日本の看護師不足について : フィリピン人看護師の受け入れをみながら  [in Japanese] The Nurse Shortage in Japan : The Issue of Admitting Nurses from the Philippines  [in Japanese]

Japan is facing the rapid aging of its population resulting from a low birthrate. One consequent problem is the shortage of nurses. The government solution for increasing the number of nurses is the admittance of nurses from the Philippines under certain circumstances. This measurement by itself has some difficulties such as the candidates' visa type, non-recognition of foreign certification, the number of candidates, and, finally, the cost. The visa type for the admitted candidates is not in the category of immigration. The foreign nursing certification of the candidates is not recognized, so they need to apply for a Japanese nursing licence by passing a Japanese government examination in Japanese. Successful candidates are permitted to work in Japan and renew their visas, but all others have to leave Japan.Based on the agreement, the Japanese government admitted 400 candidates in two years, but according to the statistics, Japan had a shortage of 15,900 nurses in 2010. Finally, the hospitals that admit the candidates have to bear the burden of expenses. This paper proposes a system in order to increase the number of nurses by making effective use of foreign students who hold Japanese government scholarships. According to statistics, there were 132,720 foreign students in Japanese universities in 2009, and almost 10% of them receive scholarships from the Japanese government. More than 75% of such students continue their studies in higher education or are employed after graduation in Japan. This is an ideal reason to use the power of highly educated foreign students not only in the nursing system but also in any other industries that suffer from lack of employees. Such students should be selected before arriving in Japan and should be introduced to nursing universities. After graduation, they can start working in hospitals and other facilities as a nurse. In this way and by using the same scholarship budget for foreign students, the system does not need to establish an extra budget for educating new nurses. In addition, if the students are educated in Japan and have the ability to read and write Japanese, they will be more familiar with Japanese life systems and Japanese culture.