Foreign physicians take up nursing as they resettle in U.S.(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Edwin Vides was a doctor in his native Colombia. Next year he will become a registered nurse, helping to ease the nursing shortage in South Florida.

Vides, 30, practiced in Yopal, a city of 90,000 in the shadow of the Andes, before political turmoil and guerrilla activity drove him to Miami in 2000.

He is among 40 foreign physicians _ chosen out of 500 applicants from Cuba, Haiti, Romania, Central America, the Caribbean and Africa _ accepted into the first accelerated physician-to-nursing program in the nation at Florida International University School of Nursing.

The innovative program is just one of numerous efforts to increase the number of nurses providing hands-on care to patients, which has a direct effect on preventing infections and complications in the hospital and saves lives.

The doctors are on track to graduate in December 2003, and all are assured of nursing jobs the second they toss their mortarboards in the air.

"Some have tried taking the medical boards to practice here as doctors. There are different stages of the exam and some have a problem with one part, but not others," said Dr. Divina Grossman, dean of the FIU School of Nursing. "Some may have passed but have not been able to secure a residency in this country."

A second class of 40 foreign doctors will enter the nursing program in January.