Leading the Way to Successful Internationally Educated Nurse Integration – CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses’ Workplace Integration Program

Background: Integration and retention of internationally educated nurses (IENs) play a vital part in ensuring the sustainability of our healthcare systems. Historically, the focus of support has been placed on the IENs to adapt to the new country, failing to recognize the role of the receiving workplace. A one-time funding was provided by the Ontario government to develop a program preparing healthcare employers and IENs for integration into the Canadian healthcare workforce. Aim: To describe the finding of a workplace integration program (WIP) - based on a continuous evaluation of each program component that prepares employers, nursing leaders, members of the interprofessional team and IENs for the integration of IENs into the Canadian healthcare workforce. Strategy: Incorporating our lived experiences in supporting IENs and feedback from IENs, the CARE Centre for Internationally Educated Nurses (CARE Centre) invited employer partners to co-design the WIP and provide evaluation results to each participating healthcare organizations. Result: From January 2024 to the end of 2025, 22 organizations and close to 1,000 persons participated in the WIP. A mixed-methods approach was employed to evaluate the results of surveys completed by participants after each session of the WIP. Participating organization evaluation results revealed that over 90% of participants find the strategies provided by the program useful in strengthening their abilities in supporting IENs' integration into their interprofessional team, recruitment strategies of IENs and client- and family-centred care. Conclusion: The WIP provided concrete strategies for employers and the healthcare team for integrating and retaining IENs. Ongoing participating organization evaluations allow for continuous improvement and rapid changes to meet institutional needs.