The consultants will use the information gathered to suggest solutions or supports to deal with local physician issues. The focus of the consultant s efforts will be improvement of physicians professional or personal situation. The consultants will be a key resource for communities and physicians, to identify and access the supportive resources available through RPAP and other existing programs. They will complement the role of the RPAP Skills Brokers, Drs. John Hnatuik of Provost and Ron Gorsche of High River, are working hard to assist rural physicians obtain the new skills their communities require, to upgrade existing skills or to complete assessments as required by the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Training can be of any duration from two weeks up to a year long.
To date, rural physicians have taken training in such areas as emergency medicine, obstetrics, palliative care, oncology, and diabetes management. The Skills Broker will send you an application package to complete, and will help organize the training. The RPAP CC is comprised of a variety of stakeholders with an interest in the recruitment and retention of rural physicians in Alberta. These stakeholders work together in a cooperative and collaborative manner to try to address the underlying issues of rural recruitment and retention. There will be a lot of new faces around rural Alberta starting this July.