Recruitment and Retention of

Health Care Professionals

How to get them and how to keep them
Guest Lecture - October 12, 2010
 Dr Norm Furtado
• Dr Furtado is a graduate of the Bacholar of Health Science
program here at Western, from their he continued on to
medical school at Western. He completed a Family Medicine
Residency in the Rural Health Program.

• Currently, I have a Family Practice in Ailsa Craig (North

Middlesex) and also works in the Strathroy ER. There are
some more details in my CV at www.normfurtado.com
(though I haven't updated it in a while).
 Who Are We Talking About?
 Doctors
 General practitioners
 Specialists
 Nurses
 Nurse practitioner
 Registered Nurse
 Registered Practical Nurse
 Applied health
 Physiotherapists
 Laboratory specialists
 Diagnostic Imaging Technicians
Where we get our health care providers
• Nationally
– Home grown
– Interprovincial Migration
– International Migration
• Rural communities
– 50% of medical students from a rural area go back
– Rural Physicians are 2.4 times more likely to have grown up in
a rural area
– Shortage of health care professionals
• The Canadian context
• This is a Global Issue
• This is not a new idea
 Rural and Remote Areas of Canada

 25% of overall population

 17% of Family Physicians
 4% of Specialists
 18% Registered Nurses

5573 General Practitioners

1:1308
How Did We Get Here?
• 1980s - Medical school enrolment was cut
• 1990s - Nursing jobs were cut
• Today - Lack of full time opportunities
 Repercussions
• Wait lists
• ER overcrowding
• Lack of family doctors
• Affects all areas

• Larger percentage of elderly population

• Older physicians
Why Practice in a Rural Area??
What Influences Your Decision??
 How To Decide?
• Spouse’s experience and perception of rural
communities
• Spouse finding employment
• Community environment
• Physical environment
• Opportunities for children
• Heavy workload with multiple roles
• Location of families
• Job stress and satisfaction
• Community integration
• Limited opportunities for development
• Professional isolation
• Lack of flexibility in training
 What the doctors say
• Native of the region (5Mn, 12Md)
• Spouse influence (8Mn, 17Md)
• Family integration (7Mn, 15Md)
• Quality of life/Social and cultural life (12Mn,
21Md)
• Occupational well-being (12Mn, 29Md)
• Multiskill practice (9Mn, 18Md)
• Financial incitative (8Mn, 13Md)
 Recruitment - Canada
• Health Human Resources Strategy
– More Health Care Providers
– Effective use of skills
– Creating Healthy Workplaces
– Effective planning
 Recruitment - Ontario
• Free Tuition Incentive
• Incentive Grant
• Community Visit Program
• HFO Jobs
• PAIRO, OMA and ROMP
• New Graduate Initiative
• Underserviced Area Program
 Underserviced Area Program

• Help underserviced communities recruit and

retain health professionals
• Numerous components aimed at attracting
and retaining health care providers in these
communities
• Must be designated as underserviced to
qualify
 Problem
• Communities don’t know that these are available
• Can’t use what they don’t know about
• Knowledge translation issue
 Rural Retention
• Hospital specific incentives
• Community incentives
• Working in the remote north
• Working in northern Ontario
• Money is not a long term fix
 My Experience

– Moose Factory - recruitment

– Choosing a place - opportunities
– Parry Sound – retention
 Your Experience
• What would get you there?
• What would keep you there?
• Start thinking about your student practicum