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. 2023 May 3:12:e41485.
doi: 10.2196/41485.

Addressing the Shortage of Health Professionals in Official Language Minority Communities to Strengthen Retention Strategies for the Benefit of New Brunswick Francophone and Acadian Communities: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Design

Stéphanie Collin #  1 , Claire Johnson  1 , Anik Dubé  1 , Marie-Eve Laforest  1 , Martin Lauzier  2 , Michel H Landry  3 , Manon Cormier  1 , Brigitte Sonier-Ferguson  4
Affiliations

Addressing the Shortage of Health Professionals in Official Language Minority Communities to Strengthen Retention Strategies for the Benefit of New Brunswick Francophone and Acadian Communities: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Design

Stéphanie Collin et al. JMIR Res Protoc. .

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 has highlighted already existing human resource gaps in health care systems. New Brunswick health care services are significantly weakened by a shortage of nurses and physicians, affecting regions where Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs) reside. Since 2008, Vitalité Health Network (the "Network"), whose work language is French (with services delivered in both official languages, English and French), has provided health care to OLMCs in New Brunswick. The Network currently needs to fill hundreds of vacant physician and nurse positions. It is imperative to strengthen the network's retention strategies to ensure its viability and maintain adequate health care services for OLMCs. The study is a collaborative effort between the Network (our partner) and the research team to identify and implement organizational and structural strategies to upscale retention.

Objective: The aim of this study is to support one of New Brunswick health networks in identifying and implementing strategies to promote physician and registered nurse retention. More precisely, it wishes to make 4 important contributions to identify (and enhance our understanding of) the factors related to the retention of physicians and nurses within the Network; determine, based on the "Magnet Hospital" model and the "Making it Work" framework, on which aspects of the Network's environment (internal or external) it should focus for its retention strategy; define clear and actionable practices to help the Network replenish its strength and vitality; and improve the quality of health care services to OLMCs.

Methods: The sequential methodology combines quantitative and qualitative approaches based on a mixed methods design. For the quantitative part, data collected through the years by the Network will be used to take stock of vacant positions and examine turnover rates. These data will also help determine which areas have the most critical challenges and which ones have more successful approaches regarding retention. Recruitment will be made in those areas for the qualitative part of the study to conduct interviews and focus groups with different respondents, either currently employed or who have left it in the last 5 years.

Results: This study was funded in February 2022. Active enrollment and data collection started in the spring of 2022. A total of 56 semistructured interviews were conducted with physicians and nurses. As of manuscript submission, qualitative data analysis is in progress and quantitative data collection is intended to end by February 2023. Summer and fall 2023 is the anticipated period to disseminate the results.

Conclusions: Applying the "Magnet Hospital" model and the "Making it Work" framework outside urban settings will offer a novel outlook to the knowledge of professional resource shortages within OLMCs. Furthermore, this study will generate recommendations that could contribute to a more robust retention plan for physicians and registered nurses.

International registered report identifier (irrid): DERR1-10.2196/41485.

Keywords: Acadian; Canada; Francophone; Francophone communities; French; ethnic; health care professional; health care professionals’ retention; health care provider; human resource shortage; language; linguistic minorities; minorities; minority; physicians’ retention; registered nurse retention; retention; retention factors; rural; rural communities; shortage.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Making it Work framework (adapted from École de médecine du Nord de l’Ontario [20], which is published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 [CC BY 21]).
Figure 2
Figure 2
An evaluation of the nursing practice environment and successful change management using the new generation Magnet Hospital model [25].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Factors influencing the retention of Registered Nurses and Physicians Working in OLMCs. OLMCs: Official Language Minority Communities.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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