2025

Kamau, Suleiman; Tomietto, Marco; Mikkonen, Kristina; Cubelo, Floro

Like many other developed nations, Finland is experiencing a nursing workforce shortage. The nurse shortage is influenced by multiple factors affecting the profession and the healthcare sector, including limited career opportunities, high attrition rates, a growing number of nurses working part-time, many nurses close to retirement, and an ageing patient population that has increased the complexity of nursing care and the workloads, making challenging to ensure safe nursing care. Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) nurses have, over time, helped meet healthcare needs of the Finnish society. Moreover, in recent years, the ratio of CALD nurses has risen, a trend that is projected to continue in the coming years. However, various challenges have been associated with recruiting, credentialing, transitioning, and integrating culturally and linguistically diverse nurses into Finland’s healthcare context. This chapter delves into the journey of CALD nurses within the Finnish context. The nurses’ path towards successful integration is mapped through various topics, including recruitment, migration, credentialing, reskilling, and social and organisational integration. The chapter also emphasises the crucial role of successful support approaches in this process. Towards the last section of the chapter, various theories of organisational integration and examples of how these relate to culturally and linguistically diverse nurse organisational integration are presented.