L’intégration professionnelle : perception des médecins immigrants
 Problem: In spite of the increasing number of immigrant physicians who choose to live in Quebec, and of the shortage of physicians, many will not succeed in establishing themselves as physicians in Quebec. Previous studies were often not specific to the professional integration of immigrant physicians in Quebec. And new barriers emerged in each study, justifying the need for an exploratory approach to better understand the subject. Objectives: The objective of this study is to identify and analyze barriers to professional integration and facilitating factors perceived by immigrant international medical graduates who choose to install themselves as physicians in Quebec. Method: The strategy adopted is a case study. It is a qualitative research based primarily on analysis of 22 semi-structured interviews, realized with immigrant international medical graduates, native of 15 different countries. The sample retained is of maximum variation type, according to the country of origin, initial training, professional experience and according to the professional stage of integration in Quebec. Recruitment was conducted primarily with the collaboration of the Centre for Evaluation of Health Sciences at Laval University, the organization "l’Hirondelle" and the Department of Health Administration of the University of Montreal. The various themes that were addressed in the interview were derived from the perceived barriers cited in literature, most of which are not specific to immigrant physicians. These general themes are represented by linguistic constraints, socio-cultural, informational, financial, procedural and discriminatory barriers. Facilitating factors that were examined are: financial factors, informational factors, assistance and support to professional integration. Results: The 22 participants consisted of 13 men and 9 women, aged 29-53 years from 15 different countries and with a length of stay in Quebec from 2-15 years. The professional integration barriers perceived by immigrant physicians are primarily procedural, but also institutional, and to a lesser extent, sociocultural. The principal procedural barriers relate to the informational factors, to the assessment of medical knowledge and skills, but especially to the absence of guarantee of residency matching, even after having succeeded in all the required exams. The most important facilitating iv factors are the harmonization of provincial and federal procedures, the relative improvement of information, language support for non-French speakers and the shortage of physicians. Conclusions: The reduction of the many barriers identified in this research, will not only allow to facilitate the professional integration of the immigrant physicians, but also to contribute to reduce the shortage of these healthcare professionals in Quebec.
Professional integration immigrant physicians integration barriers facilitating factors