Why Consider a One-Week Elective Rotation in a Rural Critical Access Hospital?

 

Approximately one in five hospitals throughout the United States, or 1,284 hospitals, are designated as Critical Access Hospitals. Whether you decide to practice in a rural or urban setting, it is likely you will either directly care for or coordinate care of a patient in or from a Critical Access Hospital.

What is a Critical Access Hospital?

As part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, legislation was enacted to support state-driven initiatives to strengthen the rural health care infrastructure. Through this legislation, states were authorized to establish Critical Access Hospitals that are within 15-35 miles of a larger full-services hospital. In addition, they have 24-hour emergency services and well-established EMS. The hospital can operate no more than 25 inpatient/swing beds and the average annual length of stay can be no more than 96 hours . There are 24 Critical Access Hospitals in North Carolina.

What are the advantages, and what do physicians practicing in this rural

area have to say?

• Strong hospitalist services support inpatient care.

• Technology such as mobile CAT scanner, MRI, Nuclear Medicine and diagnostic ultra sound is available.

• Successful Critical Access Hospitals place a high priority on physician satisfaction.

• Patients in rural areas do offer many challenges to physicians. Physicians practicing in theses areas report they truly know they can make a difference.

• Physicians reported that they were able to utilize more of their medical training in a Critical Access Hospital setting.

• Given the lower volumes of a Critical Access Hospital, physicians are afforded more time to spend with each patient.

• Physicians have time to educate patients and become familiar with the patient and their families.

• Emergency physicians reported that in addition to treating a patient’s immediate needs, it is often possible to provide education regarding lifestyle habits or disease management.

• Physicians practicing in Critical Access Hospital communities say they were highly connected to the community outside the clinical setting and had less demanding schedules, which allowed them to take advantage of various professional opportunities.