Tag Archives: Baumann

Series Report # 29 Employment Integration of Nursing Graduates: Evaluation of a Provincial Policy Strategy Nursing Graduate Guarantee 2010-2011

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Publication Type: Report

Authors: Dr. Andrea Baumann, Dr. Mabel Hunsberger and Mary Crea-Arsenio

The Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG) is a targeted policy incentive created in 2007 to increase the number of full-time (FT) employment opportunities for new graduate nurses (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care [MOHLTC], 2011a). The funding supports six months of employment and includes an orientation and mentorship program. Over the past four years, 9904 new graduates participated in the NGG. Approximately 200 out of a possible 1198 Ontario employers also participated in the initiative in each year (MOHLTC, 2011c).

The 1198 potential healthcare employers in Ontario include 155 hospital corporations, 613 long-term care (LTC) facilities and 430 community/other organizations. Over 60% of all hospitals, 14% of all LTC facilities and less than 10% of all community/other organizations participated in the NGG each year. While the overall employer participation rate was 18% on average, the level of participation varied across sectors.

Historically the largest employer of new nurses is the hospital sector. Of the 9904 new graduate participants, 86% have been hired into the hospital sector, 8% have been hired by LTC facilities and 6% have been hired by community/other organizations. In 2010, however, the number of positions offered by acute care centres decreased 54% compared to 2009, while the number of positions offered by LTC facilities increased by approximately 9%. Preliminary employer interviews indicate there is an absorption capacity for the number of new graduates that certain institutions can hire. The larger hospitals hired as many as 250 new graduates per year, with a high retention rate. There has been an increase in uptake by LTC facilities, but they have fewer positions.

According to employment data from the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), the trend in FT employment of new members in Ontario has increased from 2004 (pre-policy) to 2011. Since 2004, there has been a 19% increase in FT employment for new member registered nurses (RNs) and a 13% increase for new member registered practical nurses (RPNs) (CNO, 2011). When compared to 2004 pre-policy levels, each year of the NGG showed a significant increase in FT employment for both new member RNs and RPNs.

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Preparing Tomorrow’s Leaders Today: Investing in Capacity Building for Nursing Health Services Research

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Author: Dr. Andrea Baumann

This report provides an evaluation of the Undergraduate Student Research Internship Program (USRIP) and demonstrates how the program achieves its intended outcomes and how government investment contributes to health research capacity. Document analysis was used, which included financial records, publications and a review of annual reports dating back to the inception of the Nursing Health Services Research Unit. In addition, the McMaster University Research Internship Program Survey was sent to former student research interns. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of survey responses was conducted. Information obtained from all sources was plotted on a logic framework (Cooke, 2005; Cooke & Sarre, 2009).

Findings indicated that the USRIP:

• Develops research skills and confidence

• Contributes to sustainability of learned skills

• Supports evidence-based practice

• Influences career decisions

Based on the survey responses, the USRIP is a valuable and cost-effective approach to building research capacity. The investment made by the Ontario government, along with funds from other sources and organizations, has produced significant outcomes that support capacity building and innovation in research.

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Guide supports internationally-trained nurses transition to Canada

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Hamilton, ON (Nov 7, 2011) — Almost 300 foreign-trained nurses arrive in Canada each year, most settling in Ontario and many lacking the language, technological and nursing skills required to practice here.

To counteract what is called a “brain waste”, researchers in McMaster University’s Nursing Health Services Research Unit (NHSRU) developed a unique web-based guide designed to help hospitals and health care facilities overcome barriers faced by internationally educated nurses (IENs) from the time they enter Canada.

The NHSRU’s guide, Internationally Educated Nurses: An Employer’s Guide, is timely as the Ontario government continues to further open the doors of the province to increasing numbers of international professionals.

“With an aging (nursing) workforce and the threat of nursing shortages, effective management and retention of internationally educated nurses (IENs) is a priority,” said Andrea Baumann, scientific director, NHSRU, who led the development of the web-based guide with Jennifer Blythe, a senior researcher in the unit.

Baumann said the result of an initiative like this is “not only effective use of human resources but a more ethnically diverse health care workforce that better reflects the Ontario population and enhances the quality of health care delivery.”

The guide, which is also available in a print version, provides easily accessible information that targets, among other things, workforce diversity, cultural competence, recruitment strategies, screening processes and hiring practices, bridging programs, settlement support and managers and educators responsibilities.

Web-based resources are listed, with additional resources on migration, settlement, recruitment and integration, personal stories of internationally-trained nurses and video clips of interviews with a number of healthcare organizations.

Maria Rosalie Rival, who received her basic nursing education in the Philippines, discusses how she is completing a degree in nursing under special funding for internationally educated nurses at York University. After arriving in Toronto in 2007, she discovered her credentials in the Philippines were not equivalent to the baccalaureate degree in Ontario.

To illustrate how some health care organizations welcome nurses from abroad, the guide describes an initiative by the Saskatchewan Health Region (SHR), selected as one of the Best Employers of New Canadians in 2010. The SHR team developed guidelines for ethical recruitment and worked with three recruitment agencies and the Philippine government, hiring 100 internationally-trained nurses and staggering their arrival to provide enhanced settlement support.

The website will be launched on Nov. 7 at HealthAchieve 2011 in Toronto, a health care conference anticipating attendance of 9,000 health care and business leaders from around the world.

The NHSRU developed the guide in collaboration with the Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.

 

For further information and to arrange interviews, please contact:

Laurie Kennedy

NHSRU

905-525-9140, ext. 22206

kennedyl@mcmaster.ca

Innovative Web-Based Guide for Employers of Internationally Educated Nurses

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Internationally Educated Nurses: An Employer’s Guide (www.oha.com/ien) is a unique web-based guide designed to help hospitals and health care facilities overcome barriers faced by internationally educated nurses (IENs) from the time they enter Canada. This new web-based resource launched at HealthAchieve 2011, is produced by The Ontario Hospital Association (OHA) in partnership with the Nursing Health Services Research Unit (NHSRU) McMaster site and is funded by the Government of Ontario.

Environmental Scan: Stakeholder Preferences for Dissemination

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Research Team:

Andrea Baumann,
Diane Doran,
Theresa Noonan,
Laurie Kennedy,
Dan Laporte,
Marianne Koh

 

This environmental scan of the Nursing Health Services Research Unit’s (NHSRU) stakeholders will be used to engage users of evidence in the program of research. In order to obtain salient information, seven nursing leaders were interviewed in 2011 and a 15-question online stakeholder survey was conducted. The scan, which is presented in two sections, identifies audience-specific NHSRU research topics and highlights dissemination vehicle preferences. All stakeholders said they would like the NHSRU to host web conferences, and we are planning these for fall 2011. The scan was completed as part of the NHSRU’s contract with the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). Results will be incorporated into the NHSRU Knowledge Transfer Strategy and will be evaluated. Section I provides action items, a discussion of hot topics in nursing and the results of the interviews and survey. Section II focuses on decision makers and provides a detailed summary of survey findings. It includes the questions for the environmental scan and the online survey results and template.

 

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Workforce Integration of New Nurses: Exploring Employment Goals, Expectations, and Intent to Migrate of Nursing Graduates in a Canadian Border City

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Research Team-   Michelle Freeman, MSN, RN, Andrea Baumann, PhD, RN, Jennifer Blythe, PhD, Anita Fisher, PhD, RN, Noori Akhtar-Danesh, PhD, Camille Kolotylo, PhD, RN

The purpose of this study is to describe the pre-employment profile, employment goals, and intent to migrate of a class of 281 nursing students who graduated from a university in a Canadian border community in 2011. It also explores the job factors these nurses value and their perception of whether their first job will fulfill their expectations

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Evidence Note on Workforce Integration

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Summary

The nursing workforce in Ontario is expected to reduce over the next decade, negatively impacting the healthcare system. An aging workforce combined with a more senior population could mean there will be more patients in Ontario and a smaller number of nurses to care for them.

Employing Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) will ensure Excellent Care for All by implementing quality improvement plans so a diverse integrated workforce can respond to varied patient needs.

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Series Report #27 Employment Integration of Nursing Graduates:Evaluation of a Provincial Policy Strategy

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Authors: Baumann, A., Hunsberger, M., & Crea-Arsenio, M

This report presents the results of the evaluation of the Ontario provincial policy entitled, the Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG) for the year 2009-2010.   Since the inception of the initiative in 2007, the overall employment trend for new graduate nurses has continued in a positive direction.  In 2006, researchers tracking new graduate employment found that new graduates preferred full-time (FT) employment but only a small percentage of them were able to find FT work (Baumann et al., 2006). Based on this trend, in 2007, the Ontario government made an investment to stimulate FT employment for new graduate nurses in the Ontario health care sector. There are 1198 potential employers in Ontario and 5139 (2910 RNs and 2229 RPNs) nurses who graduated in 2009.

The Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG) is a financial stimulus package created to encourage full time (FT) employment for Ontario nursing graduates. The fund supports six months of employment and includes an extended orientation and mentorship program. Since 2007, 8123 new graduates and 250 employers have participated in the program (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care [MOHLTC], 2010). The hospital sector has the largest percentage of employer participation with over 70% of hospital corporations in Ontario taking part in the initiative.

Since 2005, there has been an upward trend in FT employment for new graduates.  The 2009-2010 new graduate survey data (Baumann, et al, 2010) was recently ratified by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) annual membership statistics.  The new member Registered Nurse (RN) category showed a FT employment rate of 71% (CNO, 2010). In early 2010, the results of the new graduate survey indicated that FT employment for RNs was 67% (Baumann et al., 2010). The new member Registered Practical Nurses (RPN) category showed 36% of new members working FT (CNO, 2010).  This was a lower percentage than the results of the new graduate survey which indicated FT employment for RPNs was 49% in early 2010 (Baumann et al., 2010).  Even though the overall rate of FT for both nurse categories has increased since 2005, it still merits targeted attention.

The three year evaluation data demonstrated the overall effectiveness of the NGG in integrating new graduates into the health care system (Baumann et al., 2008, 2009, 2010). There has been an upward trend in FT employment since the introduction of the NGG. In the 2009-2010 study sample, the number of new graduates employed increased from 899 (2008) to 1141 (2009). The data also indicates that there was an overall increase in the number of FT jobs for new graduate survey respondents (from 679 in 2008 to 700 in 2009).

In summary, there is an upward trend in FT employment. There are a number of factors which must be considered when examining employment trends of new graduate nurses. The existing labour market conditions are important as  well as the overall supply of RNs and RPNs in any given year.   Although there are 1198 potential health care employers in the province of Ontario, the ability to offer FT positions does fluctuate.

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Research in Action Summary:Employment Integration of Nursing Graduates: Evaluation of a Provincial Policy Strategy, Nursing Graduate Guarantee 2009-2010

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Authors: Baumann, A., Hunsberger, M., & Crea-Arsenio, M.

A three year evaluation of the Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG) demonstrates the effectiveness in integrating new graduates into the health care system (Baumann et al., 2008, 2009, 2010). The research demonstrated a continuous upward trend in full time (FT) employment for new graduates since the introduction of the NGG in 2007. The 2009-2010 new graduate survey data (Baumann, et al, 2010) was validated by the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) annual membership statistics. The new member data showed a 71 per cent FT employment rate for the Registered Nurse (RN) category and a 36 per cent FT employment rate for the Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) category (CNO, 2010).

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Series Report #28 Ergonomic Program Implementation Continuum (EPIC): Integration of Health and Safety – A Process Evaluation

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Authors: Baumann, A., Holness, L., Norman, P., Idriss-Wheeler, D., & Kaba, A.

Executive Summary

The Public Service Health and Safety Association (PSHSA), formerly the Ontario Safety Association for Community & Healthcare (OSACH), recently developed a unique approach to the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) and slips, trips and falls (STF) for staff, clients and the public.  The Ergonomic Program Implementation Continuum (EPIC) is the first of its kind in Ontario and provides vital information and guidance to employers and employees. The Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation (ONF) and PSHSA conducted a pilot project to evaluate EPIC as a “best practice in the health and community care sector”. Limitations aside, all sites indicated that EPIC benefited their organization. The program was structured but flexible enough to address the unique needs of each organization. In particular, the program supported the inclusion of frontline staff in reducing hazards and improving their work environment.

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