Environmental Scan - Government of Nova Scotia

Physician Resource PlanningAn Environmental Scane) Where a functional specialty had a provincial count of less than twenty, the Consultant examinedadditional parameters to assess individual FTE status. Examples of other parameters included whetherthe physician had a full-time position at Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine, whether corroboratinginformation (e.g., departmental interviews) indicated work status, and whether grey literature fromwithin the province indicated status. By necessity, this added step increased the length of the process.f) Individuals aged seventy years or older in 2011 have been removed from the FTE calculations on theassumption they will not be actively practising beyond the first year of the ten-year forecast beginning in2012. There will be exceptions to this rule; however, in the interests of methodological consistency, therule has been applied uniformly.4. Independent and Dependent Variables – These terms distinguish between two types of quantitiesbeing considered, separating them into those available at the start of a process and those being created by it,where the latter (dependent variables) are dependent on the former (independent variables). The independentvariable is typically the variable representing the value being manipulated or changed and the dependentvariable is the observed result of the independent variable being manipulated. For example, with respect toPRP, the independent variable of physician inter-provincial migration can influence the dependent variable offuture supply of general practitioners.5. Licensed and Functional Specialty – Licensed and functional specialties are as reported by the Collegeof Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia as of May, 2011 and tracked by Department of Health and Wellnessin the Physician Human Resource Database (PHReD). The functional specialty, in almost all cases, is the same asthe licensed specialty. For Canadian trained physicians, the licensed specialty is determined by certification bythe Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons or the College of Family Physicians of Canada. In a few cases, e.g.,a General Practitioner (GP) working solely in the Emergency Department, the functional specialty may differfrom the licensed specialty, but this only occurs when the variation is confirmed by the DHA or IWK. Where aphysician is licensed in more than one specialty, e.g., emergency medicine and critical care medicine, theCPSNS will notify the Department of Health and Wellness of the predominant clinical practice.6. Net (Export)/Import – Physician resource planning at the DHA and local level requires examination ofpatterns of service utilization by local residents and those who commute to a community to receive care. This isalso true of physicians who commute outside a primary location to other communities to deliver care. Inphysician resource plan vernacular, this pattern of commuting to access or to provide care is termed‘(export)/import’ of services. Net (Export) means the residents of a given DHA access more services outsidetheir DHA than they do within it. Net Import means the opposite, providing more services within the DHA thanare accessed outside it.7. Part-Time Academic – Appointment status is ‘part-time’ or less than 50% of professional time such as anon-salaried academic appointment with Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine as a lecturer. Typically these are nonresearchclinical preceptor/teacher positions.8. Sentinel Services (Physician) – Sentinel services represent a significant proportion of the workload fora particular specialty. These are “determined by true patient need and not likely influenced heavily by physiciandiscretion”. For example hip or knee replacements in orthopaedics, deliveries in obstetrics, cholecystectomiesand mastectomies in general surgery, and cataract surgery in ophthalmology (Ontario: Expert Panel on HealthProfessional Human Resources, 2001).9 | Page Social Sector Metrics Inc. & Health Intelligence Inc. | 12/31/2011