This report presents the rationale, methodology, and outcomes of CRIEC's workforce integration toolkit initiative for internationally educated nurses (IENs) in Canada. It is intended as a practical resource for bridging program coordinators, healthcare employers, nursing educators, community organizations, and policymakers. The work was conducted as part of an ESDC-funded initiative and reflects…
This report presents the rationale, methodology, and outcomes of CRIEC's workforce integration toolkit initiative for internationally educated nurses (IENs) in Canada. It is intended as a practical resource for bridging program coordinators, healthcare employers, nursing educators, community organizations, and policymakers. The work was conducted as part of an ESDC-funded initiative and reflects CRIEC's commitment to evidence-informed, equity-centred workforce development.
The document begins by outlining the challenge: Canada faces a projected shortage of 117,600 registered nurses by 2030, while 15,000-20,000 IENs in Canada remain underemployed. It identifies two key gaps: supply-side gaps in bridging programs that lack employment navigation and workplace culture training, and demand-side gaps where healthcare employers lack structured tools for IEN recruitment and onboarding.
CRIEC's approach was grounded in three evidence-based frameworks: the Social Ecological Model (SEM), Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), and RE-AIM. Six stakeholder consultations and three iterative co-design sessions were conducted between February and September 2023, engaging IENs, healthcare HR professionals, nursing managers, bridging program educators, and community organization representatives. A scoping review of 47 peer-reviewed and grey literature sources (2010-2023)…
Five workforce integration toolkits were co-designed: Employment Engagement for IENs, Path2Practice for IENs Employer Engagement, Mentorship Toolkit for IENs in Alberta, Navigating Nursing in Alberta, and Pre-Arrival Toolkit for IENs. Each toolkit is structured for facilitated delivery within bridging programs and employer education sessions, with sample tools including competency gap analysis worksheets, bias-reduction interview guides, and provincial pathway flowcharts.
Key lessons from the co-design process include: supply-side solutions alone cannot fix supply-side problems, delivery method matters as much as content, CBPR surfaces insights the literature alone cannot provide, and health equity is the reason the toolkit exists. Recommendations are provided for bridging program developers, healthcare employers, system planners and policymakers, and researchers and evaluators.
The report concludes with planned next steps: facilitated workshops for IENs within bridging program delivery, employer capacity-building sessions embedded in nursing orientation and onboarding curricula, and ongoing integration of the toolkits into CRIEC's workforce integration programming.