Pan-Canadian Health Human Resource Strategy: 2005-2006 Annual Report

Establishment of the Internationally Educated Health Professionals Initiative

Internationally Educated Health Professionals (IEHPs) are an important component of the Canadian health care workforce. They have historically helped Canada meet its demand for health professionals and will con­tinue to do so given our shortage.

IEHPs come from diverse countries with various edu­cational standards and working environments. They face numerous challenges in navigating through the licensure process and integrating into the Canadian health care workplace.

To address these challenges, and consistent with the 2004 Health Accord, the Government of Canada com­mitted $75 million over five years in Budget 2005 to support initiatives that will promote the integration of IEHPs into the Canadian health system.

The $75 million has two separate streams of funding -$61.5 million for provincial/territorial initiatives, and $7.4 million for pan-Canadian initiatives. Pan-Canadian funding has been made available to support national initiatives that will promote the inte­gration of these professionals across the country. These funds are targeted to regulatory bodies, educa­tional institutions, and other national stakeholders.

The Internationally Educated Health Professionals Initiative is initially focusing on seven professions which include: medicine, nursing, medical laboratory science, medical radiation technology, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy.

A great deal of commonality exists among the issues faced by internationally educated health pro­fessionals. Recognizing these commonalities, Health Canada engaged representatives from nurs­ing, medical laboratory science, medical radiation technology, pharmacy, physiotherapy, and occupa­tional therapy to develop the scope and framework for a common, interdisciplinary orientation program to the Canadian health care system. Work will con­tinue in 2006/07 to develop this program.

Provinces and territories responded to Health Canada's call for proposals for the P/T component of funds.

The resulting initiatives address the IEHPI strategic outcomes, target a range of priority professions and many take an interprofessional approach. Detailed descriptions of the funded IEHPI and P/T and regional projects can be found in the contributions section of this Annual Report.

The Internationally Educated Nurses Taskforce was created to help find solutions to the issues being faced by internationally educated nurses in Canada. Taskforce membership includes a wide range of nursing stakeholders. In 2005/06, the Taskforce completed reports in areas identified for develop­ment including: a common information source, edu­cation, assessment and bridging, and data, includ­ing the concept of a personal identification number. Work continues on this front, and many provincial/territorial and pan-Canadian initiatives funded through the IEHPI will also address these issues.

A key success factor in developing and implementing the Internationally Educated Health Professionals Initiative is collaboration. Health Canada continues to work closely with provincial/territorial governments, educational institutions, regulatory bodies, internation­ally educated health professionals, national profession­al associations, and other federal departments, toward the common goal of accelerating and improving the integration of internationally educated health profes­sionals into the Canadian health system.

National and regional approaches that maximize the resources available, and the collaboration and high level of engagement by stakeholders, have contributed significantly to the success of the activities to date. This collaborative approach will continue to be a central fea­ture of the IEHPI as it moves forward into the future.

International Medical Graduate Initiatives

Prior to the creation of the Internationally Educated Health Professionals Initiative in 2005, successful efforts were already underway to reduce barriers to licensure for internationally educated health medical graduates. In the summer of 2002, the creation of the Canadian Taskforce on Licensure of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) was a key step in address­ing the issues faced by IMGs in Canada.

The Taskforce made six recommendations which were endorsed by the federal/provincial/territorial Ministers of Health in February 2004.

Health Canada, together with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Industry Canada, provided over $8 million in funding for ini­tiatives to address the Taskforce recommendations.

Health Canada, together with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC), provided funding in 2005/06 supporting:

• Increased provincial IMG assessment capacity
• A central web-site of information for IMGs Canadian Information Centre for International Medical Graduates
• A national consortium of IMG assessment pro­grams and regulators to harmonize the assess­ment process across the country
• A faculty development program for teachers of IMGs, launched in April, 2006
• An online self assessment tool to assess readi­ness to write qualifying exams ( Medical Council of Canada )
• Increased access to evaluating examinations off­shore prior to immigration
• A web based orientation program about the cul­tural, legal and ethical organization of medicine in Canada ( Medical Council of Canada )
• A centralized foreign credential verification service
• A new database to track IMGs (data will help to inform policy development and program design)

Detailed descriptions of IMG projects funded by Health Canada in 2005/06 can be found in the contri­butions section of this Annual Report.

Aboriginal HHR Work

Health Canada has a unique relationship with First Nations and Inuit communities in working closely with them to enhance their health services and improve their health. This is an ongoing commitment of the federal government, resulting from a series of reports and commissions on Aboriginal health. Health Canada's First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB) works to ensure that First Nations and Inuit health care needs are addressed and, where possi­ble, integrated into larger pan-Canadian strategies.

FNIHB is directly responsible for implementing the HHR Strategy from a First Nations and Inuit perspec­tive and seeks to accomplish the following goals:

• ensure that the current and future supply, mix and distribution of First Nations and Inuit HHR are opti­mized and respond to the needs of First Nations and Inuit through a coordinated approach to HHR planning;
• achieve and maintain an adequate supply of qualified health care providers who are appropriately educated, distributed, deployed and supported, to ensure culturally appropriate and safe health care services are available to First Nations and Inuit;
• increase the number of First Nations and Inuit entering into health careers, and the number of health care providers working in First Nations and Inuit communities;
• ensure that First Nations and Inuit HHR data collec­tion is ongoing, coordinated and systematic, and that the process involves First Nations and Inuit organizations; and
• promote interprofessional education for health care workers and collaborative patient-centred practice that addresses the holistic health care needs of First Nations and Inuit. This is intended to increase client satisfaction and ultimately, to improve patient outcomes.

Please refer to pages 95 to 104 for information on Aboriginal HHR projects which were implemented in 2005/06. Page 109 describes complementary activities undertaken by FNIHB in 2005/06.