Challenges faced by internationally educated health professionals on Prince Edward Island : stories and voices : a research report for IEHP Atlantic Connection

Abstract

This report is based on a qualitative study of the challenges that are faced by internationally educated health professionals in coming, staying and settling on PEI and in Atlantic Canada. Health issues would not tend to feature highly amongst the list of features that lure and attract newcomers to Atlantic Canada: but they discourage immigrants from moving in, or residents from staying, when health provision is deemed to be below expected levels of service. Health, therefore, figures as one of the concerns of immigrants (Canadian and non-Canadian, men and women, and across all age cohorts) deciding whether to stay in Atlantic Canada. Major disappointment and frustration are expressed with respect to the non-availability of a family doctor, and/or the nonavailability of, or uncertainty about, specialized care and surgical procedures. Moreover, in areas that have relatively sparse and scattered populations that are remote from urban centres, health professionals can develop dangerous levels of work-related stress, plus much reduced opportunities for specialization or any form of non-experience driven professional development.