Post on 05-Jul-2015
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Life in La Ronge
Or...Why Rural General Practice is the most rewarding discipline in Medicine.
Why Rural?
Personal Gains Professional Satisfaction Community Involvement Challenges
Personal Gains
$$$ ??? Social and recreational opportunities Pace of life Rewarding environment Family oriented
Professional Satisfaction
The last true generalist practice Varied practice environment: In La Ronge, this
means emergency medicine, hospital based inpatient care, geriatrics/long term care, family medicine clinics, and weekly fly-out trips to our outposts
Patients of various background, ethnicity and culture
Opportunity to Challenge Yourself Every Day
Building clinical confidence and acumen Resource management and allocation Opportunity for extended scope of practice (GP
Anaesthesia, GP Surgery, 3rd year Emergency Medicine)
Community Involvement
Ample opportunity to be involved and make a difference
Physicians are (often, but not always) respected decision makers in the community
Can see the results of your suggestions! Role in community development Close knit atmosphere
Challenges in Rural Medicine
Boundary issues: your patients are sometimes your friends
Gaps in resources Professional isolation: Information Technology is
playing a bigger and bigger role in solving this problem
Huge demand with potential for burnout: balancing personal and professional commitments
Working in La Ronge
A real group practice, working collaboratively every day and sharing practice experience and ideas
11 physicians Salaried position with many additional benefits Regular fly-out clinics (breaks up the week) Challenging practice environment Opportunity to be involved in training medical
students and residents
A Day in the Life
Group rounds at the hospital 8:30-9:30 am 10:00-12:00 Clinic 12:00-1:00 Lunch (at home! every day except flyout
days once a week) 1:00-5:00 Clinic 5:00-5:30 Tying up loose ends at the clinic Fly-outs once per week – leave at 9:00 am and back
to La Ronge between 5:00 and 6:00 pm
Call
On call in La Ronge: 11 physicians each with 30 working days of holiday
and 15 working days of CME leave Call works out to about 1 in 8 with 1 weekend call
every 4-5 weeks Most importantly: Backup - there's always someone
with more experience than you just waiting to pick up the phone when you need help or advice
Working as a Salaried Physician
Challenges: Autonomy is number one (not so much clinical, but
more financial) Less motivation to take on expanded roles Contract is subject to budget renewal, funding
agency agreements (luckily our salary is tied to the SMA's fee-for-service negotiations so when they negotiate a raise, we get one too)
Little opportunity to write off your costs
Working as a Salaried Physician
Added CME funding on top of SMA and CORRP's CME fund
Actual sick time: 1.5 paid days per month, so no more “working through” the flu (and giving it to all your patients)
Someone else runs the business (no hiring, no firing, no overhead, etc.)
Guilt-free TIME WITH PATIENTS when you need it
Working as a Salaried Physician
The Good: Guaranteed income (even if you had to spend 40
minutes with a difficult elderly diabetic with congestive heart failure, chronic renal failure, COPD, and an A1C of 9.8)
Benefits package: employer paid pension plan, full health and dental coverage, salary continuance plan if you become disabled
Paid (!!!) Holidays
What I love about Rural Medicinein La Ronge
Getting to know community members on an intimate level
Taking actual part in the community (coaching hockey, advocating for a fitness facility, community-based health education, Crushers Hockey : )
Tackling social issues alongside community members
Time spent pursuing outdoor activities (especially on the lake)
A town of young families with lots of kids
What I love about Rural Medicinein La Ronge
Extremely challenging medicine at times Community-based physicians play a true role in
HELPING MOTIVATE CHANGE to address the ongoing issues we see with health imbalances across demographic and geographic regions in Canada
Get to meet and participate with people from varied cultures and grow both as an individual and as a professional
Not a day goes by that I don't learn something new or feel challenged
So...
Challenge your perceptions of rural medicine Build confidence in your clinical abilities Enjoy life and pursue a challenging career (at the
same time!) Come and work in Rural Saskatchewan!
Questions?