Munson Healthcare says it's recruited 170 nurses from the Philippines to work at its main hospital in Traverse City.
The nurses have all accepted offers after a Munson recruiting trip to the Philippines this past winter. Munson worked with an agency there to find candidates.
“Our goal originally was to bring up to 200 nurses over the course of three years, in different groups,” said Megan Brown, Munson’s chief marketing and communications officer. “So now that we have accepted offers from 170, we are working through that visa process.”
None of the nurses have arrived in Michigan yet as they await approval of their work visas.
“There's additional uncertainty with all of the changes at the federal level right now,” Brown said. “But we are following the process to a T and trying to secure [visas] as quickly as we can.”
Brown says Munson has also hired 50 local nurses since the start of the year.
Struggles with staffing
Brown says both hiring efforts will relieve some of the staffing challenges faced by the hospital, which she says are caused by an aging nursing workforce, burnout after the COVID-19 pandemic and the high cost of living in Traverse City.
Laura Nilsson, president of the Traverse City Munson Nurses Association, a union, says she hopes the hospital's efforts aren't just focused on recruitment.
“It's a great place to work, and we're excited that there might be help on the way, because we do have a significant need for nurses right now,” Nilsson said. “We would really like to see more support for the nurses that are already here, and more focus on retention and recruitment, specifically retention, because we do have quite a bit of turnover.”
She said in her four years working in the hospital’s cardiothoracic unit, which specializes in heart surgery, she’s worked with a new team of nurses every one or two years.
“One of the things that I hear from a lot of people [is], ‘I would [stay], but I can get paid more down in Detroit or in Pittsburgh.’ And off they go,” Nilsson said, “which breaks your heart when you work on training somebody, and you hope that you can work with them.”
She thinks the hospital and union could work on more local solutions. Better staffing, she said — meaning more nurses scheduled for each shift — would alleviate some of the stress that drives people away.
According to Munson's records, there are 880 nurses currently on staff at the Traverse City hospital.
“I genuinely think that there should be a line of people out the door who want to be nurses, because I think it's such a great job,” Nilsson said. “But unfortunately, the conditions are so tough sometimes that you feel like you're not able to help people, that there's not enough people around to help you.”
The latest effort
Brown, Munson’s communications officer, said the hospital evaluates staffing every four hours to ensure there are enough people in each unit. She also said the hospital’s turnover rates for nurses are lower than the national average.
Nurses from the Philippines will initially work at the Munson’s main hospital in Traverse City, which has the biggest gaps in nurse staffing.
Munson has some international staff already, but this is its first major recruiting effort for international nurses. According to the National Institutes of Health, Filipinos comprise only 1% of the U.S. population but make up 4% of the nursing workforce.
International nurses at Munson will be represented by the Traverse City Munson Nurses Association and compensated according to the union’s rates, which are set to be renegotiated later this year.
“As a member of the community here, I hope it's reassuring to people to know that I think we have an incredible team of nurses,” Nilsson, the union president, said. “I don't see any reason why we couldn't be — I think we are — one of the best hospitals in the country.”
Brown, with Munson, said the hospital is working to attract new nurses from local colleges and with sign-on bonuses. According to Northwestern Michigan College, Munson is the biggest employer, by percentage, of the college's nursing graduates.
“We are doing everything we can to continue to work on improving our culture, which is a top priority here at Munson,” Brown said.
