Indian nurses in Italy: a qualitative study of their professional and social integration.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the lived subjective experiences of immigrant Indian nurses in Italy and specifically their professional and social integration.


BACKGROUND
To study the worldwide, nursing flux is a health priority in the globalised world. The growth in migration trends among nurses, not only from Philippines or India, has proliferated in recent years. The research on nurses' mobility for Southern European countries is underexplored, and in Italy, the out-migration flows of Indian nurses were never analysed.


METHODS
Qualitative methodological approach.


METHODS
Semi-structured interviews (n = 20) were completed with Indian clinical nurses working in Italy for more than one year mainly in private organisations. A purposive sampling technique was used for recruitment. The data were then content-analysed using an inductive method.


RESULTS
The findings were categorised into four themes: (1) aspects of professional integration and working experience, (2) intra- and interprofessional relationships and perceptions of the IPASVI Regulatory Nursing Board, (3) initial nursing education and continuous professional development and (4) perceptions of social integration.


CONCLUSIONS
The results show that for Indian nurses in Italy emigration is important to gain opportunities to expand economic and social privileges as well as escape from historical assumptions of stigma associated with nursing work, especially for women. However, these conclusions have to be seen in wider socio-cultural complexities that are at the basis of transnational fluxes (Prescott & Nichter ).


CONCLUSIONS
The research offers an insight into the complicated reasons for Indian nurses out-migration to Italy. Without comprehending the interwoven textures of the political and social relations that are continually constructed and re-constructed among different nations, it is difficult to understand nurses out-migration and consequently have a better and safer collaborative teamwork in the host countries.
Centre of Excellence for Nursing Scholarship Ipasvi, Rome, Italy.
Alessandro
A
Stievano
College of Nursing, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Douglas
D
Olsen
Department of Public Health, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Ymelda
Y
Tolentino Diaz
Centre of Excellence for Nursing Scholarship Ipasvi, Rome, Italy.
Laura
L
Sabatino
Centre of Excellence for Nursing Scholarship Ipasvi, Rome, Italy.
Gennaro
G
Rocco
D000328:Adult; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009726:Nurses / Q000600:supply & distribution; D064700:Nurses, International / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research
Indian nurses; nurse migration; nurses flows; nursing mobility; professional and social integration; qualitative study