A Conceptual Model to Enhance Employer Readiness: An Adaptive Leadership Approach to the Integration of Internationally Educated Nurses

Canada’s healthcare system is navigating a significant nursing workforce crisis. In response, Alberta Health Services, the largest healthcare authority in the province of Alberta, launched the Recruitment, Transition, and Integration of Internationally Educated Nurses (RTIEN) initiative to recruit 1,000 IENs. Although this plan addresses immediate workforce shortages, it exposes deeper systemic gaps in employer readiness, integration infrastructure, and equity-informed support practices. This Doctor of Nursing project introduces the conceptual model to enhance employer readiness for IEN integration (CMEERI), a field-based, evidence-informed framework designed to guide structured, sustainable, and inclusive IEN integration across diverse healthcare settings. Grounded in the EPIS Implementation Science Framework, adaptive leadership theory, and knowledge translation principles, CMEERI repositions IEN integration as a relational and systemic transformation rather than a technical or transactional process. Findings revealed that system readiness, leadership capacity, and relational infrastructure, such as psychological safety, DEI supports, and mentorship, were critical to integration success. Sites with stronger leadership engagement and team-based learning cultures demonstrated more inclusive and sustained outcomes. By positioning readiness as a strategy and integration as a leadership responsibility, CMEERI offers a scalable pathway to strengthen workforce capacity, advance equity, and support long-term health workforce transformation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Nursing (DN)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Nursing

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Robinson, Fadumo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Davidson, Sandra

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Papathanassoglou, Elisavet
• Shajani, Zahra
• Turner, Nick
• Edwards, Margaret Joy Ann

• Internationally educated nurses (IENs)
• employer readiness
• mentorship infrastructure
• diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
• IEN recruitment
• transition
• integration

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/50895

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:1880/123664