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Health systems worldwide are at a critical juncture due to an increasing demand for health services and a diminishing pool of health human resources. While COVID-19 exacerbated nursing deficits, the need to strengthen and sustain the health workforce in Canada was evident decades prior and supported by numerous studies that warned of significant shortages. Post pandemic, building health system capacity has become paramount. This article examines innovative nursing employment initiatives in Canada. It provides a snapshot of federal, provincial and territorial approaches, with a particular focus on Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs) due to burgeoning interest in and competition for their skills and services. However, recognizing that health human resource planning is a persistent challenge, further initiatives are suggested. These include complementary policy development to improve retention and policy frameworks that support proactive long-term strategies to address the cyclical shortage of nurses., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

As part of its post COVID-19 recovery plan, the Canadian government is increasing the number of skilled immigrants, including Internationally Educated Nurses (IENs). However, pre-pandemic data show that IENs are underutilized and underemployed despite their education and experience. Focusing on the province of Ontario, this article explores trends in the IEN workforce and policies to address the nursing shortage. Barriers to IEN integration are reviewed and changes in the demographic and employment characteristics of IENs are analyzed. The disproportionate number of IENs employed in the Ontario long-term care sector, which has low wages and poor working conditions, emphasizes the need for policies that support the integration of IENs into the broader Canadian health system and increase their earning potential. To engage in strategic workforce planning and policy development, health leaders require access to nurse demographic and employment data that is timely and reflects the international and domestic labour supply., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of a government full-time employment policy targeting new graduate nurses in the province of Ontario, Canada, by comparing participants with non-participants., Methods: The Policy Impact on Nurse Employment (PINEP) survey was administered in 2014 to nurses who graduated between 2007 and 2012. Backward multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the effect of participation in the policy on key outcomes: full-time employment, retention and perceptions of clinical proficiency., Results: A total of 2369 nurses responded to the survey. Policy participants were 1.5 times more likely to be employed full-time and 2.3 times more likely to be retained in their initial position at the time of survey compared to non-participants. Participants also perceived their clinical proficiency to be higher., Conclusions: The evidence is converging around the importance of providing full-time employment to nurses to sustain the workforce, increase clinical proficiency and improve patient outcomes. In Ontario, the government created a policy to stimulate full-time employment for nurses. Results demonstrate that nursing employment has become more stable. Yet more needs to be done particularly in relation to the precarious employment trend., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To examine an employer response to a government employment policy, the Nursing Graduate Guarantee (NGG), over a 2-year period (2008-2009 and 2009-2010)., Background: Healthcare organizations rely on a stable supply of nurses to meet their staffing needs. However, employment trends have indicated a propensity for part-time employment. The NGG was created to stimulate full-time employment of new graduate nurses in Ontario, Canada., Methods: A mixed methods design was used, which included online surveys and focus groups. All healthcare providers (n = 1198) were surveyed in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. Each year, a sample of NGG employers participated in sector-specific focus groups., Results: Approximately 20% of potential healthcare employers participated in the NGG. Reasons for non-participation included lack of awareness of the initiative and lack of full-time jobs. Barriers to offering full-time employment to new graduates included lack of full-time vacancies and budget constraints., Conclusions: Employers perceive flexible staffing practices as a way to contain personnel costs but often at the expense of a stable full-time nursing workforce., Implications for Nursing Management: This research contributes to an understanding of employers' perspectives on full-time hiring and participation in a government employment policy., (© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)