ESTEVAN — Several physicians will be leaving Estevan before in the coming months.
Dr. Edward Tsoi, who is the longest-tenured physician in the city, having served the community for nearly 40 years, will retire effective June 30. According St. Joseph's Hospital executive director Candace Kopec, several others are slated to leave in the next few months: Dr. Mariana Sabaa is finished July 27; Dr. Reza Fatoorechi's final day is slated to be Aug. 31; and Dr. Alexander Arthur will wrap up his practice Oct. 31. Another doctor has let the hospital he is leaving within the next five months, Kopec said, but his departure has not been announced. All five are general practitioners.
Also, Dr. Andrey Babkis, an anesthetist, was finished in Estevan at the end of May.
"There's a number of factors as to why they are leaving," Kopec said in an interview with SaskToday. "We get to know those doctors well, and they come and they talk about ways that we can do things differently, how we can support them differently. But sometimes it's about opportunities for them, and it's also sometimes for opportunities for their family."
When looking at the departing physicians, Kopec said one of them is interested in a hospitalist model, which is something the hospital has strongly supported, she said. Hospitalists work exclusively in the hospital, allowing them to respond quickly to any changes in a patient's condition.
"It's an area that would greatly enhance patient care and improve outcomes as well," said Kopec. "It could lead to more timely discharges, and therefore we could further support some of those tertiary sites that over-capacity challenges," Kopec said.
Other communities, including Weyburn, already have the hospitalist model.
"We've had them here to talk about how it even helps with work-life balance for physicians as well," said Kopec.
Another factor, she said, is when physicians often arrive in Canada, they're not general practitioners. When they go through the Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment program, they're assigned to a community, and part of the responsibilities is the emergency room.
"They work 24-hour shifts in the emergency room. Some have expressed that 12 hours instead of 24 hours would work out better for them," said Kopec. "Nonetheless, they don't come from a practice where they have worked in the emergency room, so sometimes they leave our community after their contract is up, and they look to practise where their practice doesn't involve an emergency room coverage."
After the physicians sign the agreement with the Saskatchewan Health Authority, the hospital supports the doctors in any way possible, she said. But they don't have oversight with physician services and how they practice, but the hospital communicates with the SHA, who knows about the impending departures.
Doug Dahl, the director of media relations and issues management for the Saskatchewan Health Authority, said there will be nine family physicians practising out of the space attached to St. Joseph’s Hospital in November, including a physician who will have completed the SIPPA program and is slated to come to Estevan.
"Working with the Saskatchewan Healthcare Recruitment Agency, the Saskatchewan Health Authority practitioner staff affairs continues to recruit family physicians to fill vacant positions for Estevan. This includes a new combined anesthesiology and family physicians, as well as physicians with enhanced surgical skills," Dahl said.
Kopec hopes the addition of MRI services to the hospital will help with physician recruitment. She and director of patient services Kristie Walker went to rural and remote physician conference in Winnipeg at the end of April.
"Just through having conversations with physicians about what makes them interested in coming to a community, there were two things that we had as takeaways. We saw trends in physicians being quite interested in providing addiction services, being involved in addiction services, so that is potentially one way we could highlight our community," Kopec said.
"The other area that they were quite surprised is we're kind of like a bigger hospital in a small community."
In finding out the services St. Joe's provides and the resources it has, Kopec said the physicians became quite interested.
"The physicians want to come where they have some diagnostic capabilities, and have a CT [scanner] and an MRI is definitely in our favour," she said.
