Rural physician recruitment and retention

Michael Hewak,Kyle Luong

doi:10.5206/uwomj.v83i1.4497

Abstract

Rural physician recruitment and retention

Highlights

The former executive director of the federal government’s now-defunct Office of Rural Health once stated “If there is two-tier medicine in Canada, it’s not rich and poor—it’s urban versus rural”.1 Despite the Canada Health Act’s guarantee of accessibility of healthcare to all Canadians, those living in rural communities face a different healthcare experience compared to urbanites
There are nearly 1.4 million First Nations and Inuit in Canada, and they are among the most vulnerable individuals in the country, experiencing nearly 3-fold incidence of HIV, up to 4-fold rates of infant mortality, 6-fold suicide rate, a 30- to 186-fold risk of tuberculosis, as well as an average life expectancy 7 years lower than the national mean.[4]. This unambiguously harsher risk profile for rural populations underscores the need for enhanced efforts to target the recruitment and retention of physicians to these at-risk areas which at present are served by only 16% of Canada’s family physicians and a mere 2.4% of specialists.[3] the current state of canadian rural physician recruitment and retention
Research shows that only 10.8% of those entering medical school come from rural backgrounds

Summary

Introduction

The former executive director of the federal government’s now-defunct Office of Rural Health once stated “If there is two-tier medicine in Canada, it’s not rich and poor—it’s urban versus rural”.1 Despite the Canada Health Act’s guarantee of accessibility of healthcare to all Canadians, those living in rural communities face a different healthcare experience compared to urbanites. Several technical definitions of “rural area” exist, Statistics Canada currently defines the term as a geographical area with fewer than 1000 people or a population density under 400 people per square kilometer.[2] Compared to their urban counterparts, the rural population on average suffers from lower self-reported health status, higher rates of premature death in young people, higher all-cause mortality, and lower life expectancy. The few that do practice rurally tend to have very long waiting lists, ranging from months to over 2 years, and cover a disproportionately large geographic area, making patient access a challenge.[9] incentives to establish rural practice

Results

Conclusion