2023-08-02 09:24:10
Medical deserts or areas with difficult coverage of medical places, especially in rural areas, is an “emerging problem”, both in Spain and in Europe, which puts the population’s access to health services at risk and underlines the fact of isolation when receiving health benefits.
Infographic provided by the General Council of Official Colleges of Physicians.
A call for attention that is reflected in the report “Areas of difficult coverage in Spain, medical deserts” that has been prepared by the national section of young doctors of the General Council of Official Colleges of Physicians of Spain in order to propose new solutions to a situation in which they feel used.
Immunology, occupational medicine, psychiatry, and family and community medicine are the specialties with the greatest deficit that may be affected by this problem.
It affects not only rural areas, but also high-density cities and regional hospitals that find it difficult to retain talent and hire medical specialists.
According to CGCOM, difficult-to-cover posts are those where the distance or travel time from the health center to the reference hospital is greater than 70 kilometers or 40 minutes.
91.1% of young doctors, 52 members from each province and from the two autonomous cities, consider that medical deserts are already a problem in their province, while 44.4% believe that resident doctors “are being unjustifiably used to alleviate the situation”.
Factors such as job dissatisfaction of medical specialists, lack of infrastructure and living conditions in rural areas contribute to this problem of medical desertification.
Infographic provided by the General Council of Official Colleges of Physicians.
Measures against medical deserts
71% of those surveyed confess that there are no initiatives in their province to assign doctors and propose a series of measures aimed at three professional stages: university and degree; specialized health training and early years as a specialist; and throughout the professional trajectory.
stand out proposals as:
Economic incentives in terms of travel or housing. Improvements in working conditions. Flexibility in the organization of work. Investment in rural areas and continuous training offer.
On the contrary, the analysis advises against measures as:
Make it difficult to offer and publish jobs in areas without difficulty. Offer contracts temporarily divided between places without difficulty and places that are difficult to cover. Offer generic places in a health area where the headquarters or direction can decide the final destination. Hire non-specialty doctors to cover these areas and force newly trained specialist doctors to stay in their teaching unit in areas that are difficult to cover. Infographic provided by the General Council of Official Colleges of Physicians.
“These policies can generate precariousness, inequity and negatively affect the quality of care and health care for the population,” according to the report.
Along these lines, this report emphasizes establishing long-term plans where different facets are addressed: training, working conditions, incentives, favoring reconciliation and relocation, as well as promoting ties with the territory.
The report of CGCOM concludes that medical desertification in Spain is an emerging problem that requires the attention of all the agents involved.
Although measures and agreements have been proposed, “a deeper analysis and the implementation of appropriate strategies are necessary to guarantee access to health services in rural areas.”
Policies should focus on improving working conditions, infrastructure and training of health professionals, avoiding precarious, coercive and ineffective measures.
#Medical #deserts #areas #difficult #cover #medical #places