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Theme: Health Human Resources
Project: 2-5 d: An analysis of practice patterns
for allied health professionals and licensed practical nurses:
implications for curriculum design: Licensed practical nurses
(LPNs).
Project Lead:
Andrea Baumann
Synopsis of Project:
The shifting of place of work from hospital to home and community may in turn influence what employed health professionals do, and how they must be educated. There are concerns as to how to achieve integrated delivery and collaboration among professions in the changing delivery system, and ongoing issues as to whether the specialization that is taking place within professions is transforming single markets into a series of de facto sub-markets. Although the sub-sector analysis is well positioned to explore the extent to which individuals change their type of employment, understanding what people do will require surveys. Project 2-5 will ascertain where graduates of selected programs are employed, the types of contracts they are getting, and what they are doing, which should allow us to ascertain the extent to which different sub-sectors actually do the same work with the same sorts of skill mix. The survey instruments will be coordinated to ensure the ability to compare across professions. In these studies, we will concentrate on new graduates. We will also ascertain uptake--how quickly they are employed, and who employs them (by sub-sector). Some of the survey results can then be employed to augment the labour economics studies and add individual-level variables. The objectives of this Project are to: a) analyze the practice patterns of each selected profession, b) assess the extent of variation by sub-sector, c) assess perceptions of trends/changes in these practice patterns, and d) assess the gaps between curriculum content and practice patterns for these professions.
d. New nursing graduates.
This study will build upon a voluntary survey of all Canadian nursing graduates. The previous Ontario-wide survey obtained a response rate of 64% and determined that no more than 40% of those employed were working full time. Despite widespread arguments that nurses were needed in the community sub-sectors, almost 90% were looking for, and had found, work within a hospital setting. Repeating this survey yearly for all Canadian graduates is an important way to track employment uptake of new graduates, how quickly nurses are employed, and who employs them (by sub-sector).
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