Potential for disruption to healthcare from QANTAS dispute

Posted by Beat Medical

It won't be news to you that over the weekend, QANTAS took the rare step of initiating a lockout of its staff following disputes with a number of employee unions.

There was a lot of talk about inconvenience to holidaymakers, the tourism industry, and the Melbourne Cup being disrupted by this extraordinary event. 

However, with any number of healthcare workers travelling around Australia to fill critical positions in hospitals, clinics and other facilities, there was huge potential for there to be a real and tangible effect on the provision of services to patients around Australia. 

When a highly skilled professional is expected to arrive in a marginally staffed facility over a weekend, and does not arrive, the effect can be devastating to the local community.

Beat Medical sends doctors and other professionals around Australia and the region on flights in big volumes every year. 

This weekend, as soon as we heard the news, we were immediately reviewing travel plans to make sure the disruption to our clients, and to the doctors working with us was minimal, or nil. Thankfully, we were able to ensure that all of the staff  we had committed to work over the weekend arrived, and will be able to return home.

For now, the dispute is on hold pending further resolution, however we call on both parties to consider the effect on the health system, and to ensure that those who are travelling to work in critical areas such as healthcare are given priority for flights.

For real-time updates on this, and other issues follow us on Facebook andTwitter.

Carol Rogers 'Accredited Professional Recruiter'

Posted by Beat Medical

Carol Rogers, the Beat Medical Recruitment Administrator, was recently appointed by the Recruitment Consulting and Services Association as an Accredited Professional Recruiter.

According to the RCSA, APRs are recognised as "experienced, ethical and skilled recruitment professionals", and are committed to ongoing learning, and quality activities. 

To achieve this status, Carol undertook over 25 hours of professional recruitment training in the last six months, and commits to maintain this level of professional development.

In the role of Recruitment Administrator, Carol is responsible for the crucial task of making sure the doctors working with us meet the standard expected by our clients, and healthcare consumers.

Carol is the third member of the Beat Medical team to attain APR status, with all team members currently working towards the qualification - demonstrating our commitment to quality service to candidates and clients alike.  

The new Beat in social media and medical recruitment

Posted by Beat Medical

“We are now on Facebook” is a common statement for most businesses in recent times- unless you are part of the medical recruitment industry.

Social media could be said to be a struggling medium in the healthcare recruitment industry with a number of preconceived barriers deterring businesses from utilising the online phenomenon as a productive tool to recruit and gain momentum in reaching their key markets. This is soon to change. 

Proving to be an integral part of the Beat Medical marketing strategy to recruit doctors around Australasia, the Wollongong based recruitment company have developed a social media strategy to encompass Twitter, Blogging, Facebook and on the horizon, video media.

“We are working to adapt our communications strategy to ensure it is appropriate for different age groups in our market – with our Facebook page aimed at a different demographic to our twitter feeds” says Director, Shaun Hughston.

“The goal of our social media plan is to keep our current and potential candidates and clients informed about developments in medical recruitment, provide informative articles and to provide a means to have a quick and easy way to look at job listings the moment they are added to our database. Another great advantage of social media is accessibility – you can use your mobile, computer, or tablet device to access the latest posts”.

Recruitment of doctors to regional areas is one of the greatest challenges to achieveing equitable healthcare across all of Australia. Unfortunately, the days when advertising in the local newspaper were enough are numbered, but many employers and other recruitment agencies have been left by the wayside in the social media revolution.

Beat Medical believe the great advantage of social media over traditional methods of medical recruitment is the ability for users to share the information with others. Director Leonie Shepstone says: “As long as healthcare organisations, particularly the public variety, are encumbered by old-school communications thinking, they will be left behind in the medical recruitment market”.

More problems for AHPRA - Health Ministers Intervening

Posted by Beat Medical

The Australian Health Professions Regulations Authority (AHPRA) has once again come to media attention following a torrent of complaints about the backlog of applications and the potential for interruption to health service delivery.

This recent article in The Australian revealed at the end of 2010 up to 500 practitioners were deregistered as a result of unintentional lapse. Subsequently, the State health ministers pledged more support to AHPRA to ensure they meet the needs of the health professions, and the community.

At the same time, the Federal Health Minister, Nicola Roxon intervened to "fix" the ailing registration system, with the opposition labelling the situation a "debacle".

Since the introduction of the national registration body in July 2010, there have been consistent complaints about the efficiency of the agency, and claims that the added bureaucracy imposed by the body has caused significant delays in the registration of health practitioners across Australia.

AHPRA has responded by increasing staffing and operating hours to cope with the demand. 

From the locum agency/medical recruitment perspective, our opinion is that the situation as it stands is untenable. Our experience with many front line AHPRA staff is that they are well-meaning, but are unable to assist adequately due to an apparent lack of knowledge, training, or both. We are consistently unable to contact senior assessing staff. 

The problems experienced with AHPRA are just  a small part of the wider problem experienced by local and overseas trained doctors. The lack of integration and cooperation between the AMC, Colleges, and AHPRA is astounding. The system, in entirety requires a good overhaul before these problems disappear.

WHO is to fix the global doctor shortage?

Posted by Beat Medical

As the World Health Organisation (WHO) ponders solutions to the global health staffing crisis, Australian healthcare blog Croakey is reporting on ideas to attract and retain health professionals in rural and remote areas.

Recommendations for bolstering rural healthcare include : "[....] financial incentives, personal and professional support, and tailoring education". Whilst these are sound propositions, it could be suggested that there will never be equitable distribution of doctors around a continent such as Australia - with an overwhelming amount of population and social facilities centred around coastal areas.

In simple economic terms, demand is outstripping supply when it comes to doctors to patient ratios in most of Australia. One of the current solutions is regional and rural areas "borrowing" doctors from metropolitan centres as 'locums'. 
 
Employment of locum doctors is widely discouraged as a long-term sustainable solution. However, perhaps it is time for health planners to return to the policy drawing board to re-examine the realistic possibility that locum doctors area a realistic way to manage the needs of under-serviced areas of Australia.

We will be launching a continuing series of articles on the conditions of locums, their experiences, how much they are paid, the limitations of sometimes damaging government bureaucracy, and the real ways the locums who work with our agency make a difference to the lives of those who may otherwise have not had access to a doctor.

Stretching our wings with job listings on Twitter

Posted by Beat Medical

Beat Medical Twitter page for job vacancies

The medical locum industry is fast moving, and an easy way to keep up to date with current locum job vacancies is to follow us on Twitter.

We now have a dedicated job listings channel on twitter at twitter.com/beatmedicaljobs. Here, you can receive real-time updates of current locum jobs in emergency, surgery, anaesthetics, ICU, and general practice.

You can also follow our general twitter page at twitter.com/beatmedical, for the latest news in medical recruitment.

Not sure how to use Twitter, or don't have an account yet? It couldn't be easier - simply navigate here to sign up. Mobile and iPhone users will find a host of Twitter apps online and in the Apple app store.

Why traditional medical recruitment advertising is like beating your head against a wall, and burning money

Posted by Beat Medical

As medical recruiters, we often hear variations of the same stories from our clients, who come to us after months (sometimes, years) of unsuccessful recruitment:

"I was advertising in Australian doctor, but the applications were no good"
"I had an ad on the division website, but didn't get any resumes"
"We had the job listed with a number of agencies, but didn't get any results"

It is no wonder that in the age of Facebook, Google, and Twitter that traditional advertising is just not working anymore. Think about it - when was the last time you posted an ad, and got a bunch of great applications from doctors?

As an agency specialising in recruiting doctors, we wouldn't ever dream of running a traditional advertising campaign. Not only is it a waste of time, it is like burning money. The solution to this problem is running specific marketing campaigns aimed a so many different media that it creates an overwhelming amount of attention in what you are "selling".

Imagine that GP Practice A decided to run ads through a popular medical publication, and put postings on the division and RACGP website. They sit on these for a few months, hoping that a recruitment miracle will happen. It never happens, and they speak to every agency under the sun. After 12 months, still no doctor.

What has happened in this scenario is that the marketing effort has been concentrated into the local market that doesn't want to move - Australian GPs are an extremely immobile workforce. Unfortunately, just because GP Practice A wants an Aussie-trained FRACGP, it doesn't mean it is going to happen.

The clinic across the road, GP Practice B, ran a more aggressive campaign - promoting the position on social media, relevant international medical employment websites, Google ads, large ads in GP journals in the UK and Ireland, and sent direct mail to the homes and offices of doctors overseas, and used a referral program for other doctors to promote the position for them.

The response isn't instant, but within months, Practice B have a list of qualified candidates ready to move to Australia immediately, within 6 months, and over the next few years. There is a cost to a more aggressive campaign - in both time and money. However, given the greater quality of the candidates, the continuous future stream of candidates, and the fact that the they have started a sustainable recruitment process, there is incredible value in what they have done.

It is clear that traditional advertising just doesn't work, recruitment miracles are just as likely to happen as snow at Christmas in Darwin! By considering a different approach, you will increase your recruitment throughput to levels you would have not previously imagined.

Beat Medical has a solution for Aggressive Medical Recruitment Marketing, which - compared to the DIY approach will save you both time and money. Of course, as part of the package, we take care of the back end - medical registration, visa, provider number, and so on. We will run a very tailored campaign for your practice which will find you a quality candidate faster, with the added value of over 10 years of medical recruitment expertise.

Until 20th August 2010, we are offering a 100% money back guarantee that we will find you a doctor through our Aggressive Marketing Package.  Contact us for a proposal today.