Florida hospitals to hire PH nurses and med technicians

Sarasota Memorial is Sarasota County’s largest employer, with more than 8,500 staff. WIKIPEDIA

The Sarasota Memorial Healthcare System’s two hospitals will be hiring 50 nurses and six medical technicians from the Philippines until next year to ease a shortage of qualified health care workers, which is hitting medical facilities nationwide, Newsweek reported.

Sarasota Memorial is Sarasota County’s largest employer, with more than 8,500 staff. It hired 2,349 new staff last year alone, 70 percent of whom were nurses or clinical personnel, the rest being frontline support staff, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

SMH recently hired two registered nurses and six medical technicians from the Philippines, the process taking about a year, according to a spokesperson. The hospitals have a committee that helps personnel hired from the Philippines to navigate legal requirements and settle in their new workplace.

Approximately 1.2 million new registered nurses (RNs) will be needed by 2030 to meet the growing need for specialized care in the U.S.,  according to a study by the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS) in California.