Huisartsgeneeskunde: aantrekkingskracht en beroepstrouw ... - Lirias
Huisartsgeneeskunde: aantrekkingskracht en beroepstrouw ... - Lirias
Huisartsgeneeskunde: aantrekkingskracht en beroepstrouw ... - Lirias
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KCE Reports 90 Making G<strong>en</strong>eral Practice Attractive: Encouraging GP attraction and Ret<strong>en</strong>tion 83<br />
family practice after a short (2-4 years) period of postgraduate locum.<br />
The authors describe the decisions and trajectory of individual medical<br />
graduates, their professional and private aspirations (especially their<br />
vision that job is but one elem<strong>en</strong>t of life, and their wish to save time<br />
for personal and family life and leisure). The authors also notice that<br />
young graduates do not appreciate the working conditions of family<br />
medicine, but they do not have any clear «vision" of what is family<br />
practice, neither for themselves, nor for the role of family practice<br />
within the health system.<br />
Levasseur et al 2006 147 also report that the decision to start family practice is<br />
individualistic. Moreover, the profession is not structured as a political force.<br />
Use of recruiters<br />
Another recruitm<strong>en</strong>t strategy is to use "recruiters". For example, the Robert Wood<br />
Foundation's Southern Rural Access Program (SRAP) consists in the use of granted<br />
recruiters to assist rural communities in assessing healthcare needs and recruiting<br />
primary care providers. Recruiters were shown to be able to find primary care<br />
providers to fill vacancies, at a cost of $ 50000 for 5 years to secure one provider 78 .<br />
OTHER INITIATIVES<br />
Faculty support<br />
An original UK project labeled "GP Assistant/Research Associate scheme" 111 , tested the<br />
hypothesis of a b<strong>en</strong>eficial effect of career developm<strong>en</strong>t on inner city recruitm<strong>en</strong>t (and<br />
ret<strong>en</strong>tion) of young GPs. The project consisted in associating young g<strong>en</strong>eral<br />
practitioners to research and teaching projects of the Departm<strong>en</strong>t of G<strong>en</strong>eral Practice<br />
and Primary Care at the Guy's, King's and St Thomas School of Medicine in London<br />
(UK). A qualitative study of 34 stakeholders and 14 GP Assistants showed <strong>en</strong>thusiastic<br />
support for this project, which allows professional developm<strong>en</strong>t, managing multiple<br />
roles, and developing new knowledge. Empowered GP Assistants felt compet<strong>en</strong>t and<br />
able to initiate changes in Primary Care Groups/Trusts where they practice.<br />
Immigration<br />
In the USA, a system of waivers for J-1 visa holders ("exchange visitors", i.e.<br />
postgraduate medical stud<strong>en</strong>ts in this case) is applied to foreign-trained physicians: in<br />
exchange of 1 to 3 years obligated service in rural or underserved areas, medical<br />
immigrants and their families may obtain a visa to stay in the country 73 . Data from<br />
University of K<strong>en</strong>tucky show that immigrant physicians are not transi<strong>en</strong>t and t<strong>en</strong>d to<br />
practice in the regions where they were originally placed 73 . Similar systems are applied<br />
in Australia and Canada. Research indicates that International Medical Graduates (IMGs)<br />
make an ess<strong>en</strong>tial contribution to rural areas in the United States and Canada. This is<br />
highlighted by the prediction that without IMGs, 1 of every 5 "adequately served" US<br />
non-metropolitan counties would become underserved 172 . Brotherton et al 2005 152<br />
show that tr<strong>en</strong>ds suggest that the US primary care medical workforce of the future will<br />
include more IMGs (about 25% of the total).<br />
The use of IMGs raise ethical issues : 1 discrimination against foreign physicians and 2<br />
deep<strong>en</strong>ing physician shortage in countries of origin 173 . The image of a “medical<br />
carousel”, in which doctors seem to be continually moving to countries with a<br />
perceived higher standard of living, is used to describe physician behavior. Pakistani<br />
doctors move to the UK, UK doctors move to Canada, and Canadians move to the<br />
USA.<br />
Migration betwe<strong>en</strong> developed countries is not negligible 140 .<br />
GP substitution by other health professionals<br />
In the USA, managed care makes acceptable the use of nurse practitioners or physician<br />
assistants to replace (missing) GPs, while it seems this is not the case in Canada 174 and<br />
Europe, for reasons of poor cost-effectiv<strong>en</strong>ess and competition on a fee-for-service<br />
market.