Collaborative health human resource planning: a retention and recruitment initiative--full time, shared and unionized positions.

Kemptville District Hospital entered into a partnership with the Queensway Carleton Hospital, a larger urban centre, to develop a framework for a shared, full-time, unionized nursing position. Both hospitals were experiencing nursing shortages in their emergency departments, but Kemptville, a small rural hospital, had an added recruitment challenge in that the ER nurses must be highly skilled and comfortable assuming responsibility when working alone. A new and shared full-time position would help alleviate the staffing crises for both hospitals. It would create a full-time position for a nurse who might otherwise be getting only part-time hours, and it would enhance interorganizational professional practice through the exposure to and sharing of best practices.