IEHP
International Educated Health Professionals
Challenges faced by IEHPs
- obtaining timely, accurate information about ho to register in health care professions
- supplying/validating credentials
- education requirements
- practice/clinical experience
- language requirements
- registration exams
- entering and integrating into health force
ex of resources in ontario that provide info to IEHPS
healthforce on
access center for regulated employement
Supplying and validating credentials
- can be costly, time consuming, sometimes not possible (refugees) to obtain necessary documents from country of origin
- validation from reg body can be slow
- faster if precedent case exists
- most regulatory bodies have a backlog of cases
- delays can lead to attrition (reducing strength/effectiveness)
ed requirements
- if credentials not accepted, may need to upgrade
- requirements may change over time
- costly and time consuming
- bridging program can be useful
- Prior Learning Assessment Recognition Programs (PLAR)
Practice/Clinical experience
- different regulatory bodies have different requirements about Canadian clinical experience
- can be hard to obtain necessary placements to gain experience
- hard to balance the time vs. the need to do paid work to survive
Language requirements
- many already meet requirements
- also need to develop more targeted/intense language training to help candidates who need to obtain required level of language proficiency
registration exams
- available support and guides vary from colleges
- can make it challenging to pass standardized exam
- bridging programs can be very important to helping with exam preparation
entering and integrating into the health workforce
- depend on social networks
- rural vs. urban
- workplace supports/ doversity strategies/ level of understanding of employers – differs all over
Bridging programs
for internationally educated health care professionals who completed training in other country
common expected program outcomes
- success with cert exams
- increased knowledge of the canadian health care system
- proficiency in occupation-specific language
- find employment after certification
- meet indv needs
common elemets in the content of different bridging programs
- effective program content
- focus on work readiness and on-going support
- access to resources, facilities and funding
- flexibility
- effective assessment
- faculty and administrators experienced with IEHP
- communication among program, regulator and employers
common challenges faced by bridging programs
- difficulty securing placement
- financial stability
- carriculum development
- how and where to deliver the program
programs have fluctuating enrollment due to
- immigration policy
- job market
what are the various stakeholders?
- regulatory colleges
- fed and prov government
- employers
- professional associations
regulatory colleges
- not mandated to provide education
- have expertise in terms of development and delivery
- little budget to act in advisory capacity
federal and provincial government
- provide funding and coordination
- start up funding
employer
- provisions of placements
- job shadowing
- mentoring
- volunteering opportunities
professional associations
- communication about bridging programs to members
- promotion to value diversity
- support bridging programs through mentoring, scholarships, employment information
