“I Often Experience a Lack of Trust”: Filipino Migrant Nurses’ Experiences of Coping with Multiple Conflicting Workplace Demands

The global shortage of nurses highlights the critical role of migrant nurses, who face numerous barriers in host country labor markets despite their qualifications being in demand. This study explores the experiences of nurses from the Philippines working in the Icelandic healthcare sector, a sector...

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Main Authors: Thora H. Christiansen, Erla S. Kristjánsdóttir, Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Helsinki University Press 2025-01-01
Series:Nordic Journal of Migration Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://account.journal-njmr.org/index.php/uh-j-njmr/article/view/752
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author Thora H. Christiansen
Erla S. Kristjánsdóttir
Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir
author_facet Thora H. Christiansen
Erla S. Kristjánsdóttir
Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir
author_sort Thora H. Christiansen
collection DOAJ
description The global shortage of nurses highlights the critical role of migrant nurses, who face numerous barriers in host country labor markets despite their qualifications being in demand. This study explores the experiences of nurses from the Philippines working in the Icelandic healthcare sector, a sector facing attrition in the ranks of qualified medical staff, austerity measures, and labor disputes. We examine the processes of interpellation, the pressures and demands that the nurses face, and the options and limitations of their coping mechanisms. Phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews illuminates how demands and interpellations from supervisors, coworkers, patients, and their relatives compound, conflict, and interact to create a working environment where racialized migrant nurses must navigate contradictions and tensions between conflicting demands and their transnational identity as Filipino nurse professionals. Performing the role of the ideal migrant, ideal worker, and ideal nurse, who works hard and never complains, is in conflict with the demands of the role of the supportive coworker who stands in solidarity with their fellow Icelandic nurses in the fight for improved wages and working conditions.
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spelling doaj-art-a29bbf862dd14349bba9ee4b5639ece42025-02-11T05:40:51ZengHelsinki University PressNordic Journal of Migration Research1799-649X2025-01-011533310.33134/njmr.752728“I Often Experience a Lack of Trust”: Filipino Migrant Nurses’ Experiences of Coping with Multiple Conflicting Workplace DemandsThora H. Christiansen0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8060-0676Erla S. Kristjánsdóttir1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3849-6553Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8350-3898Faculty of Business Administration, School of Social Sciences, University of Iceland, ReykjavíkFaculty of Business Administration, School of Social Sciences, University of Iceland, ReykjavíkFaculty of Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics, School of Social Sciences, University of Iceland, ReykjavíkThe global shortage of nurses highlights the critical role of migrant nurses, who face numerous barriers in host country labor markets despite their qualifications being in demand. This study explores the experiences of nurses from the Philippines working in the Icelandic healthcare sector, a sector facing attrition in the ranks of qualified medical staff, austerity measures, and labor disputes. We examine the processes of interpellation, the pressures and demands that the nurses face, and the options and limitations of their coping mechanisms. Phenomenological analysis of in-depth interviews illuminates how demands and interpellations from supervisors, coworkers, patients, and their relatives compound, conflict, and interact to create a working environment where racialized migrant nurses must navigate contradictions and tensions between conflicting demands and their transnational identity as Filipino nurse professionals. Performing the role of the ideal migrant, ideal worker, and ideal nurse, who works hard and never complains, is in conflict with the demands of the role of the supportive coworker who stands in solidarity with their fellow Icelandic nurses in the fight for improved wages and working conditions.https://account.journal-njmr.org/index.php/uh-j-njmr/article/view/752filipinoshighly skilled migrantsinclusion/exclusioninterpellationnursestransnational identity
spellingShingle Thora H. Christiansen
Erla S. Kristjánsdóttir
Unnur Dís Skaptadóttir
“I Often Experience a Lack of Trust”: Filipino Migrant Nurses’ Experiences of Coping with Multiple Conflicting Workplace Demands
Nordic Journal of Migration Research
filipinos
highly skilled migrants
inclusion/exclusion
interpellation
nurses
transnational identity
title “I Often Experience a Lack of Trust”: Filipino Migrant Nurses’ Experiences of Coping with Multiple Conflicting Workplace Demands
title_full “I Often Experience a Lack of Trust”: Filipino Migrant Nurses’ Experiences of Coping with Multiple Conflicting Workplace Demands
title_fullStr “I Often Experience a Lack of Trust”: Filipino Migrant Nurses’ Experiences of Coping with Multiple Conflicting Workplace Demands
title_full_unstemmed “I Often Experience a Lack of Trust”: Filipino Migrant Nurses’ Experiences of Coping with Multiple Conflicting Workplace Demands
title_short “I Often Experience a Lack of Trust”: Filipino Migrant Nurses’ Experiences of Coping with Multiple Conflicting Workplace Demands
title_sort i often experience a lack of trust filipino migrant nurses experiences of coping with multiple conflicting workplace demands
topic filipinos
highly skilled migrants
inclusion/exclusion
interpellation
nurses
transnational identity
url https://account.journal-njmr.org/index.php/uh-j-njmr/article/view/752
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