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 (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND COVID-19 has highlighted already existing human resource gaps in healthcare systems. New Brunswick's (NB) healthcare services are significantly weakened by a shortage of nurses and physicians across the province, 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), has provided care to OLMCs in NB. The Network currently needs to fill hundreds of vacant physician and nurse positions. Considering these facts, it is imperative to strengthen the Network's retention strategies to ensure its viability and maintain adequate healthcare services that meet the needs of OLMCs. The study is a collaborative effort between the Network and the research team to identify and implement organisational and structural strategies to upscale retention. OBJECTIVE The overarching aim of this study is to support one of New Brunswick's health networks in identifying and implementing concrete strategies that take into consideration its environment to promote physician and registered nurse retention. More precisely, and locally, it wishes to make four important contributions: to identify and (enhance our understanding of) the factors related to the retention of physicians and nurses within the Network; to determine, based on the “Magnet Hospital” and the “Making it Work” frameworks, on which aspects of the Network's environments (internal or external) it should focus for its retention plan/strategy; to define clear and actionable practices to help the Network replenish its strength and vitality; to improve the quality of healthcare services to OLMCs. METHODS The sequential methodology, based on a mixed-method design, combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. 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 to determine which areas have the most critical challenges and which ones have more successful approaches regarding retention. Recruitment will be made from 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 five years. RESULTS The secondary data analysis on vacancies and turnover rates will identify areas that already encompass good retention practices. The in-depth qualitative results will deepen our understanding of why people choose to stay or why they choose to leave. Expected results for this study should also determine which factors make the Network's internal and external environments attractive. CONCLUSIONS While elucidating the factors that should foster the retention of physicians and nurses in health organizations, with regard for OLMCs, this study will also generate recommendations and solutions that could contributes to a more robust retention plan for healthcare professionals working in language minority communities. CLINICALTRIAL Not a clinical trial