scholarly journals Building a sustainable rural physician workforce

2021 ◽  
Vol 215 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Remo Ostini ◽  
Matthew R McGrail ◽  
Srinivas Kondalsamy-Chennakesavan ◽  
Peter Hill ◽  
Belinda O’Sullivan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Rural Physician

scholarly journals Family Medicine Training in Lesotho: A Strategy of Decentralized Training for Rural Physician Workforce Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Bryden ◽  
Mariel Bryden ◽  
Jonathan Steer-Massaro ◽  
Sebaka Malope
Keyword(s):  
Family Medicine ◽  
Training Program ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
District Hospitals ◽  
Medical Discipline ◽  
Rural Physician ◽  
Health Alliance

Family medicine is a relatively new but rapidly expanding medical discipline in Sub-Saharan Africa. Specialization in family medicine is an effective means for building and retaining a highly skilled rural physician workforce in low- and middle-income countries. The Lesotho Boston Health Alliance Family Medicine Specialty Training Program is the first and only postgraduate family medicine program and the only accredited postgraduate training program in the Kingdom of Lesotho. Lesotho has unique challenges as a small mountainous enclave of South Africa with one of the lowest physician-to-patient ratios in the world. Most health professionals are based in the capital city, and the kingdom faces challenging health problems such as high human immunodeficiency virus prevalence, high maternal mortality, and malnutrition, as well as increasing burdens of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. In response to these health crises and the severe shortage of health professionals, Lesotho Boston Health Alliance partnered with the Lesotho Ministry of Health in 2008 to introduce family medicine as a new specialty in order to recruit home and retain Basotho doctors. Family medicine training in Lesotho uses a unique decentralized, non-university-based model with trainees posted at rural district hospitals throughout the country. While family medicine in Lesotho is still in the early stages of development, this model of decentralized training demonstrates an effective strategy to develop the rural health workforce in Lesotho, has the potential to change the physician workforce and health care system of Lesotho, and can be a model for physician training in similar environments.

Implications of an Aging Rural Physician Workforce

2019 ◽  
Vol 381 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucy Skinner ◽  
Douglas O. Staiger ◽  
David I. Auerbach ◽  
Peter I. Buerhaus
Keyword(s):  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Rural Physician

The Decline In Rural Medical Students: A Growing Gap In Geographic Diversity Threatens The Rural Physician Workforce

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 2011-2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Shipman ◽  
Andrea Wendling ◽  
Karen C. Jones ◽  
Iris Kovar-Gough ◽  
Janis M. Orlowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Geographic Diversity ◽  
Rural Physician

Increasing the Rural Physician Workforce: A Potential Role for Small Rural Medical School Campuses

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Crump ◽  
R. Steve Fricker ◽  
Craig H. Ziegler ◽  
David L. Wiegman
Keyword(s):  
Medical School ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Rural Physician

State Medical Boards' Perceptions of a Minimum Data Set and Current Practices for Collecting Physician Information

2013 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 40-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Young ◽  
Philip Davignon ◽  
Margaret B. Hansen ◽  
Mark A. Eggen
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
The United States ◽  
Minimum Data Set ◽  
Direct Patient Care ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Minimum Data ◽  
State Medical Boards ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Current Practices

ABSTRACT Recent media coverage has focused on the supply of physicians in the United States, especially with the impact of a growing physician shortage and the Affordable Care Act. State medical boards and other entities maintain data on physician licensure and discipline, as well as some biographical data describing their physician populations. However, there are gaps of workforce information in these sources. The Federation of State Medical Boards' (FSMB) Census of Licensed Physicians and the AMA Masterfile, for example, offer valuable information, but they provide a limited picture of the physician workforce. Furthermore, they are unable to shed light on some of the nuances in physician availability, such as how much time physicians spend providing direct patient care. In response to these gaps, policymakers and regulators have in recent years discussed the creation of a physician minimum data set (MDS), which would be gathered periodically and would provide key physician workforce information. While proponents of an MDS believe it would provide benefits to a variety of stakeholders, an effort has not been attempted to determine whether state medical boards think it is important to collect physician workforce data and if they currently collect workforce information from licensed physicians. To learn more, the FSMB sent surveys to the executive directors at state medical boards to determine their perceptions of collecting workforce data and current practices regarding their collection of such data. The purpose of this article is to convey results from this effort. Survey findings indicate that the vast majority of boards view physician workforce information as valuable in the determination of health care needs within their state, and that various boards are already collecting some data elements. Analysis of the data confirms the potential benefits of a physician minimum data set (MDS) and why state medical boards are in a unique position to collect MDS information from physicians.

Identifying Barriers to Building a Diverse Physician Workforce: A National Survey of the ACR Membership

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 1091-1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pari V. Pandharipande ◽  
Nathaniel D. Mercaldo ◽  
Anna P. Lietz ◽  
Claudia L. Seguin ◽  
Chrishanae D. Neal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Survey ◽  
Physician Workforce

scholarly journals Description of a Multi-faceted COVID-19 Pandemic Physician Workforce Plan at a Multi-site Academic Health System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin R. Pendharkar ◽  
Evan Minty ◽  
Caley B. Shukalek ◽  
Brendan Kerr ◽  
Paul MacMullan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Acute Care ◽  
Care Physician ◽  
System Capacity ◽  
Medical Emergency ◽  
Physician Workforce ◽  
Future Health ◽  
Academic Health ◽  
Response Planning ◽  
Implementation Period

Abstract Background The evolving COVID-19 pandemic has and continues to present a threat to health system capacity. Rapidly expanding an existing acute care physician workforce is critical to pandemic response planning in large urban academic health systems. Intervention The Medical Emergency-Pandemic Operations Command (MEOC)—a multi-specialty team of physicians, operational leaders, and support staff within an academic Department of Medicine in Calgary, Canada—partnered with its provincial health system to rapidly develop a comprehensive, scalable pandemic physician workforce plan for non-ventilated inpatients with COVID-19 across multiple hospitals. The MEOC Pandemic Plan comprised seven components, each with unique structure and processes. Methods In this manuscript, we describe MEOC’s Pandemic Plan that was designed and implemented from March to May 2020 and re-escalated in October 2020. We report on the plan’s structure and process, early implementation outcomes, and unforeseen challenges. Data sources included MEOC documents, health system, public health, and physician engagement implementation data. Key Results From March 5 to October 26, 2020, 427 patients were admitted to COVID-19 units in Calgary hospitals. In the initial implementation period (March–May 2020), MEOC communications reached over 2500 physicians, leading to 1446 physicians volunteering to provide care on COVID-19 units. Of these, 234 physicians signed up for hospital shifts, and 227 physicians received in-person personal protective equipment simulation training. Ninety-three physicians were deployed on COVID-19 units at four large acute care hospitals. The resurgence of cases in September 2020 has prompted re-escalation including re-activation of COVID-19 units. Conclusions MEOC leveraged an academic health system partnership to rapidly design, implement, and refine a comprehensive, scalable COVID-19 acute care physician workforce plan whose components are readily applicable across jurisdictions or healthcare crises. This description may guide other institutions responding to COVID-19 and future health emergencies.

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