Professional Integration as a Process of Professional Resocialization: Internationally Educated Health Professionals in Canada

• In Event: 322 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 13. Medical Education I

Abstract

This paper inquires into the process of professional resocialization among internationally educated health care professionals (IEHPs) in Canada. While sociological literature on professional socialization provides rich data on the socialization of neophytes to the profession, it rarely deals with the process of socialization experienced by professionals who move from one cultural work context to another. Analyzing data from qualitative interviews with 179 internationally educated physicians, nurses, and midwives and 70 federal, provincial and regional stakeholders involved in integration of IEHPs, we examine (1) which aspects of professional identity need to be modified in transition to a new health care system; (2) which aspects of professional practice are learned by IEHPs in the new health environment, and (3) how IEHPs maintain their professional identity in transition to a new health care system. In doing so, we compare the accounts of IEHPs with the policy stakeholders’ positions and analyze the similarities and the differences across three health care professions (medicine, nursing, and midwifery). This allows us to explore the issue of professional resocialization from the analytical intersection of gender, professional dominance, and institutional/organizational lenses.

Authors

• Elena Neiterman, McMaster University

• Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, University of Ottawa