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Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care, by Place of Work and Type of Professional

This indicator gives the number of health care providers employed in the profession and working in direct care, by place of work/employment and type of provider.

Descriptive information providing insight on the distribution of health care professionals by place of work.

Interpretations should be evaluated alongside other relevant data (e.g., population need, models of care, mix of health care professionals in the setting).

Data updated:
Data availability: to
Geographic coverage
All provinces/territories
Reporting level
National, Province/Territory, Region
Calculation

Number of health care professionals by place of work

Unit of Analysis: Service provider

Denominator

Places of work (hospital, nursing home/long-term care facility, community, other)

Numerator

Number of health care professionals employed in profession and working in direct care

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Name

Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care, by Place of Work and Type of Professional

Short/Other Names

Health Care Professional Distribution by Place of Work

Description

The number of health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care, by place of work/employment and type of professional

Rationale

Based on World Health Organization (WHO) National Health Workforce Accounts indicator 1-11: Percentage of Active Health Workers Employed by Facility Type, by Cadre, this indicator can help monitor the deployment of health personnel, examine retirement levels and plan for future needs.

Interpretation

Descriptive information providing insight on the distribution of health care professionals by place of work.

Interpretations should be evaluated alongside other relevant data (e.g., population need, models of care, mix of health care professionals in the setting).

HSP Framework Dimension

Health system inputs and characteristics: Health system resources

Areas of Need

Not applicable

Targets/Benchmarks

WHO: Percentage of active health workers employed by facility type, by cadre

Available Data Years

to

Geographic Coverage

  • All provinces/territories

Reporting Level/Disaggregation

  • National
  • Province/Territory
  • Region

Indicator Results

Health workforce data tables

Update Frequency

Every year

Latest Results Update Date

Updates

Not applicable

Description

Number of health care professionals by place of work

Unit of Analysis: Service provider

Type of Measurement

Number - Number; number of health care professionals by place of work

Denominator

Description:

Places of work (hospital, nursing home/long-term care facility, community, other)

Inclusions:

  • All places of work as defined by each health care professional.

Exclusions:

  • Some places of work may not be included if employment of health care professionals is not in direct care.

Numerator

Description:

Number of health care professionals employed in profession and working in direct care

Inclusions:

  • Active registered health care professionals employed in the profession and working in direct care.

Additional inclusion criteria vary by type of professional.

Exclusions:

  • Inactive registrants or health care professionals who did not register in a province or territory.
  • Health care professionals who were not employed in the profession or unemployed.

Additional exclusion criteria vary by type of professional.

Method of Adjustment

Not applicable

Adjustment Applied

None

Geographic Assignment

Place of service

Data Sources

  • HWDB

Caveats and Limitations

Statistics reported may differ from those reported by other organizations due to differences in data collection and reporting methodologies.

Issues of under- and/or over-coverage may vary by type of professional.

Data is not necessarily available for each province and territory for each type of professional.

Trending Issues

Vary by type of professional

Definitions for places of work may change over time and impact comparability.

Comments

Please note that the available data years, geographic coverage, reporting level/disaggregation and update frequency vary by type of professional.

“Available data year” can refer to data year (for nurses) or to reporting year (for occupational therapists, physiotherapists and pharmacists).

References

World Health Organization. National Health Workforce Accounts: A Handbook. 2016.

World Health Organization. Global Strategy on Health Resources for Health: Workforce 2030. 2016.

How to cite:

Canadian Institute for Health Information. Health Care Professionals Employed in Direct Care, by Place of Work and Type of Professional. Accessed April 25, 2025.