School of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
Department of Family Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
Int J Circumpolar Health. 2022 Dec;81(1):2076977. doi: 10.1080/22423982.2022.2076977.
Rural communities across the circumpolar region and worldwide perennially suffer from physician shortages despite decades of attempting targeted strategies for recruitment. Particularly in rural Canada, financial incentives have attracted but not retained a medical workforce. Although the importance of social connection or belonging is a long-established source of well-being, such information has not infiltrated the dialogue or action on physician retention in rural areas. A physician's sense of belonging, arising from that emotional need for social connectedness, is built via bilateral active efforts at community engagement, reciprocity, social integration of family and workplace collegiality. Links between rural upbringing, rural training opportunities and subsequent rural practice likely rest upon fostering this sense of belonging. Policymakers and recruiters might consider how to help physicians adapt, "fit in", and consider they have "come home" when they venture off to rural settings. Empowering the community to be involved in the recruitment and retention of rural physicians may also be effective. Perhaps this approach would better address the age-old battle to retain physicians in rural Canada and around the world.
尽管几十年来一直试图采取有针对性的招聘策略，但整个环极地区和世界各地的农村社区仍然长期面临医生短缺的问题。特别是在加拿大农村，经济激励措施吸引了医疗人员，但却没有留住他们。尽管社会联系或归属感的重要性是幸福感的一个长期来源，但这种信息并没有渗透到农村地区医生留用的对话或行动中。医生的归属感源于这种对社会联系的情感需求，通过社区参与、互惠、家庭和工作场所同事关系的社会融合的双边积极努力来建立。农村出身、农村培训机会和随后的农村实践之间的联系可能取决于培养这种归属感。政策制定者和招聘人员可能会考虑如何帮助医生适应、“融入”并认为他们在前往农村地区时“回家了”。授权社区参与农村医生的招聘和留用也可能是有效的。也许这种方法可以更好地解决加拿大乃至全世界长期以来留住农村医生的难题。
