Training helps South Karelia hospital end use of contract doctors

A six-month training programme has helped South Karelia’s central hospital emergency department stop relying on expensive contract doctors, Yle reports. The regional healthcare authority now staffs the department with its own doctors.

The authority ended its use of contract doctors a year ago, after years of trying to reduce its dependence on outside staff. It had turned to them partly because it did not have enough doctors of its own.

The Emergency Medicine Academy gives doctors, most of them recent graduates, experience in both general practice and specialist care. Over six months, participants spend three months in each field. Trainers also join patient consultations whenever trainees ask for support.

“First and foremost, we aim to orientate our young colleagues and show them that emergency work is not a nightmare,” said Fatih Aydin, an emergency medicine specialist who leads the programme’s training.

Twelve doctors have completed the academy so far. Two recent graduates, Sanni Parpala and Aada Ylipiessa, began the programme just over a week ago. They said they wanted support as they started their careers. Both said they had found the training well organised and felt well looked after.

The next year’s places are already full, and doctors have come from across Finland. Some graduates have stayed in South Karelia or continued training in other specialties there, said Noora Tykkyläinen, another lead trainer. She said the programme has worked well as a recruitment tool.

Neither Parpala nor Ylipiessa currently plans to specialise in emergency medicine. Parpala is interested in gynaecology, while Ylipiessa is considering oncology. They have not yet decided whether to stay in South Karelia after the programme.

Jukka Mattila, director of policy at the Finnish Medical Association, called the academy excellent news. He said he had heard of few similarly structured training programmes focused on emergency care. Doctors are more commonly trained on the job with support from senior colleagues.

Mattila said doctors do not need additional academic training for emergency work, but do need routine. Many general practitioners do not work in emergency departments and may feel uncomfortable because they lack experience, he said.

That gap has widened since a 2010 reform of the Health Care Act concentrated emergency care mainly in central hospitals. Before the change, health centres also provided emergency care widely, meaning that most general practitioners worked shifts in emergency departments, except in large cities.

Similar training programmes operate in Kuopio and Helsinki. HUS, formerly the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District, began its emergency care training in 2019. HUS senior physician Laura Partikainen said it has reduced the need for contract doctors and slightly shortened the average length of emergency department visits. The service also has more doctors who specialise in emergency work.

Partikainen said HUS’s training places fill quickly, showing that doctors find emergency work appealing. She added that emergency medicine, a young specialty, has rapidly grown in importance and attractiveness.