CIHI collects supply and demographic data on more than 30 different groups of health care professionals. This information can be utilized by provincial and territorial governments, as well as other decision-makers, to plan for the health care needs of the population. Following an environmental scan, CIHI found that many jurisdictions define and measure vacancy differently, with some using varying reporting periods, making it difficult to compare vacancy rates across Canada.
In this workshop, participants heard from speakers from CIHI on the work underway to develop a Pan-Canadian health vacancy measure and how adopting a standardized measure could improve health workforce planning.
Key Insights
- Defining vacancies is challenging because there are numerous reasons why a vacancy can exist, and the chosen definition depends on the purpose behind collecting the information and what it will inform in terms of decision making and planning.
- CIHI’s environmental scan surfaced key factors to be considered in a definition of a pan-Canadian vacancy metric and participants were asked to assign an importance level to each.
- Participants noted there should be a standardized way to collect each metric and that the elements should be disaggregated so that users can apply them in their individual context.
- There is always churn in an organization, making it difficult to determine an acceptable vacancy level to set as a benchmark.
Key Actions
- Consider capacity for collecting vacancy related data as you determine what level of detail you’ll aim for. The burden of collecting this information will fall to managers at smaller hospitals which do not have sophisticated HR support.
- Remember that from the patient’s perspective, a vacancy can result in a gap in care, regardless of what created it, and respond accordingly.
- Consider assessing vacancies in positions that are approved but unfunded in order to assess the true strain on an organization. Required workload can go beyond what funding can provide.