Searching for doctors

There is one current posting for a family physician in Weymouth on the NSHA website listed under the heading Physician Opportunities. However, the list of opportunities contains at least 138 postings, some of those with multiple positions attached to a single advertisement, in communities ranging from Barrington to Truro and right on up to Sydney, with the positions varying from family physicians to psychiatrists, radiologists to anesthesiologists, to name a few.

While both Mooney and d’Entremont said physician recruitment is a rural issue, there are also vacancies posted for family physicians or other healthcare workers in Halifax, Dartmouth and Truro.

While the new local doctors in Digby have said they could use at least three more doctors to expand their Digby-based team, the NHSA list appears to have only one physician opening specifically for Digby. There are also more than 300 other healthcare jobs posted on the NHSA site that include every position from lab technicians to nurse pracitioners. The list of open positions on the website is not alphabetized or prioritized, contains some grammatical errors, focuses on tourism-based language rather than community specifics or need, and appears to demonstrate an overwhelming need for health-care workers right across the province. http://www.nshealth.ca/physicianlistings?field_physician_recruit_ type_value=All&field_physician_recruit_category_value=All&field_physician_recruit_location_value=All