When healthcare organizations begin exploring international nurse recruitment, one of the earlier decisions they face is how the nurses will be employed. Some programs bring nurses into the organization through a third-party staffing model. In those arrangements, the nurse remains an employee of the agency, often for two years or longer, before there may be an opportunity to transition to the healthcare organization.
With direct hire, the nurse joins the healthcare organization as its employee from day one. That distinction shapes more than the employment structure. It influences how nurses are welcomed, how they become part of the team, and how the organization invests in their long-term growth and success.
Both models can bring nurses into the organization, but they differ significantly in who employs the nurse, how the nurse is integrated, and how the organization builds its workforce over time.
For Miriam Batke, Chief Human Resources Officer at Fisher-Titus Medical Center, the distinction is important. In the video below, she shares why direct employment has been the preferred approach for her organization and how it helps internationally educated nurses become part of the team from the start.
Direct employment is about more than paperwork. It shapes how nurses feel about the organization from the start, how teams build trust, and how leaders think about workforce stability over time.
When internationally educated nurses are hired directly, they become employees of the healthcare organization from day one, not of PRS Global or any staffing intermediary, establishing that employment relationship from the beginning.
"Make sure that you are looking at them to be a part of your organization and to be directly employed, because it really provides the best model." — Miriam Batke, CHRO, Fisher-Titus Medical Center
As direct employees, nurses are part of the team in every sense. They enter the organization through its employee onboarding and development structure, with additional support for the transition into a new healthcare system and community.
Experienced nurses who join as direct employees also become a resource for the team around them, available to mentor, precept, and support colleagues in ways that strengthen the unit over time.
As organizations plan for future staffing needs, many are looking beyond immediate hiring cycles. Direct hire allows healthcare organizations to invest in internationally educated nurses as part of their core workforce from the beginning, creating a stronger foundation for continuity and growth.
Nurses enter through the same pathways as any other employee: the same culture, the same programs, the same opportunities to build relationships. The focus shifts away from what makes internationally educated nurses different and toward what they share with the teams around them.
This video is part of the Viewpoint series featuring PRS Global, Fisher-Titus Medical Center, and the impact of internationally educated nurses on healthcare organizations and communities.
Watch the complete series here.
PRS Global works exclusively in international direct hire, helping healthcare organizations build programs in which internationally educated nurses join their teams as employees from day one. That work extends beyond sourcing and immigration to program preparation, arrival, integration, and ongoing support for both the organization and the nurse.