Call me maybe? Why doctors who trained in N.L. want to work there, but don't

Doctors who trained in Newfoundland and Labrador are like high school graduates waiting by the phone for someone to ask them to the prom. The problem is, no one is calling. "I'd say what I want is a body on the other end of a phone saying, 'It's time to come home, and how can we make that happen?''' said Dr. Monica Kidd, one of two Memorial University medical graduates who worked on a survey of former graduates aimed at identifying barriers to recruitment. In October, Dr. Kidd and St. John's allergist Dr. Andrew O'Keefe—along with health researcher Dr. Gerard Farrell—released the initial results of their survey of 294 MUN medical school graduates going back 15 years. The report found that 80% of them wanted to practice in the province during their training, but one-third ultimately were not working here. The second part of that study, released Thursday, Dec. 16, largely dovetailed with what this year's crop of MUN family medicine residents say they experienced on a virtual recruitment session in November—that a decentralized and uncoordinated system of physician recruitment leaves many prospective doctors feeling lost, unwanted and even rejected by the province that trained them. Read: Two N.L. medical graduates studied why their peers leave the province with surprising results As The Telegram reported last week, the residents complained that Health Minister Dr. John Haggie, during his opening remarks, scolded them about criticizing the government. They were equally dismayed that other department officials couldn't provide satisfactory answers to their questions about what is specifically needed and what is being offered. "I really think that if they reached out to MUN grads and said, 'How can we get you home?' and they could do something about it, they would have a flood of doctors coming home,'' Dr. Kidd said in a phone interview Thursday. "And those are the people who are already mid-career, who are motivated to live in Newfoundland. Their families are in Newfoundland. Their hearts are in Newfoundland. They want to come home.'' Dr. Kidd, who recently moved back to a position in Calgary after a disappointing sojourn back in Newfoundland working as a family physician, said recruitment efforts have been lacking for a long time. Read: Newfoundland critics warn of doctor shortage amid recruitment campaign from P.E.I. "I hope that our studies kind of back up what the residents say their experience was,'' she said. "Because what our study shows is that this is not just a one-off, but that this kind of approach to recruitment has been going on for many years.'' "I think this shows that there is no plan,'' added O'Keefe. "To me it seems like this province doesn't have a good sense of what's happening right, and if they do, they're not doing anything about it. The responses in our study show people can't be directed towards areas of need. I've never seen any document to show what types of doctor do we need, how many do we need and where do we need them.'' The pair welcomed Dr. Haggie's promise of a provincial recruitment office in the new year, but said the positions have to be there for it to work. And money is not the issue, Dr. O'Keefe said, highlighting one quote from a respondent he felt was typical of the sentiment. Dr. O'Keefe said the respondent said, "I would have taken a contract without a return of service (payment), because I didn't care about the money. I just wanted to know that I could come home.'' "That really, to me, was a powerful message, and really resonated with me in terms of why I did this study and why I've heard from so, so many colleagues and classmates and people over the years,'' said Dr. O'Keefe. Kidd said money is always an issue, but helping people be effective in their jobs is more important. "If you're a fee-for-service doctor and you don't know how to bill for the work that you've been doing over the last two weeks, or don't know how to hire a secretary to book your patients, how are you really supposed to be decent at your job?'' she said. Everyone should be on the same page, and that requires better communication, Dr. O'Keefe said. "All the stakeholders—the general public, the physicians, the government, the health-care authorities—have the same goal. We want to provide patient care, and we want to provide excellent patient care. We're all on the same team,'' he said. "I think physicians feel frustrated that they're not being listened to.'' As for the metaphor of waiting by the phone. Dr. O'Keefe said he hopes their study can help with that. "I feel that if people are waiting by the phone for a date, then Gerard, Monica and I kind of went out and created a dating app with this.'' Read: 6 solutions from Canadian doctors to the physician shortage

Call me maybe? Why doctors who trained in N.L. want to work there, but don't

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