Saturday, February 26, 2011

Communities That Do Not Have Doctors

By Olivia Butler


It was just recently that a group of Hutchinson Hospital board members and local physicians met for the annual planning session. The meeting came to the conclusion that they should focus on doctor recruitment. These days Recruitment has become a national issue. Usually doctors would always practice in bigger cities instead of smaller communities. With this mindset the smallest communities are the ones suffering.

Hutchinson has seen about 8 new doctors but it is not enough to compensate for the lack of the staff members says the Hutchinson Hospital director. Most of the time, the new doctors cannot compensate for the problem. Usually when a new doctor is in town another one decided to leave or retire hence more help is needed. They are in constant cooperation with clinics and anyone who tries to bring doctors to town

The Recruitment and Retention Committee is tasked to develop a recruitment plan for the hospital. Following their suggestion, the hospital now funds half of the recruitment effort, including travel, lodging and doctor search fees, if a national search agency is used. The range of the fees is about $15,000 to $20,000.

In this case, the hospital is able to give several hundred thousand dollars under that scenario, if they were to recruit all of the physicians they need. Doctors always need good hospital and vice versa. In this case it is a symbiotic relationship.

Doctors do not care so much about the salary. There was a study done by a national physician research firm based in Irving, Texas that says financial security ranks fifth on a list of 10 requirements for primary care physicians. No one mentioned money as a factor for their move to Hutchinson when a group of new local doctors was asked.

One doctor mentions that he moved due to the quality of the Hutchinson Clinic and the lifestyle. In the medical community, there's always a big turnover, someone is moving for whatever reason. A doctor will only stay when he likes his working environment. Otherwise, they have the option of moving to the next town.

Just as well a doctor mentions that there is an equal importance to both the work environment and the city. For doctors though there is competition in bigger cities, the small towns are still preferred. The chief financial officer at the Hutchinson Clinic mentions that most doctors are attracted to the town first.

Many doctors who decided to have here have made up their mind that they want to work in a town this size. They're interested in coming to a town where they can raise a family, and they also want to come to a facility with the medical technology that is state of the art with a good hospital both of which this community has. Ironically, Hutchinson's main selling point also makes it tougher for local administrators to recruit.




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