Navigating the nexus of LMIC healthcare facilities, nurses' welfare, nurse shortage and migration to greener pastures: A narrative literature review

Background & Aim: This review explores the intricate interplay between healthcare facilities, nurses' welfare, and the dynamics of shortage and migration in LMICs. Through a comprehensive global lens, the analysis delves into the multifaceted challenges and implications inherent in nurse migration, offering insights into developing effective strategies for a sustainable and equitable healthcare workforce. Methods & Materials: This narrative literature review was conducted from 2012 to present across PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, EmCare, British Nursing Index, Hinari, APA PsycINFO, ProQuest, and EMBASE. Google Scholar was also searched for grey literature and the reference lists of the included articles were examined to identify additional relevant studies. A comprehensive analysis was conducted, employing descriptive theoretical frameworks to examine the association of nurses’ welfare, shortage, and migration with specific emphasis on elucidating its global implications. The analysis identified healthcare facilities in LMICs, nurses' welfare in LMICs and its significance, global nurse shortage and its consequence, and nurses’ migration as a response to challenges. These themes provided a framework for understanding the phenomenon under review. Results: The migration of nurses in search of greener pastures has not entirely resolved the challenges faced by both migrating nurses and the recruiting countries. The persistently unfavourable conditions in the nurses’ home countries regarded as the push factors continue to worsen while the anticipated gain referred to as pulls, in the recruiting countries are often found to be imperfect and ultimately insufficient to fulfil the expectations of the migrating nurses.Conclusion: Individual countries must internally formulate or adapt policies to address these issues, taking cognizance of the importance of a global perspective when designing interventions, to prevent inadvertently exacerbating gaps in other nations while addressing local healthcare challenges.