by The Nova Scotia Health Authority says many doctors are not responding to requests for exit interviews after they’ve decided to leave the Cape Breton-Guysborough region.
The province has been trying to conduct interviews with the doctors as part of a pilot project.
The person leading the project, Joanne MacKinnon, says local administrators identified 12 doctors that they wanted to interview, but only three agreed to talk.
Of the doctors interviewed so far, MacKinnon says family and personal reasons were the main factors in their decision to move.
However, Sydney orthopaedic surgeon Kevin Orrell says he thinks many doctors who leave the island are unhappy and don’t want to revisit the problems they’ve had to face before making their decision.
MacKinnon says doctors interviewed so far have only made two suggestions: one that new doctors be given more orientation, and another that the health authority check in after a year to inquire if doctors are dealing with any problems.
MacKinnon says she’s now setting up two more exit interviews elsewhere in the province.
