Marketing orientation

A socially accountable organization designs its services to meet the needs of the population it serves. This implies having systems in place to regularly assess the population needs or monitor changes on an on-going basis.

How can we be sure that our service model best meets the needs of our population, provides the most cost-effective solutions, and leverages advances in technology? The service model must best meet the needs of the population, and metrics are required to monitor the effectiveness of the service model. In addition to understanding the population’s
service needs, a strong body of evidence suggests that, especially in rural and remote environments, the most successful health-service models are explicitly tailored to the local environment.

Delivery of safe and effective healthcare in remote and rural areas requires a specific additional skill set including ongoing skills maintenance and continuing education. In addition to ensuring there are appropriately tailored education and training opportunities that are accessible to remote and rural practitioners, there is a need to ensure recruits are learning-focused and have the ability to develop the remote and rural skill set that is required. This Framework challenges this perception and encourages organizations to seriously consider the characteristics of the person you would like to hire. Management may find that the promotion and advertising materials used may be targeting the wrong person.

Making a move to a rural or remote community, relocating and building a life there is a major consideration. Prospective employers want to reach recruits with more than just a job advertisement; it must be easy for target recruits to access any information that would influence them in making this major life decision. Professionals may have families including a spouse who needs to find work, and children requiring education and activities.

Engagement of communities in defining their recruitment and retention strategy is essential to the development of partnerships that will make the entire suite of interventions work. Having communities involved in defining the approach that will be used in their community ensures that solutions are feasible in their specific environment, and that community members are more likely to sustain them.

Ensuring that the new employee and their family is made to feel welcome in the community, and supported to become integrated in community recreation and other activities, is a key factor in ensuring a positive start and long stay in the community. This can mean involving community partners in meeting with the new recruits and their families, giving tours of the town, health services, and schools to ensure they are able to register in recreational and other programs.

Another important support that is often thought to be too complex to address is spousal employment. Lack of work opportunities for spouses is known to be a key barrier in the recruitment of professionals to rural locations. Dedicating resources to assisting spouses to learn about work opportunities is a good start to addressing this barrier.