Supporting work practices through telehealth: impact on nurses in peripheral regions
Marie-Pierre Gagnon1, Guy Paré, Hugo Pollender
1Research Center of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, Québec, Canada. marie-pierre.gagnon@fsi.ulaval.ca
BMC Health Services Research
|February 8, 2011
Summary
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can help address nursing shortages in Quebec
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Nursing Workforce Studies
- Information and Communication Technology in Healthcare
Background:
- Canada faces healthcare workforce shortages, particularly impacting peripheral Quebec regions with nursing deficits and high workloads.
- Information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer potential solutions for optimizing resources and innovating nursing practices.
- Limited understanding exists regarding the specific impact of ICTs on nursing recruitment and retention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how reorganizing work practices, supported by ICTs and telehealth, influences professional, educational, and organizational factors for Quebec nurses.
- To identify key factors affecting nursing graduates' intentions to practice in peripheral regions.
- To explore the impact of ICTs on nursing retention in various geographical settings.
Main Methods:
- Descriptive study of nursing recruitment using stratified sampling of ~20 ICT-based work practice projects.
- Semi-structured interviews with key informants to identify recruitment factors, followed by a questionnaire for 600 nursing students/graduates.
- Five case studies on nursing retention in semi-urban, rural, and isolated regions, involving field observation and ~50 semi-structured interviews.
Main Results:
- Analysis will identify professional, educational, and organizational factors influencing nursing graduates' decisions to practice in underserved areas.
- Data will reveal how ICT implementation affects nursing retention in diverse regional contexts.
- Triangulation of data from multiple sources and methods will ensure robust findings.
Conclusions:
- The study aims to provide evidence-based insights into leveraging ICTs for effective nursing recruitment and retention strategies.
- Findings will inform policy development to address healthcare workforce distribution challenges in Quebec's peripheral regions.
- Continuous knowledge transfer with decision-makers will facilitate the practical application of research results.
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