David Kay
This presentation will discuss the characteristics of the Alberta Rural Physician Action Plan (RPAP), one of Canada's only comprehensive, integrated and sustained programs for the education, recruitment and retention of physicians for rural practice; its approaches to address professional and lifestyle issues for its three target groups; the strategies implemented and the lessons learned in aggressively addressing rural physician supply and distribution concerns. The RPAP was established in early 1991 by the Government of the Canadian Province of Alberta, as a comprehensive action plan for the recruitment and retention of rural physicians. RPAP focuses its work on: 1) undergraduate and postgraduate physicians in training of the faculties of medicine at the Universities of Alberta (Edmonton) and Calgary; 2) the family physicians and specialists of rural Alberta, and 3) the 15 rural Regional Health Authorities and their partner local communities. More than a dozen initiatives have been implemented of a short term and long term nature. An extensive evaluation regime consisting of external reviews of the major RPAP initiatives; topic specific research projects, focus groups, interviews and informal field contact; and ongoing key performance indicators (KPI) have been used to assess the effectiveness of the RPAP initiatives. The characteristics of the Program have permitted the RPAP to improve its program offerings, to quickly remove ineffective and introduce new offerings, and to positively affect both the supply and distribution of rural physicians in Alberta.