Leadership development needs of managers who supervise foreign nurses

Purpose - This concept paper seeks to outline evidenced-based findings about the current experiences, best practices and leadership development needs of nurse leaders who work with foreign nurses.Design methodology approach - A qualitative approach was used to collect data for this project. A convenience sample of ten nursing leaders from different geographic areas in the USA was telephone interviewed to obtain information for this project.Practical implications - Recommendations are made about the type of educational programming that leaders who receive foreign nurses in their work environments will need to facilitate a successful transition.Originality value - The legal, ethical and human resource issues that surround the international recruitment of nurses have received widespread coverage in the media and nursing literature. Although organizations which do foreign recruitment invest significant resources, little has been written about the challenges in the transition of foreign nurses into healthcare practice environments outside their countries of origin. The literature suggests that the successful transition of foreign nurses into the healthcare environment of another country requires supportive leadership but this does not always occur.