MedEd Studio: Migration in healthcare
Dr. Viren Naik discusses the complexities of migration in healthcare education, focusing on the challenges and opportunities it presents for both sending and receiving countries. He emphasizes the need for ethical considerations in recruitment, the importance of cultural competence and the necessity of adapting assessment methods for international medical graduates.
Takeaways
- Global Healthcare Workforce Challenges: The world faces a projected shortage of 18 million healthcare workers by 2030, with migration becoming a growing trend—often benefiting high-income countries at the expense of low-income ones.
- Communication & Professionalism: Effective communication, especially language proficiency, and professionalism are essential for patient safety but can be difficult to assess quickly.
- Assessment & Integration: There’s a need to improve how international medical graduates are evaluated to ensure both efficiency and quality in healthcare delivery.
- Ethical Recruitment: Responsible and ethical recruitment practices are crucial to avoid worsening healthcare deficits in already vulnerable regions.
Viren Naik
Dr. Viren Naik serves the Medical Council of Canada (MCC) as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), after serving as its Chief Assessment Officer. He is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa and has over 25 years of experience as an educator, researcher and leader. As CEO, Dr. Naik leads the MCC strategy to support its partners in regulation and licensure as a trusted keeper of physician credentials, and assessor of general physician competencies for safe access to patient care in Canada.