The purpose of this survey is to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers in Canada.
This voluntary survey will cover topics such as job type and setting, personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection prevention and control (IPC) practices and protocols, COVID-19 vaccination and diagnosis, and the impacts of the pandemic on personal health and work life. It also includes general demographic questions.
Information collected may be used by the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information and other government organizations to help to inform health care workforce planning, the delivery of health care services and to better understand what health care workers need in terms of equipment, training and support.
Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes. In addition, information from partially completed or unsaved questionnaires may be retained and used.
Collection period:
Collection methods:
Survey participation:
Confidentiality
Data are collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S-19. Your information will be kept strictly confidential.
Data sharing agreements and record linkage
Data sharing agreements
To avoid duplication of questionnaires, Statistics Canada may enter into agreements to share the data from this survey with the Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada, the Institut de la statistique du Québec and provincial and territorial ministries of health. Only organizations that have agreed to keep your information confidential and use it only for statistical purposes will receive the data.
Record linkage
To enhance the data from this survey and reduce response burden, Statistics Canada may combine the information you provide with data from other surveys or administrative sources.
Topics covered in the survey
The survey asks questions about
- job type and setting
- personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection prevention and control (IPC) practices and protocols
- COVID-19 vaccination and diagnosis
- the impacts of the pandemic on personal health and work life.
Published data
Statistics Canada publishes the results of its surveys in many formats. To find all the documents related to this survey, follow the links below and type the name of the survey in the search engine located at the left of your screen to filter the results.
Data: You will find tables, profiles of a community or region, thematic maps, public use microdata files, and data visualization tools.
Analysis: You will have direct access to Stats in brief (e.g. releases from The Daily, fact sheets), articles and reports, and journals and periodicals.
Survey-specific questions
- How long does it take to complete the questionnaire?
- Why should I participate in this survey?
- Do I have to take part in this survey?
- Can I choose not to answer certain questions?
- Why does Statistics Canada want to know personal information such as my gender, postal code, or total income?
- When will the results be available?
- How will you safeguard the confidentiality of my information?
How long does it take to complete the questionnaire?
It will take approximately 25 to 30 minutes to complete the questionnaire.
Why should I participate in this survey?
By participating in this survey, you will play an important role in understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers in Canada. The information you provide will help create a complete picture of the experiences of health care workers across the country.
Do I have to take part in this survey?
Your participation in this survey is voluntary. Each person selected represents many other people and your participation will help to ensure that survey results are complete. It’s important that we have representation from all types of health care workers if the results of the survey are to be representative.
Can I choose not to answer certain questions?
Yes. Even after having agreed to participate in the survey, you may choose not to answer specific questions you find sensitive or where you feel uncomfortable providing a response.
Why does Statistics Canada want to know personal information such as my gender, postal code, or total income?
When your data reaches Statistics Canada—whether from surveys or administrative sources—some of it is used to create a demographic profile. Then, we remove personal identifiers and only retain information such as age, gender, income, and geographical location. This data is merged with that of other people who share the same demographic profile (for example, groupings based on the same age, gender, income or geographical location). Even if questions related to personal information may seem irrelevant to the subject of the survey, they provide a deeper knowledge of respondents' characteristics, which allows us to create a representative sample of the Canadian population. By analyzing this large database, researchers are able to observe emerging patterns and trends and provide important information to governments, non-profit organizations, researchers, and the wider public.
When will the results be available?
The data are expected to be released in spring 2022.
How will you safeguard the confidentiality of my information?
As with all Statistics Canada surveys, any information provided will remain confidential pursuant to the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada takes the privacy of Canadians very seriously. Published data can never identify you or your household. To find out more about the measures in place to safeguard the confidentiality of your information, visit Statistics Canada's Trust Centre.