Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

The pandemic exposes critical gaps in Canada’s health workforce planning

Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD
Policy
February 20, 2021
Share
Tweet
Share

Health workers in Canada experience endemic levels of burnout directly related to understaffing and work overload. Leaves of absence from work for mental health and stress-related issues are 1.5 times higher among health workers than the rest of the population. Increasingly, health workers are significantly reducing their hours worked to cope or leaving their jobs altogether.

That was before the pandemic. With COVID-19, we are witnessing levels of stress, overload, and burnout among health workers previously unimaginable.

Though helpful, downstream responses of mindfulness and free access to psychotherapy are, at best, band-aid solutions. We have to look upstream to the source of the crisis.

Health worker burnout is directly linked to poor health workforce planning. That we continue to operate our health system blindfolded to very basic data about our system’s key resource – its health workers – is remarkable.

Health workers account for more than 10 percent of all employed Canadians and over two-thirds of all health care spending, not including the personal and public costs for their training. This amounts to $175 billion (2019), nearly eight percent of Canada’s GDP.

Health workforce science – and the data research infrastructure necessary to support it — is critical to making the best decisions about this essential human resource. We need to advance health workforce science in Canada now.

Canada lags behind comparable OECD countries, including the U.K., Australia, and the U.S., on big data analytics and digital research infrastructure that would give us vital information for health workforce planning. Significant gaps in our knowledge have caused serious systemic risks for planners to manage during this health crisis.

Absent timely and relevant health workforce data, decision-makers cannot optimally deploy health workers to where, when, and how they are most needed. As a result, health workforce planning activities across Canada remain ad hoc, sporadic, and siloed, generating significant costs and inefficiencies. The consequences include everything from sub-optimal health workforce utilization and poor population health outcomes to health worker burnout.

What data do we have?

Our data are profession-specific and say little about how health workers function as teams in “real world” patient care pathways. The data are also collected differently by various stakeholders, so are not easy to analyze across jurisdictions. Notable absences are workers in older adult care and mental health care – two sectors heavily impacted by the pandemic.

We need a standard set of data across a broader range of health workers supporting interprofessional and inter-jurisdictional planning.

Ideally, these data would be collected uniformly, include diversity (racial, Indigenous, and more inclusive gender identity), and address practice characteristics (e.g., setting, scope, and service capacity). These data should also be linked to relevant patient information, including health care utilization and outcome data.

Robust data would allow us to better understand the range and characteristics of health workers caring for patients, the types of care they provide, and the outcomes experienced by patients.

Right now, we are making decisions in the dark without using essential data that most other developed nations have had for years.

ADVERTISEMENT

So how do we get there?

Canada needs a more robust and centrally coordinated health workforce data, analytics, and science infrastructure. This would address a critical gap that has held us back and which has become only more apparent since COVID-19.

We can’t claim to have been blindsided. In 2010, the Parliamentary Standing Committee recommended a designated health workforce agency. This call was endorsed by all parties and several stakeholder organizations that testified to the committee. Since then, almost nothing has happened on this front.

The absence of a central coordination and implementation of integrated health workforce data, analytics, and planning activities, combined with diffuse governance responsibilities inherent in a federated health system leaves us with blurred lines of responsibility and poorly coordinated efforts.

Other countries have managed to overcome these challenges. Now that the pandemic has clarified the need, Canada no longer has any excuse.

The Federal Ministers of Health, Labour and Innovation need to prioritize the health workforce data infrastructure. The pandemic may be the impetus that enables us to make significant advances in health workforce data infrastructure.

We need to stop simply clapping our hands in support of health workers — and start planning to create better workforce conditions for them. Let’s make improved health workforce science in Canada a key legacy supporting our health care workers.

Ivy Lynn Bourgeault is a professor of sociological and anthropological studies, University of Ottawa, and the lead, Canadian Health Workforce Network.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Unmasking the faces of COVID: pages from a neurologist's diary

February 20, 2021 Kevin 2
…
Next

Who says doctors don’t care?

February 20, 2021 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: COVID, Infectious Disease, Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Unmasking the faces of COVID: pages from a neurologist's diary
Next Post >
Who says doctors don’t care?

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD

  • Canada’s health workers are sounding the alarm. We must act, now.

    Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD

Related Posts

  • Are negative news cycles and social media injurious to our health?

    Rabia Jalal, MD
  • How social media can help or hurt your health care career

    Health eCareers
  • Sharing mental health issues on social media

    Tarena Lofton
  • The social determinants of health during the COVID-19 pandemic

    Heather Thompson Buum, MD
  • 3 ways to advance the credibility of online health information

    Robert Pearl, MD
  • Identifying social determinants of health is critical to the patient interview

    David Velasquez

More in Policy

  • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

    Holland Haynie, MD
  • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

    Dave Cummings, RN
  • Healing the doctor-patient relationship by attacking administrative inefficiencies

    Allen Fredrickson
  • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

    Trevor Lyford, MPH
  • The CDC’s restructuring: Where is the voice of health care in the room?

    Tarek Khrisat, MD
  • Choosing between care and country: a dual citizen’s Independence Day reflection

    Kathleen Muldoon, PhD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

      Dave Cummings, RN | Policy
    • How digital tools are reshaping the doctor-patient relationship

      Vineet Vishwanath | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in every emergency department triage [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why PSA levels alone shouldn’t define your prostate cancer risk

      Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD | Conditions
    • How to handle chronically late patients in your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Reframing chronic pain and dignity: What a pain clinic teaches us about MAiD and chronic suffering

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • Why medicine must evolve to support modern physicians

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

      Dave Cummings, RN | Policy
    • How digital tools are reshaping the doctor-patient relationship

      Vineet Vishwanath | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in every emergency department triage [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why PSA levels alone shouldn’t define your prostate cancer risk

      Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD | Conditions
    • How to handle chronically late patients in your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Reframing chronic pain and dignity: What a pain clinic teaches us about MAiD and chronic suffering

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • Why medicine must evolve to support modern physicians

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...