Previous Agenda

Dr. Karima Velji seeks to put aside status quo thinking to take bold actions and address long-standing challenges in healthcare and meet the needs of both patients and healthcare workers. Developed in collaboration with all healthcare partners, from frontline workers to executives, Dr. Velji brings forward innovative solutions to promote an equitable and accessible system that puts people back in control of their healthcare.

This panel presentation will highlight a significant opportunity to leverage the over 2M refugee and displaced people for equitable access to skilled employment in Canada. The panelists will discuss the opportunity, the challenge and a case study example for addressing the health human resource challenge in Ontario.

No matter how many internal company policies, ethics modules, or codes of conduct are created, certain HR issues endure. Employees should feel safe, respected, and valued in the workplace, despite the differing interests and perspectives between employees and employers.

This session will answer frequently asked questions from both employees and employers to ensure you have the tools and knowledge to positively impact company culture and provide a safe working environment.

Key Session Takeaways:

• Employee vs. employer rights in HR matters
• The various impacts policies and contracts have on company morale
• Addressing issues of discrimination and ways to build a diverse workplace

Retention of ​healthcare providers is a persistent area of concern for home and community managers. ​Nurses and personal support workers are fundamental to the delivery of services, and being aware of their job satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, can enable staffing managers to preemptively avoid losing vital staff.

Examining survey results collected from home care providers provides insight into predictors in retention, and an opportunity to ​learn from staff about strategies and suggestions to proactively address their concerns.

Key Session Takeaways: 

• What were the major predictors in retention ​and how do they differ among types of care providers
• ​What keeps staff in homecare and what are their suggestions to increase retention
• How can staffing managers respond to retain key staff

This session will explore challenges that internationally educated nurses (IENs) face in pursuing registration and employment in Canada and outline several recent initiatives that aim to support IENs in joining the health care workforce in Ontario. Panelist John Paolo Varias will share his perspective on key issues and hurdles that IENs face in pursuing professional registration and employment, and panelist Ernesto Sequera will speak to the challenges and opportunities facing employers related to hiring, retention, and supporting the career progression of IENs.

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” or so the saying goes. But what does this really mean in the context of recruitment and retention in healthcare?

Key Session Takeaways: 

• How employment trends apply (and don’t) in the healthcare industry
• How employee experience starts well BEFORE hiring
• How to avoid “gate-keeping” and instead focus on connecting
• How orientation has the potential to create powerful cultural engagement that organizations often miss
• How to turn challengers into champions and gain leadership buy-in

Leadership of professional practice and its contribution to health human resource solutions is not always well understood and best leveraged. This presentation provides leadership insights across multiple health care organizations and settings that connect the dots to illustrate that professional practice leadership in designing, implementing and evaluating organizational model of care can result in both continuous improvement of excellent care delivery and workforce optimization.