Searching for a Rural Practice |
Recruitment Fairs |
Adjusting to the Practice |
Building a Practice |
Research on Searching for a Practice |
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Residents in family practice can still go just about anywhere in the nation and get a job. Some areas will restrict your privileges and income. Others may enhance these. Some brief advice:
Be methodical in your search
Involve your spouse and family early and often
Prepare questions ahead of time, talk to other residents who have been there or other doctors if possible. Talk to any doctors who have left. Spend more than just a day, weeks of contact are preferable. Rural practice choices are more courtship than just a simple choice.
Search early if you don’t have a clue. The first few visits will guide your training and later interviews. Use moonlighting, fairs, dinners, travel
Don’t be afraid to take a good opportunity early, if you have looked and compared well. In other words look early so you know a good spot when it is available.
Get the best fit for you and your family as well as those you will work with. Rural practice choices are more courtship than just a simple choice (worth repeating over and over). If plans change, change your choice, no one wants a doctor that would rather be somewhere else
The more that you can do, the less limited your practice choices and the more income potential you will have, both in negotiated salary, productivity, market share for you and your hospital, etc.
Practice searches by residents are often hurried. Residents are often overwhelmed after only a few choices. This sometimes leads to poor choices as many residents try to make a decision that they hope will last for many years. Rural practice is often more a matter of adjustments rather than finding the perfect choice (same as kids, marriage, jobs, etc.)
Some decisions and experiences early in residency can shape the type of physician that you will be, what do you want to do, where is your comfort level, how much confidence do you have.
Common Surprises After Graduation - Better to Get These in Training Rather than After
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Family Practice has lots of clinical work, how do I manage........ |
Pay attention throughout second and third years, not just the desperate last months before finishing residency |
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Gee, I wish I had paid more attention to the practice management issues |
Use rural rotations and weekend times to explore these issues with practitioners and administrators, rural or home clinic |
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Decisions have more consequences in small towns, medical education is really a protected life. Why do life decisions seem so much more difficult than medical decisions? Life is no longer defined in terms of the next exam or the end of the rotation |
Work with your advisor, your spouse, your accountant, your lawyer, a rural community person you trust, etc., in other words, find a good mentor during residency or early in practice to help you with this area. |
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Gee, why didn’t my evaluations look as good as I thought they would be. Why did that patient treat me that way? |
Good idea to get some real evaluation from faculty advisors, point blank stuff Before graduation, contact patients a few days later and really find out what goes on after the patient left. It will save some heartaches in practice. |
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The workload is overwhelming |
Be realistic in your expectations of the doctors, practice, community |
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Do you have like-minded colleagues? Do doctors with different styles cooperate? |
Observe the practice ahead of time. Know your style and how to work with other styles that are more or less productive, psychosocial, etc. |
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What are doctors expected to do outside of practice? Are there any problem physicians? |
Do your homework prior to coming. |
Will your system make it in the future? It’s important to know. The last physician in will be the first one out if there are problems. One area to look at that you will be familiar with is the recruitment effort. Critically assess this area:
Will they be able to recruit help when you need it?
What is the hospital or community track record of support for recent additions to clinic, hospital?
What is the town like, are there other young non-medical professionals, does the town have a future?
How competitive is the clinic, practice, or system?
What are the call arrangements for recruits?
Who is your boss and what is the potential for a good relationship?
What is the relationship between practitioners? Between the hospital and practitioners?
What about the finances of the doctors, clinic, hospital?
What about the plans of the above?
Most recent community assessment of health services
Local market share of clinic
Local market share of hospital
There is no perfect community or practice. There are important characteristics that make a community a better fit, or not! Be sure to explore them. Try out this Self Assessment of Community Recruitment Effort to see how your community measures up, remember, you will need to be recruiting colleagues in the not too distant future.