title: Supporting work practices through telehealth: impact on nurses in peripheral regions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Canada, workforce shortages in the health care sector constrain the ability of the health care system to meet the needs of its population and of its health care professionals. This issue is of particular importance in peripheral regions of Quebec, where significant inequalities in workforce distribution between regions has lead to acute nursing shortages and increased workloads. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are innovative solutions that can be used to develop strategies to optimise the use of available resources and to design new nursing work practices. However, current knowledge is still limited about the real impact of ICTs on nursing recruitment and retention. Our aim is to better understand how work practice reorganization, supported by ICTs, and particularly by telehealth, may influence professional, educational, and organizational factors relating to Quebec nurses, notably those working in peripheral regions.
  
  
  METHODS
  First, we will conduct a descriptive study on the issue of nursing recruitment. Stratified sampling will be used to select approximately twenty innovative projects relating to the reorganization of work practices based upon ICTs. Semi-structured interviews with key informants will determine professional, educational, and organizational recruitment factors. The results will be used to create a questionnaire which, using a convenience sampling method, will be mailed to 600 third year students and recent graduates of two Quebec university nursing faculties. Descriptive, correlation, and hierarchical regression analyses will be performed to identify factors influencing nursing graduates' intentions to practice in peripheral regions. Secondly, we will conduct five case studies pertaining to the issue of nursing retention. Five ICT projects in semi-urban, rural, and isolated regions have been identified. Qualitative data will be collected through field observation and approximately fifty semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data from both parts of this research project will be jointly analysed using triangulation of researchers, theoretical approaches, methods, and results. Continuous exchanges with decision makers and periodic knowledge transfer activities are planned to facilitate the dissemination and utilization of research results in policies regarding the nursing recruitment and retention.
authors.affiliation: Research Center of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec, Québec, Canada. marie-pierre.gagnon@fsi.ulaval.ca
authors.forename: Marie-Pierre
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Gagnon
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paré
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pollender
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duplantie
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Côté
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Fortin
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Labadie
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Duplàa
authors.forename: Marie-Claude
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Thifault
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Courcy
authors.forename: Carrie Anna
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: McGinn
authors.forename: Birama Apho
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Ly
authors.forename: Amélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Trépanier
authors.forename: François-Bernard
authors.initials: FB
authors.lastname: Malo
mesh_terms: D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010560:Personnel Selection; D010563:Personnel Turnover / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011792:Quebec; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012107:Research Design; D012424:Rural Population; D013338:Students, Nursing; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D000078329:Workforce