centre will undertake a comprehensive research agenda spanning education, workforce conditions, care delivery models, and health system impact worldwide. The Centre will also generate its own policy briefs and reports that translate evidence into actionable recommendations. The launch included the release of its inaugural research product, "The Nursing Education Pipeline: A literature review from 2014 to 2025," the first of what will be a series of briefs on the state of global nursing. The brief highlights gaps in available research, particularly about the bottlenecks hindering efforts to improve access to nursing education, which fuels nursing workforce growth and development. The Centre will be guided by a strategic advisory council comprising eminent nursing experts from around the world. "While the world does not lack nursing workforce research, it does lack a unified mechanism to systematically harness and interpret these insights for global application. Through this collaboration, the Centre will deliver a much-needed structure to collecting and analyzing nursing workforce data, thereby filling a critical void in the research and guiding investment in sustainable nursing workforce development," said Howard Catton, the ICN's CEO. "The mission of the Global Nursing Workforce Centre goes right to the heart of a critical imperative in healthcare, and that is to ensure policy decisions involving the healthcare workforce are informed not by crisis response but by the latest geographically inclusive research," said Dr. Peter Preziosi, President and CEO of TruMerit. "By leveraging the collective expertise of ICN and TruMerit, the Centre will be a trusted source of evidence and insights that can drive worldwide investment in a future-ready global healthcare workforce." The announcement was made at an official parallel event on nurse entrepreneurship at the NGO Forum of the 69th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, cohosted by TruMerit, ICN, and the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs & Leaders (SONSIEL). CGFNS International is now TruMerit. Learn more here. About TruMerit TruMerit is a worldwide leader in healthcare workforce development. Formerly known as CGFNS International, the organization has a nearly 50-year history supporting the career mobility of nurses and other healthcare workers-and those who license and hire them-by validating their education, skills, and experience as they seek authorization to practice in the United States and other countries. As TruMerit, this mission has been expanded to building workforce capacity that meets the needs of people in a rapidly evolving global health landscape. Through its Global Health Workforce Development Institute, the organization is advancing evidence-based research, thought leadership, and advocacy in support of healthcare workforce development solutions, including globally recognized practice standards and certifications that will enhance career pathways for healthcare workers. About ICN The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses and leading nursing internationally, ICN works to ensure quality care for all and sound health policies globally. Contact Information: David St. John dstjohn@ SOURCE: TruMerit press release
