The Doctor Emigration Project (DEP) aims to analyse doctor emigration from Ireland and to inform national health workforce policy about the factors influencing their emigration. The ultimate aim of the project is to assist national workforce planners to develop evidence-informed policies to promote the retention of doctors in, and the return of doctors to, the Irish health system.
The project has involved close collaboration with national stakeholders from the outset. The KEDS award would enhance those collaborations in two ways: KEDs would bring in experts from Australia and the UK to share their experiences of medical career tracking with national policy makers. Discussions between national and international stakeholders would consider the benefits of career tracking data to national health workforce planning and its role in assessing the success of policy interventions.
An evaluation of the knowledge exchange process on the Doctor Emigration Project will be undertaken using observation and in-depth interviews with all participants. The purpose of this evaluation will be to strengthen the ongoing health workforce researcher-policy maker collaborations in the Irish context, to explore the success of the process in influencing policy and to contribute to the international knowledge exchange literature by documenting a successful knowledge exchange process.
In seeking to improve knowledge exchange in relation to health workforce research in the Irish context, the KEDS award ultimately seeks to inform the development of a stronger medical workforce – one in which retention and return are successfully promoted.
