On Friday, September 27, Health Workforce Canada had the opportunity to attend a workshop in Vancouver, that focused on retention solutions for new graduate nurses. This workshop was led by Rob Paquin and his team (the STARS team).  We were fortunate enough to have Rob lead HWC’s first pop-up session on retaining new health care graduates where he shared innovative practices implemented at Providence Health Care in Vancouver.  

At this recent workshop in Vancouver, the STARS team guided workshop attendees through a series of co-design sessions, where we discussed potential immediate, intermediate, and future scaling strategies and opportunities for improving the retention of newly graduated nurses. 

People from across British Columbia attended—including decision makers, newly graduated nurses, educators, and researchers. Some major ideas discussed throughout the day included the need for formal and consistent onboarding, structured mentorship, and the requirement to foster healthy and supportive workplace cultures.  

There was also discussion around the ability (or inability) to properly measure new graduate retention. Specifically, the gaps that exist in data collection across the country include a limited capacity to track individual workers across institutions, jurisdictions, and professions, and very little information and data on worker wellness. These are two examples of data gaps that restrict our ability to assess new graduate retention and the impact it may have on the health care system and subsequent system planning.  

Health Workforce Canada has recently initiated work on developing a pan-Canadian Health Workforce Data Strategy. This work will be in partnership with subject matter experts across the country. It presents a good opportunity to identify how to address these examples of challenging data gaps. 

Rob Paquin and the rest of the STARS team did a fantastic job in facilitating an inspiring, productive day! Through the conversations, it was evident how important it is to include new graduates in discussions, alongside senior decision makers. We look forward to incorporating the insights from this workshop into our work moving forward.