Abstract
Objectives
We discuss from an explicit gender lens the key contextual factors that shape nurse migration patterns through the cases of Canada and Finland.
Methods
We employ a context-sensitive, comparative case study approach drawing upon documentary data from primary and secondary sources analyzed according to key themes that were both emergent and based on a systematic review of the nurse migration literature.
Results
Despite the recruitment of foreign care workers being frequently raised in public debate as a solution to the care shortage in both Canada and Finland, there is still little evidence to show that this is happening to any great extent. This is particularly the case for Finland. Our analysis does, however, confirm how the migration process is linked to the devaluing of care (in terms of wages and working conditions), which is in turn connected to recent neo-liberal reforms, pushing some nurses from the country in which they were trained to better remuneration and working conditions somewhere else.
Conclusions
We shed light on how the impending nursing shortage can be addressed in Canada and more generally.
Résumé
Objectifs
Nous abordons d’un point de vue sexospécifique les principaux facteurs contextuels qui influent sur les courants migratoires du personnel infirmier en étudiant les cas du Canada et de la Finlande.
Méthode
Nous utilisons une approche comparative et sensible au contexte fondée sur des études de cas, en puisant dans des données documentaires de sources primaires et secondaires analysées selon les thèmes clés ressortis d’un examen systématique de la documentation sur la migration du personnel infirmier.
Résultats
Dans le débat public, tant au Canada qu’en Finlande, on présente souvent le recrutement de travailleurs étrangers comme une solution à la pénurie de personnel soignant, mais on voit encore très peu de signes de telles initiatives. C’est particulièrement le cas en Finlande. Notre analyse confirme néanmoins que le processus migratoire est lié à la dévaluation des soins (les salaires et les conditions de travail), laquelle est associée aux récentes réformes néolibérales, et qui pousse certaines infirmières à quitter le pays où elles ont été formées pour trouver une meilleure rémunération et de meilleures conditions de travail ailleurs.
Conclusion
Nous éclaircissons les moyens possibles d’aborder la pénurie imminente de personnel infirmier au Canada et en général.
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Acknowledgements: Dr. Bourgeault acknowledges support from the Canada Research Chair program for her Chair in Comparative Health Labour Policy, the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada for pilot funds from their Skills Research Initiative (537-2004-1015), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for a standard operating grant (MOP-79549). Dr. Wrede acknowledges support from the Academy of Finland for her Academy of Finland fellowship as well as from the Finnish Work Environment Fund for the project "The Position of Immigrants in Finnish Working Life", # 104348.
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Bourgeault, I., Wrede, S. Caring Beyond Borders: Comparing the Relationship between Work and Migration Patterns in Canada and Finland. Can J Public Health 99 (Suppl 2), 22–26 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03403800
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03403800