A questionnaire survey of Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) host facilities for foreign nurses

Abstract

Under Economic Partnership Agreement, selected nurses from Indonesia and the Philippines are trained at host facilities in Japan. The purpose of this study is to investigate the host facilities’ reason for their acceptance, support system for education for the national examination, situation of the facilities, and future considerations for a support system for foreign nurses.

A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 152 host facilities. The response rate was 65.8% (100/152). Cooperation for international exchange and national policy were most often cited reasons for acceptance, and only a few cited nurse shortage. The disadvantages recognized by host facilities were burden of training and lack of external support. On the other hand, revitalization of facility was most often cited as an advantage for host facilities. Most facilities replied that the ability of Japanese language could be the barrier against the national examination. The result of this study suggested that whereas most foreign nurses could communicate in basic Japanese, they felt difficulty in offering nursing services in Japanese.

It would be important to develop educational methods and tools that clarify the roles of host facilities and external agencies, and to share knowledge and experience of facilities with good performance.