Supporting Internationally Educated Nurses joining the Canadian health workforce

OTTAWA, ON, March 14, 2024 /CNW/ - Today, MP Yasir Naqvi, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, on behalf of the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, announced more than $388,000 in additional funding towards the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing's (CASN) National Nurse Residency Program.

As Canada's largest group of regulated health professionals with more than 450,000 members, nurses are critical to Canada's health care system. Nurses are facing unprecedented challenges that affect their work and the patients they care for. It is important we support Canada's health workers and get more workers into the health care system, faster.

This investment will support the integration of Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) into Canada's health care system. Through initiatives such as a pilot IEN mentorship program, this will provide health care organizations, staff nurses working with IENs, and newly hired IENs with the support and tools needed to build stronger health care teams. This funding will also support workshops and training for IENs entering the Canadian nursing workforce and their mentors to provide IENs with the support they need to integrate effectively into the Canadian health workforce.

This is in addition to $2.4 million in Government of Canada funding for CASN announced in April 2023 to support the implementation and evaluation of a National Nurse Residency Program to support newly graduated registered nurses (RNs) by helping them effectively manage the transition from classroom to workplace.

The Government of Canada recently announced the release of the Nursing Retention Toolkit: Improving the Working Lives of Nurses in Canada, which is a resource created by nurses for nurses, to help employers and health authorities across the country improve nursing retention. This is one piece of the Government's overall efforts to support all health workers, including IENs, right across the country.

The Government of Canada is working with provinces, territories, and key nursing partners to identify and implement solutions so that nurses across Canada can continue their critical work to keep Canadians healthy and safe.

Quotes

"We need a healthy workforce to get Canadians the care they need. That starts with making sure health workers are supported so they can do what they do best: care for Canadians. This investment will help more Internationally Educated Nurses join the workforce in Canada to help our current workforce and get more nurses into our health care system even faster."

The Honourable Mark Holland
Minister of Health

"Across Canada, we are facing tremendous pressures in the health care system. Our government is committed to supporting both the recruitment and retention of this vital workforce and integrating more Internationally Educated Nurses into the workforce is a critical piece of this approach."

Yasir Naqvi
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health

"Internationally Educated Nurses need adequate supports to be successful as they integrate into the work environment in Canada. CASN's residency program, alongside a mentorship program, workshops and training designed specifically for IENs,  will provide more targeted   supports as we welcome our international nurse colleagues into the Canadian workforce."  

Dr. Leigh Chapman
Chief Nursing Officer of Canada

"Like CASN's Nurse Residency Program, the IEN Mentorship Program will be delivered through partnerships with health care agencies. It will support the retention and integration of IENs in Canada's health care workforce by reducing transition stress and culture shock. The IEN mentorship program offers a cost-effective solution that will help health care agencies achieve appropriate staffing levels and decrease costs related to human resources."

Cynthia Baker
Executive Director, Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing

Quick Facts

• CASN is the national voice for nursing education, research and scholarship, and represents baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs across Canada. CASN's mission is to lead nursing education and nursing scholarship in the interest of healthier Canadians.
• The National Nurse Residency Program includes partnership with over 15 employers across Canada ? including acute care hospitals, health authorities, specialty hospitals, and long-term care centres.
• The Government of Canada is working with provinces and territories and other key partners to address health workforce challenges. Budget 2023 outlined the Government of Canada's plan to invest close to $200 billion to improve health care for Canadians, which includes a focus on efforts to support the health workforce through retention, recruitment, and planning. 
• This announcement is part of the Government of Canada's larger and ongoing efforts to support the health workforce, including:
• A federal, provincial and territorial statement on supporting Canada's health workforce which outlines collaborative actions underway to address challenges facing Canada's health workforce including working together to address retention issues, undertaking a study of the education and training supply and demand for key health professions, reducing the time it takes for internationally educated health professionals to join our health workforce, increasing the sharing and standardization of health workforce data, and more.
• An announcement of a 50% increase to the maximum amount of forgivable Canada Student Loans for eligible family physicians, family medicine residents, nurses and nurse practitioners working in under-served rural and remote communities. This change will help approximately 3,000 doctors and nurses in the first year of implementation, reaching up to 8,000 per year by 2032?2033.
• An investment of up to $86 million to 15 organizations across Canada to increase capacity for foreign credential recognition of approximately 6,600 internationally educated health professionals. This investment will support highly educated and skilled immigrants receive proper recognition for their international credentials.
• An investment of $3.5 million over 5 years to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) to develop a National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being to help improve health workforce retention.
• Initiatives to help internationally educated health professionals put their skills to work in Canada more quickly, including $1.49 million to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to expand and expedite the specialist Practice Eligibility Route (PER) for International Medical Graduates, and $500,000 to the Medical Council of Canada to better understand the barriers to existing programs.
• A plan, outlined in Budget 2023, to invest close to $200 billion over 10 years to improve health care for Canadians, which is helping to address health workforce shortages and to modernize the health care system through digital tools and health data.
• The first-ever launch of category-based selection for Canada's flagship economic immigration management system, Express Entry. Category-based selection allows Canada to issue invitations to apply to prospective permanent residents with specific work experience, including in health care.
• An investment of $2.4 million in the Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) to support the implementation and evaluation of a National Nurse Residency Program which aims to support newly graduated registered nurses (RNs) by helping them effectively manage the transition from classroom to workplace through competency-based workshops and mentorship.

Associated Links

• Government of Canada Announces Support to Help Address Workforce Challenges and Retention in Nursing Field
• ASN IEN Mentorship Program
• National Nurse Residency Program
• Improving the working lives of nurses across Canada
• Health workforce
• Budget 2023: Stronger Public Health Care

SOURCE Health Canada (HC)