Group Convener: Dr. Rick Audas, Director of NLCAHR and Professor of Health Statistics & Economics BBA (New Brunswick), MBA, MA (Dalhousie), PhD (Wales), Community Health and Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University.

If you are interested in participating in this group, email Rochelle.baker@med.mun.ca to be added to the list.

Background: In 2022, Health Accord NL’s report: Our Province. Our Health. Our Future. A 10-Year Health Transformation: The Blueprint  noted that the recruitment and retention of care providers is critical to health and healthcare sustainability in this province, particularly when we consider the worldwide shortage of healthcare workers and the need for community and hospital services across this province.  Health human resources issues are complex and multi-faceted and are linked directly to work-life balance, workload, burnout, and quality of care. Access to education and professional development are also important factors related to health human resource recruitment and retention.

At a meeting with NLCAHR in March, 2023, provincial health system leaders, university partners, patients, and caregivers identified health human resources as a top priority for the health system transformation now underway in the province. 

Multiple actions are required to improve the availability and retention of human resources in health.   The Research Exchange Group on Health Human Resources will explore research and policy making related to those actions.  The team here at NLCAHR hopes to establish a forum where you can share your knowledge about HHR and also learn about the perspectives of others:  healthcare workers from across professions, patients, caregivers, community organizations, university partners from multiple disciplines, health system partners, and participants working in government.  The group will meet to discuss research and practice knowledge; to share lived experience and community knowledge; and to build capacity for collaboration and partnerships to support recruitment, retention and work-life balance for health workers in this province.

The voices of our healthcare workers will be especially welcome as we strive to integrate lived experience and the voices of health workers in all collaborative research, practice and policy directions designed to improve health human resource capacity and job satisfaction in health and community services across the province.

Meetings:

September 28, 2023| Initial Group Planning Meeting

• Health Human Resources September 28 2023 Meeting Notes

November 2, 2023 | Provincial Panel on HHR Policies for Recruitment and Retention | Panelists Heather Hanrahan, Special Adviser, Health Transformation, Executive Council of the Cabinet Secretariat, Dr. Megan Hayes, ADM Recruitment and Retention, Executive Branch, Department of Health and Community Services, Carla Whittle, Director of Health Professional Recruitment and Retention, Executive Branch, Department of Health and Community Services, Andrew Wells,  Senior Manager of Health Workforce Planning, Department of Health and Community Services,  Debbie Molloy, Vice President of Human Resources, NL Health Services, and Collette Smith, Senior Director responsible for recruitment at NL Health Services  provided an overview on healthcare workforce retention and recruitment policies and progress in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

• Health Care Action Recruitment and Retention Stats: https://healthcareaction.ca/recruitment-retention/
• Work In Health HHR Incentives | https://workinhealthnl.ca/incentives
• New Nursing Registration Pathways through CRNNL: https://crnnl.ca/registration-renewal/registration/internationally-educated-nurse-ien/
• Family Practice Renewal Program: https://familypracticerenewalnl.ca/

November 28, 2023 | Identifying Knowledge Gaps in HHR Part I

• Health Human Resources November 28 2023 Meeting Notes