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CURRENT ISSUE BACK ISSUES SUBSCRIBE ADVERTISE ABOUT JCEHP FOR AUTHORS JCEHP AWARD SEARCH		Volume 25 (1) Volume 25, Issue 1, Winter 2005 J Contin Educ Health Prof 2005; 25(1):22 ORIGINAL ARTICLES Physician Migration to and from Canada: The Challenge of Finding the Ethical and Political Balance Between the Individual's Right to Mobility and Recruitment to Underserved Communities W. Dale Dauphinee, MD, FRCPC A b s t r a c t Physician migration to and from countries results from many local causes and international influences. These factors operate in the context of an increasingly globalized economy. From an ethical point of view, selective and targeted “raiding” of developing countries' medical workforce by wealthier countries is not acceptable. However, within specific countries, additional factors need to be identified to moderate the situation. I discuss the context in which Canada, a developed country, has struggled with workforce planning, with troubling results. I identify challenges for Canada but emphasize that decisions based on sloppy assumptions or inadequate data can lead to invalid policies, and poorly coordinated implementation can lead to a waste of human capital. Myths and attitudes further complicate physician workforce planning. Implementing recommendations of the recently concluded Task Force on the Licensure of International Medical Graduates will hopefully ameliorate the situation. Lessons for Practice Raiding the physician resources of developing countries by developed countries is unacceptable. It is unacceptable to promote the human capital model but fail to provide the flexibility of educational and training opportunities for international medical graduates (IMGs) to learn needed skills and to become acculturated. The ethics of physician recruitment extend beyond the policy failures that lead to raiding to include issues of resource management within each recruiting country. Physician migration to and from Canada is influenced by variables such as loss of physicians to the United States, physician practice preferences with Canada, and the application of workforce policies and health plan administrative practices within Canada. Planners need to consider more carefully both sides of issues: the intended results but also the unintended consequences of such plans and policies. Key Words: medical migration, medical workforce, ethics of recruitment
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