2025 Agenda

Join as we kick off the 3rd Annual HR Solutions in Healthcare Conference with our opening keynote speaker.

HR plays a pivotal role in organizational transformation. With healthcare rapidly changing, discover the key capabilities needed to thrive in the evolving landscape.  

Join us for an exhilarating session on the future of HR in Healthcare, where we’ll delve into the transformative role of CHROs and the HR function.

Key Session Takeaways Include: 

• Discover the key capabilities needed to thrive in an evolving landscape
• Leverage advancements in HR service delivery and enabling technology
• Explore how HR can create increased value by addressing future workforce needs
• Identify priority focus areas and strategies to overcome challenges and ensure HR remains a pivotal force in organizational success 

Building a clinical staff has never been more challenging – and political. Every healthcare organization is experiencing the challenges surrounding nurse and doctor recruitment and retention.

As HR leaders a lot of the challenge falls to you to build a pipeline and ensure there is sufficient talent for the long-term health of the organization. And to do this while competing for the same pools of talent.

To address the challenges, NL Health has built a highly successful program that has reaped some success in international clinical recruitment.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How did the program begin, and how has it built momentum?
• How has the initiative been received by recruits and long-term staff?
• What have been the most successful levers, and what has the feedback been from recruits?
• What future plans are being designed and rolled out?

This session offers a practical view of how Human Resources leadership can solve persistent challenges in Canada’s health system.

Beginning with the immediate challenges of surgical waitlists, the session will explore current solutions and broaden its vision to addressing regional and national issues. The roadmap will consider five perspectives, including:

1. Workforce wellbeing
2. Patient needs
3. Health economics
4. System organization and partnerships
5. System sustainability

Key Session Takeaways:

• What HR implications arise from the proposed roadmap
• How will patients’ demands and workforce deficits influence provider partnerships
• How does HR help Canada achieve a sustainable health system

A new 5-year study has looked at the impact of patient outcomes and its link to nurse numbers. It’s an important addition to our collective knowledge because it has real-world implications.

Nurses safeguard the quality of care in healthcare settings and play a critical role in standards of care. But with more nurses leaving the profession, few available for mentorship, and fewer on staff, the fallout is becoming more serious.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What were the main findings of the study, specifically on patient mortality
• Is there a critical number of nurses required for positive health outcomes, and is it quantifiable
• What role does HR play in engagement, standards of care, and nursing retention

We are bombarded with messages about the healthcare crisis, wait times, and patient angst. But the crisis extends to HR teams as well. As the leaders tasked with finding front-line healthcare staff, there is enormous pressure on your teams to deliver.

As well, there are other stressors HR teams must manage. From demands from senior management for change management, new technology implementation, and the myriad of other daily tasks needed to manage, burnout can happen in HR departments as well.

How are other organizations managing their teams and keeping them happy and productive?

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What are front-line HR professionals really looking for and how can you deliver on that.
• How to balance the goals of the organization and the needs of your team.
• The importance of work-life balance and where to prioritize limited resources.
• What is working and what not: what are the main learnings we can take away from what others are doing.

Few hospitals have a dedicated employment lawyer on staff, leading many organizations to go it alone or to seek outside counsel. However, in the day-to-day operations of a healthcare organization, myriad events could use expert advice and guidance surrounding employment law.

Join us for this timely and important discussion on some of the most important issues you are facing with respect to employment law.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What are your legal obligations with respect to accommodation, and how can you avoid unwarranted precedents
• How do you terminate safely and with compassion
• Navigating the areas around human rights, and how to ensure you remain compliant
• How to effectively manage conflicts of interest
• What emerging issues are on the horizon, and how should you prepare for them

The challenges in healthcare can sometimes seem insurmountable, yet these challenges are just as strongly felt at the top. We have seen some large-scale changes in healthcare, and we can expect to see more. Some for the better, and some not so much.

In this discussion we will delve into the challenges navigating changes in healthcare, and how you can learn to harness them and find new ways to lead. Shauna will tackle implementation science and change management through her own experiences navigating large-scale transitions.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• Simple strategies for leading through uncertainty and transition (funding changes, staffing changes, organizational change, etc.)
• How to face the pressure as a leader who supports and advocates for challenging the status quo and working in a different way
• Meeting the challenge of simultaneously advocating for change while having to build buy-in with other leaders and investors to do the same
• Leadership styles and skills: humble leadership, adaptability, and emphasizing collaboration

The World Health organization states “Health workers are at high risk of violence all over the world. Between 8% and 38% of health workers suffer physical violence at some point in their careers. Many more are threatened or exposed to verbal aggression”.

Healthcare workers are at high risk of violence, and we are seeing more and more instances occurring daily. Violence Prevention in healthcare is the highest priority for many hospitals across Canada and has a direct impact on staff and patient safety outcomes including staff satisfaction, wellness and retention.

One key initiative CAMH has developed to address workplace violence is the Trauma-informed de-escalation education for safety and self-protection (TIDES) program.  TIDES aims to develop staff competency in preventing and responding to challenging clinical situations, specifically psychiatric and behavioural emergencies where service users experience escalating behaviours.

TIDES builds education strategies that act as scaffolds for growing skills among staff. The education methodology focuses on reflective practice and simulation training, where you can apply learning in scenarios based on real life.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How the TIDES program objectives, methodology, and design can be deployed in any setting
• Understand the benefits of utilizing simulation-based learning in skill development
• Take home additional educational resources from CAMH for staff development

Runnymede Healthcare Centre, a leading rehabilitation hospital in the Greater Toronto Area, faced challenges in employee engagement, with a 2021 survey showing a score of 66.5%. This indicated a need for immediate intervention to boost workforce satisfaction, particularly among nurses and Allied Health (AH) professionals who play a critical role in patient care. In response, Runnymede’s leadership team initiated a robust and comprehensive response to improve engagement and retention.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• What were the key drivers of employee engagement, and how did leadership respond
• How innovative scheduling in collaboration with HR, flexible scheduling for nurses, OTs, and PTs was introduced and implemented
• What were compensation and perks delivered, including approved vacation approvals
• What were the initiative’s results? Overall engagement score rose turnover rates improved significantly, and time to fill nursing positions dropped significantly

Healthcare organizations like many organizations have multigenerational employees. There are of course many positives, but there are also many challenges, some of which current managers have never experienced.

Managing these diverse personalities, motivations, and expectations are being to define how successful organizations recruit, train, retain, and thrive.

Hear how one seniors’ care organization has navigated through Covid, and how they are learning to manage a diverse and multigenerational workforce.

Key Session Takeaways Include:

• How are generations working together, and what do they want from you
• How has recruitment and retention changed since the pandemic, and the quitting culture that followed
• What are some of the lessons learned from leading a seniors’ healthcare organization