Health Worker Migration

Beginning with Dr. Bourgeault’s Canada Research Chair in Comparative Health Labour Policy and with funding from the CIHR and SSHRC for three major international projects, she along with several colleagues has advanced knowledge on the integration experiences of internationally educated health workers, delved into both source and destination country perspectives on the migration of health workers and has contributed to other health migration and mobility projects.

Integration Pathways

Key Publications:

Mathews, M., Ryan, D., & Bourgeault, I. (2023). “I wish I had known what I was getting into”: a qualitative study exploring the experiences of Canadians who study medicine abroad. BMC Medical Education, 23(1), 376.
Mathews, M., Bourgeault, I., & Ryan, D. (2023). Perceptions of bias in the selection of international medical graduate residency applicants in Canada. Canadian Medical Education Journal, 14(2), 16-22.
Bourgeault, I.L. (2022) Health Professional Migration and Integration. In Monahan, L., & Gabe, J. (Eds.), Key Concepts in Medical Sociology. 3rd Edition. (p.302-308). London: Sage.
Bourgeault, I.L., Atanackovic, J., & Neiterman, E. (2021) Gendering the different pathways to integration: Migrating health professionals to Canada. In M. Walton-Roberts (Ed.), Global Migration, Gender and Professional Credentials: Transnational Value Transfers and Losses.
Neiterman, E., Bourgeault, I.L., Julie Peters, Victoria Esses, Elaine Dever, Rae Gropper, Christine Nielsen, Jenna Kelland & Peggy Sattler. (2018) Best practices in Bridging Education: Multiple Case Study Evaluation of Postsecondary Bridging Programs for Internationally Educated Health Professionals in Canada. Journal of Allied Health, 47(1) 23-28.
Neiterman, E., Bourgeault, I., L. & Covell, C. (2017) What do we know and not know about the Professional Integration of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in Canada? Recommendations for research and policy from a scoping review of the literature. Healthcare Policy, 12(4) 18-32.
Covell, C., Neiterman, E.& Bourgeault, I.L. (2016) Scoping review about the professional integration of internationally educated health professionals. Human Resources for Health 14:38.
Neiterman, E. & Bourgeault, I.L. (2015) Professional integration as a process of professional resocialization: internationally educated health professionals in Canada. Social Science and Medicine, 131, 74-81. available at:
Neiterman, E. & Bourgeault, I.L. (2015) The Shield of Professional Status: Comparing Discriminatory Experiences of IENs and IMGs in Canada. Health, 19(6) 1-20.
Neiterman, E., Salmonsson, L. & Bourgeault, I.L. (2015) Navigating through otherness and belonging: A comparative case study of International Medical Graduates’ professional integration in Canada and Sweden. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization. 15(4): 773-795.
Bourgeault, I.L., & Atanackovic, J. (2014). Canada’s Live In Caregiver Programme. In K. Howse (Ed.), International Handbook on Ageing and Public Policy. Edward Elgar Press.
Bourgeault, I.L., & Neiterman, E. (2013) Integrating International Medical Graduates: The Canadian Approach to the ‘Brain Waste’ Problem. In P. Triadafilopoulos (Ed.) Wanted and Welcome? Policies for Highly Skilled Immigrants in Comparative Perspectives Policy. (p. 199-217) Springer.

Selected Presentations:

Source Country Views

Key Publications:

Bourgeault, I. L., Spitzer, D. L., & Walton-Roberts, M. (2023). Complexities of health and care worker migration pathways and corresponding international reporting requirements. Human Resources for Health, 21(1), 1-9.

Bourgeault, I.L., Runnels, V., Atanackovic, J., Spitzer, D., Walton-Roberts, M. (2021). Hiding in plain sight: the absence of consideration of the gendered dimensions in ‘source’ country perspectives on health worker migration. Human Resources for Health, 19(1), 1-13.
Spitzer, et al., & Bourgeault, I. (2017) An examination of the causes, consequences, and policy responses to the migration of highly trained health personnel from the Philippines: the high cost of living/leaving—a mixed method study. Human Resources for Health, 15(25).
Walton Roberts, et al., & Bourgeault, I. (2017) Causes, consequences and policy responses to the migration of health workers: Key findings from India. Human Resources for Health, 15(26).
Bourgeault, I.L. Labonte, R., Packer, C., Runnels, V., & Tomblin Murphy, G. (2016) “Knowledge and potential impact of the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel: Does it matter for source and destination country stakeholders?” Human Resources for Health 14 (Sup 1)
Tomblin Murphy, et al., & Bourgeault, I.L. (2016) “A mixed-methods study of health worker migration from Jamaica,” Human Resources for Health, 14 (Sup 1)
Labonte, et a., & Bourgeault, I.L. (2015) Health Worker Migration from South Africa: causes, consequences and policy responses. Human Resources for Health, 13:92.

Selected Presentations:

Bourgeault, I.L. (2017) Gendered Dimensions of Health Worker Migration across Four Source Countries. Fourth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, Dublin, Ireland.
Bourgeault, I.L. Contrasting Source and Destination Country Perspectives on the Migration of Health Workers. Global Health Migration Symposium, University of Sydney, Nov. 6, 2014.
Bourgeault, I.L. Source Country Perspectives on the Migration of Health Workers: Philippines Policy Dialogue. Manila, April 7, 2014.

Destination Country Views

Key Publications:

Bourgeault, I., Atanackovic, J., and Neiterman, E. (2022) Gendering Integration Pathways: Migrating Health Professionals to Canada in M. Walton Roberts, Global Migration, Gender, and Health Professional Credentials.

Mathews, M., Bourgeault, I., & Ryan, D. (2022). Perceptions of bias in the selection of international medical graduate residency applicants in Canada. Canadian Medical Education Journal.

Neiterman, E., Bourgeault, I.L., Julie Peters, Victoria Esses, Elaine Dever, Rae Gropper, Christine Nielsen, Jenna Kelland & Peggy Sattler. (2018) Best practices in Bridging Education: Multiple Case Study Evaluation of Postsecondary Bridging Programs for Internationally Educated Health Professionals in Canada. Journal of Allied Health, 47(1) 23-28.
Mathews, M., & Bourgeault, I.L. (2018). Saudi visa trainees called home from Canada in diplomatic dispute. The Lancet, Volume 392, Issue 10150, P815-816, September 08, 2018.
Neiterman, E., Covell, C., & Bourgeault, I.L. (2018) ‘We Want to Be Seen as Partners, Not Vultures of the World:’ Canadian Stakeholders' Perspectives on Migration of International Students. Globalisation, Societies and Education. 1-14
Mathews, M., & Bourgeault, I.L. (2018). Saudi visa trainees called home from Canada in diplomatic dispute. The Lancet, Volume 392, Issue 10150, P815-816, September 08, 2018.

Neiterman, E., Bourgeault, I., L. & Covell, C. (2017) What do we know and not know about the Professional Integration of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) in Canada? Healthcare Policy, 12(4) 18-32.
Mathews M, Kandar R, Slade S, Yi Y, Beardall S. & Bourgeault I. (2017) Examination outcomes and work locations of international medical graduate family medicine residents in Canada. Canadian Family Physician. 63(10) 776-783.
Mathews M, Kandar R, Slade S, Yi Y, Beardall S, & Bourgeault I. (2017) Realization of Entry-to-Practice Milestones of Canadians who Studied Medicine Abroad and Other International Medical Graduates. CMAJ Open, 5(2) E472-482
Mathews M, Kandar R, Slade S, Yi Y, Beardall S, & Bourgeault I. (2017) Retention of Canadians who studied medicine abroad and other international medical graduates following post-graduate medical education training in Canada. Healthcare Policy. 12(4) 35-45
Mathews M, Kandar R, Slade S, Yi Y, Beardall S, Bourgeault I, Buske L. (2017) Credentialing and retention of visa trainees in post-graduate medical education programs in Canada. Human Resources for Health, 15:38.
Covell, C., Neiterman, E.& Bourgeault, I.L. (2016) Scoping review about the professional integration of internationally educated health professionals. Human Resources for Health 14:38.
Neiterman, E. & Bourgeault, I.L. (2015) The Shield of Professional Status: Comparing Discriminatory Experiences of IENs and IMGs in Canada. Health, 19(6) 1-20.
Neiterman, E. & Bourgeault, I.L. (2015) Professional integration as a process of professional resocialization: internationally educated health professionals in Canada. Social Science and Medicine, 131, 74-81.
Neiterman, E., Salmonsson, L. & Bourgeault, I.L. (2015) Navigating through otherness and belonging: A comparative case study of International Medical Graduates’ professional integration in Canada and Sweden. Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization. 15(4): 773-795.
Covell, C., Neiterman, E. & Bourgeault, I.L. (2015) Forms of Capital as Facilitators of Internationally Educated Nurses’ Transition into the Canadian Workforce. Canadian Public Policy. Sup 1, S150-161.
Covell, C., Neiterman, E., Bourgeault, I.L. (2014) A Scoping Review about Internationally Educated Nurses in Canada. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 46(3), 26-45
Bourgeault, I.L., Neiterman, E. & LeBrun, J., (2011). Midwives on the Move: Comparing the Requirements for Practice and Integration Contexts for Internationally Educated Midwives in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. Midwifery, 27(3), 368-375.

Bourgeault, I.L., & Wrede, S. (2011) Caring across borders: contrasting the contexts of nurse migration in Canada and Finland. In C. Benoit & H. Hallgrimsdottir (Eds.), Finding Dignity in Health Care and Health Care Work. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. P.65-86 .

Selected Presentations:

Bourgeault, I.L. International Trade Agreements and HRH Panel, International Health Workforce Collaborative Conference, London, UK, May, 2015.
Bourgeault, I.L. Professions and the Migration of Expert Labour. The Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism, University of Helsinki, Nov, 2015.
Bourgeault, I.L. The Balancing Act of Regulating Migration: Comparing Canada, Brazil, the Philippines & Cuba. Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, Brazil, Nov., 2013.
Bourgeault, I.L. The Migration and Integration of IMGs in Canada & Australia: Changing Context of Immigration and Regulatory Policy. University of Warwick, March, 2013.

Other Publications

Key Publications:

Jackson, Lois, Sheri Price, Pauline Gardiner Barber, Audrey Kruisselbrink,Michael Leiter, Shiva Nourpanah & Ivy Bourgeault. (2019). “Healthcare workers ‘on the move’: making visible the employment-related geographic mobility of healthcare workers.” Health Sociology Review, 28(3): 277-290.

Nourpanah, Shiva, Ivy Bourgeault, Lois Jackson, Sheri Price, Pauline Gardiner Barber and Michael P. Leiter. (2018). “Intersecting Policy Contexts of Employment-Related Geographical Mobility of Healthcare Workers: The Case of Nova Scotia, Canada.” Healthcare Policy, 14 (2): pp. 12-21.

Bourgeault, I.L., Wrede, S., Benoit, C. & Neiterman, E. (2016) Professions and the migration of expert labour: Towards an intersectional analysis of transnational mobility patterns and integration pathways of health professionals. In Dent, M. Bourgeault, I.L., Kuhlmann, E., Denis, J.L. & (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook on Professions and Professionalism. (p. 295-312) Routledge: London UK.

Bourgeault, I.L. (2014). Health Care, Worker Migration. Encyclopedia of Bioethics, 4th Edition. Volume 3, p.1458-62. Gale Learning.

Atanackovic, J., & Bourgeault, I.L. (2013) Migration and Recruitment of Immigrant Care Workers in Canada. Canadian Public Policy. 39(2), 335-350.
Bourgeault, I.L., Parpia, R., & Atanackovic, J. (2010). Canada’s Live-In Caregiver Program: Is it an answer to the growing demand for older adult care? Journal of Population Aging. 3(1-2), 83-102.
Bourgeault, I.L., Atanackovic, J., Rashid,, A. & Parpia, R., (2010) Relations between Immigrant Care Workers and Older Persons in Home and Long-Term Care. Canadian Journal on Aging. 29(1), 1-10.
Spencer, S., Martin, S., Bourgeault, I.L., & O'Shea, Eamon. (2010) The Role of Migrant Care Workers in Ageing Societies: Report on Research Findings in the United Kingson, Ireland, Canada and the United States.

Selected Presentations:

Bourgeault, I.L. (with B.L. Lowell, S. Spencer & E. O’Shea) The role of migrant care workers in aging societies: older adult care in the U.S., the U.K., Ireland & Canada. International Organization on Migration, Geneva, Feb., 2010.