Finding the best candidates to fill certain specialty needs can already be a challenge, and those challenges might be magnified during a medical crisis. Some specialties are harder to recruit than others; it helps to identify those – along with specialties that are most in demand – so you can build your recruitment strategy and prioritize your search and resources if you have immediate needs, if recruitment is stalled or if you need to be ready to increase recruitment efforts as day-to-day responsibilities return to some form of normal.

PracticeLink develops a Physician Recruitment Index with information gathered quarterly by the PracticeLink system based on supply and demand of specialty jobs and specialists. The more jobs per candidate in the system, the more difficult recruiters may find the search for those specialties.

Download the Spring 2020 15 Hardest-to-Recruit Specialties

Download the Spring 2020 15 Most In-Demand Specialties

The roles of physicians and recruiters differ in many ways. However, one of their goals is the same: to provide patients the best possible experience at their facilities. Exceptional treatment and healing are a big part of patient satisfaction, and your impact is finding and recruiting the physicians who deliver this exceptional treatment and strive to give patients a positive experience.

This week, the healthcare industry will observe Patient Experience Week to celebrate healthcare staff who create positive patient experiences every day. It’s also a reminder that as a recruiter, your impact on the patient experience is just as great as the physicians you hire. If physicians shape the patient experience, recruiters who find and hire those physicians set the stage. 

Health systems and their physician recruiters are being impacted by COVID-19 in different ways. Sr. physician recruiter Beth Calabria, physician recruitment coordinator Ashley Reaser and system director of medical staff recruitment Sharee Selah from Tower Health share how they’re responding to current changes, and how recruiters can continue to recruit effectively – not just through an updated strategy, but also an updated perspective.

You’ve already experienced the effects of COVID-19 on your day-to-day recruitment processes. While we can’t predict every change physician recruitment will undergo, we do know the coronavirus has had immediate implications for recruiters.