title: Mapping nurse mobility in Canada with GIS: career movements from two Canadian provinces.
abstract: Recent years have witnessed the publication of a growing number of studies of nursing which, from a disciplinary perspective, are geographical in their orientation. Conceptually, while the emphasis in much of this research has been focused at the micro scale on the dynamics between nursing and "place," curiously there has been scant attention to geometrical "space," and the basic yet important locational and distributive features of nursing at the macro scale. Noting this gap in the literature, the authors of this paper used a Geographical Information System (GIS) to map the movement of 199 nurses from two Canadian provinces where they were educated - Manitoba and Newfoundland - to the provinces where they currently live and work. While the findings show that nurses who move tend to move to nearby provinces, more generally they illustrate the effectiveness of GIS for managing data and representing findings from workforce studies.
authors.affiliation: Gavin J. Andrews, PhD, Professor, Department of Health, Aging & Society, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.
authors.forename: Gavin J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.affiliation: Linda McGillis Hall, RN, PhD, Kathleen Russell Distinguished Professor, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Linda McGillis
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.affiliation: Sheri Price, RN, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dalhousie University, School of Nursing, Halifax, NS.
authors.forename: Sheri
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Michelle Lalonde, RN, MN, Lecturer, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lalonde
authors.affiliation: Alexandra Harris, RN, MN, MBA, Graduate Student, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Sandra MacDonald-Rencz, RN, MEd, Nursing Executive Advisor, Strategic Policy Branch, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: MacDonald-Rencz
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D002321:Career Choice; D002322:Career Mobility; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D065102:Licensed Practical Nurses / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D008350:Manitoba; D009523:Newfoundland and Labrador; D009726:Nurses / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011157:Population Dynamics