The project will launch on January 1, 2023. It is titled "Effective professional and socio-cultural adaptation of refugee nurses from Ukraine as a challenge and opportunity for the Polish health care system. Strategic analysis of key barriers and definition of long-term policy." The project will be carried out at the Department of Education and Research in Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences. It will be headed by Prof. Joanna Gotlib, head of the Department, and the team will include Mariusz Panczyk, MD, PhD, Mariusz Jaworski, MD, PhD, and Ilona Cieślak, MA. The project will also involve Greek researchers from the International Hellenic University led by Professor Dimitrios Theofanidis, who has extensive experience in refugee crisis management.
Where the idea for the project came from is explained by Prof. Joanna Gotlib: - The Russian attack on Ukraine was followed by Poland's biggest refugee crisis. Both in terms of the number of refugees and the short time of their arrival. 6,390,000 people arrived in Poland. Women dominate among them, including a group with medical training, working in health care in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Poland is short of 50,000 doctors and 70,000 nurses. Effective professional and socio-cultural adaptation of refugee nurses from Ukraine could be an attempt to solve Poland's health care staffing crisis. Besides, it could also be the beginning of training nursing leaders who will build the health care system after the war, during Ukraine's accession to the European Union. Also important is the safety and comfort of the growing number of patients from Ukraine, coming in through both migration and the refugee crisis. Hiring refugees from Ukraine can be the beginning of creating multicultural jobs, including health care - the project manager stresses.
Our researchers, with the support of experts from Greece, will conduct an analysis of the barriers and facilitating factors for Ukrainian nurses to work in Poland. Guidelines will also be developed to help create an effective professional and socio-cultural adaptation program. The research will use a mixed method (quantitative and qualitative data) and data integration. In turn, the result of the project will be the development of a long-term strategy for the professional and socio-cultural adaptation of refugee nurses from Ukraine to the Polish health care system, which will be endorsed by the Polish Nursing Association and the Supreme Chamber of Nurses and Midwives.
The amount of funding from the National Academic Exchange Agency is PLN 86,510.