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Old 05-30-2008, 11:30 PM
 
17 posts, read 84,672 times
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Hi. I'm considering attending grad school at UW for health care policy, and have read about the shortage of doctors which concerns me. Why is there such a shortage? Also, how is the mental health care in Wyoming? Is the care better in Laramie due to the university? Thanks!
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Old 05-31-2008, 02:06 AM
 
Location: Sheridan, Wy
1,466 posts, read 4,041,740 times
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Well I am not as familiar with the medical field in the state. But, I know they try to have mental health facilities. Wyoming has a need for mental health related Medical positions I have heard.

I assume down near the University there is probably a good program and/or clinic. I am not sure though cause I live up in Northern Wyoming.

As far as a shortage. There are only about 500,000 people in the whole entire state. So we have a smaller population. It is pretty much a worker's market right now, lots of people are hiring in several different backgrounds. Skilled workers are very much needed all over the state. That might slow down when certain parts of the boom slack off. Coal will be booming for a long time I hear though...

Sorry I can't be of much more help. Have you tried looking at WorkForce Wyoming's website?
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Old 05-31-2008, 02:27 AM
 
Location: Cody
430 posts, read 1,616,372 times
Reputation: 94
Hi SimpsonsRule (of course you do mean Al, Pete, and the rest of the Wyo Simpsons, right??)
I have nearly 30 years in the medical field in Wyo & my job here at the local hosp in Cody was medical staff coordinator. I was involved with recruiting & KEEPING docs & mental health provides in Wyo. We have a serious shortage in many areas & in fact Cody is one of those areas right now - for internal medicine. We are about to have about 1 or 2 left by the end of this month & that's about it - down from 6 I believe. And when we are dwn to 1 or 2, they will not be able to deal with the load and we will be like in 1991 - none until recan recruit, which is NOT easy. Most do not want to be solo or partnership practitioners. That is the trend. Another example - I worked for the 2 internists we had in Wheatland, Dr. Brent Sherard who is now the med dir of the Wyo Dept of Health & his partner, John Thalken (a PHENOMENAL doc by the way) went to Douglas because he ws going to be on his own & that is next to impossible to handle these days with the high costs of a medical practice these days. And there is a nearby (about an hour away) who unfortunately seems to continue to hire somewhat substandard docs & some end up in prison, some lose their licenses & some have charges pending. That all shall remain nameless and that town will be left with 1-2 docs left in it. One of the major probs is that they can go to large cities, university settings etc. & never or nearly never take call whereas they are on call in Wyo at least a night or 2 a week in a well-covered town. My docs in Wheatland were on call every other night. And we had no ER doc at the time (in the 80's) so anybody who showed up at the ER had to go to the doc on call's office or the doc had to leave his scheduled patients & go to the ER to care for a patient. Another large prob that I see A LOT is a lack of culture that you find in larger cities, no malls or other shopping meccas & wives become quite bored. Or the husbands of women docs can't find jobs in their areas of expertise. There are a LOT of things that have to fall into play just right to get a doc & retain him/her. Is NOT easy. They can make 3x as much AT LEAST in larger clinic settings such as a university or large clinic where they nearly never take call (there are residents to do so).

Mental health move through towns like storms in a lot of the state. We have a severe shortage of QUALIFIED mental health practitioners state-wide. Remember reading here & otherwise that Wyo has the largest suicide rate per capita? We don't meet that standard every year but as often as not. Park County Mental Health has for at least 20 years gone thru periods of time where there ARE no practitiones & it the entire county (which is a large & well populated county for Wyo) is w/o any mental care except a few private practitioners that most who need it the most cannot afford. And Park county is not NEAR alone in this problem.

You asked a question that is RIGHT up my professional ally and am glad to have been able to enlighten some because should you KNOW any internists especially and anesthesiologists is another speciality we tend to be short of - INVITE THEM TO CONSIDER WYO!!!! Cody is high actively recruiting internists currently. They can work for St. V's (of Billings) clinic here, where my doc had his last day of practice today, or for Deac of Billings at their outreach clinic here. OR cn practice on their own!

I hope you find quality education and help with the prob here! BTW - nursing is another field in CRITICALLY short supply not just in Wyo but nationwide.
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