OP0025-PARE Campaign Against the Shortage of Rheumatology Professionals

BackgroundThe Finnish Rheumatism Association was concerned about the predicted shortage of doctors specializing in MSDs.The future of rheumatologists and physiatrists to patient ratio looks alarming. The demand for specialists in this field will grow further as the population ages. Currently, there are about 100 specialists in rheumatology of which about 60 work in the public sector. Half of the current specialists in rheumatology will retire by 2025, and the students enrolled in specialization programs are too few to cover the future demand.ObjectivesThe objectives of this project were to encourage doctors to specialize in rheumatology, to raise the national awareness of the importance of rheumatology in order to get decision-makers to create new posts at hospitals, to develop the teaching methods and to increase co-operation in the field and to improve the brand of rheumatology and our association. We wanted to get across that although rheumatology is in good hands at the moment, more rheumatologists, rheumatology nurses and researchers are needed in the future.MethodsFirst, we planned a concept, and then started to look for partners and sponsors for it. The Finnish Society for Rheumatology, The Finnish Rheumatology Nurses and four pharmaceutical companies joined us in our efforts to plan and finance the project. We commissioned a study to find out what kinds of views doctors have of rheumatology as a specialization field. In addition, we conducted a survey investigating the opinions of rheumatologists, rheumatic nurses and people with arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. We wanted to find out what they were thinking about the rheumatic brand, and if they were worried about the predicted lack of rheumatological professionals in Finland.We hired a professional advertising agency to design for us a nationwide commercial radio and poster campaign. We made a radio ad with prominent Finnish rheumatologist Riitta Luosujärvi, who described her job, and explained why students should consider choosing rheumatology as their specialization subject. The nationwide radio campaign aired on 72 radio stations across Finland for a period of one week. Also, two different kinds of posters were sent to hospitals, medical faculties of universities and universities of applied sciences for nurses. Political decision-makers were approached and made aware of our concerns about the threatening lack of rheumatic professionals, and the need for professors in the field.ResultsAccor