Medical recruitment and retention have always been a point of concern for the medical fraternity. Numerous surveys have been conducted and carried out to determine the state of the medical sector and the lack of qualified professionals. It has been observed that physician turnover was affected by a number of factors including the organisational philosophy, professional autonomy, the participation of the doctors in the task of policy-making and the alignment of physicians.

The same issues can be found in medical doctor jobs in Canada. Industry experts believe that clear communication about expectations will alleviate the situation to a great extent.  Albeit, it may give rise to financial and personal issues, but it will eventually help to increase an individual’s commitment towards his/her organisation. This will lead to long-term retention. The shortage of qualified personnel for appointment to rural areas was also examined. Quite surprisingly, it was discovered that the retention rates were almost similar in rural and urban areas. They arrived at the conclusion that the shortage was a result of the fact that a very small number of physicians were actually recruited.

Recruitment specialists suggested that it was necessary for physicians to be exposed to the rural setting. If they were brought up as part of the rural community or were placed in one as part of their medical training rotations, then they were likely to develop a liking towards working in the rural community. The fact that doctors refuse to stay in rural areas for different reasons, such as lack of personal time, too much workload and additional on-call responsibility, were not surprising at all. In fact, the only way the issue can be resolved is by conducting adequate recruitment for staffing the positions that have remained vacant for quite a while now. The number of people willing work in rural positions will automatically increase if the problems encountered by the doctors are solved.