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?