Executive Director

Sandra MacDonald-Rencz was appointed as the Executive Director of the Office of Nursing Policy (ONP), Health Policy Branch, Health Canada in 2006. Her extensive experience in the field of nursing has allowed her to hold senior positions with the Canadian College of Health Services Executives, the Canadian Nurses Association, and the Canadian Council of Health Services Accreditation. Ms. MacDonald-Rencz is a highly respected health system and nursing policy leader with over 25 years of experience in a wide variety of health, educational, and professional situations.

Ms. MacDonald-Rencz participates on numerous national and international committees concerned with health services, systems knowledge and policy development providing advice and support to federal policy work. She is also skilled in facilitating collaboration between nursing, health care and policy leaders in the development of organization capacity to strengthen and advance health care policy agendas.

She has also been actively involved in health system research as a decision-maker, co-principal investigator and as a decision maker member of a research advisory committee. In this capacity she has extensive experience working with researchers to facilitate the integration of evidence into health system policy.

Ms. MacDonald-Rencz has co-chaired several significant national initiatives such as the "National Initiative for Telehealth Guidelines" which was funded through the Richard Ivey Foundation and the National Expert Committee for Inter-professional Education which guided the Pan-Canadian Investment in Inter-professional Education and Collaborative Practice.

In addition to leading the Office of Nursing Policy (ONP), Ms. MacDonald-Rencz has been instrumental in the development of the Quality Worklife, Quality Healthcare Collaborative (QWQHC), a pan-Canadian strategy aimed at improving the quality of worklife (QWL) in healthcare in Canada. Ten national health partners and more than 45 experts came together to develop the strategy to improve both patient/client outcomes and health system delivery.

Ms. MacDonald-Rencz also played a key leadership role in guiding the Nurses Health Study in 2005. This national survey of the Work and Health of Nurses (NSWHN) was undertaken in partnership with Statistics Canada and Health Canada. The survey was administered to a sample of licensed practical nurses (LPNs), registered nurses (RNs) and registered psychiatric nurses (RPNs) from across the country. Data from the survey helped identify relationships between selected health outcomes, the work environment and work-life experiences.

Ms. MacDonald-Rencz is widely sought as a speaker and leader in nursing policy and broader health care policy issues nationally and internationally. She is frequently sought as a plenary speaker. Her publications are primarily in practice for leadership journals.