Caring for seriously or critically ill patients dealing with life-threatening conditions is the primary responsibility for critical care physicians or intensivists. The cross-functional nature of providing critical care means that the top critical care physicians are a special breed of medical professional that is hard to find. What happens when your healthcare institution needs to replace or fill a need for critical care physicians? Many organizations turn to critical care medicine recruiters like Life Science Search Partners for assistance.

The competitive nature of the critical care medicine field, combined with the leadership attributes that are baked into the prerequisites of great critical care physicians means that the role is hard to recruit for, especially with the limited HR resources at some healthcare institutions. The changing dynamics of the critical care field need also to be factored in.

Interestingly, the costs of critical care increasing – a testament to the quality of critical care delivery, but also improved conditions for healthcare providers and hospital performance. According to the SCCM, “between 2000 and 2010, annual CCM costs increased 92%, from $56.6 billion to $108 billion. The 2010 costs represent 13.2% of hospital costs, 4.1% of national health expenditures, and 0.72% of gross domestic product. Intensive care unit (ICU) costs per day in 2010 were estimated to be $4300 per day, a 61% increase since the 2000 cost per day of $2669.:

This means that for organizations, institutions, and healthcare systems looking to replace or find new critical care medicine talent for their ranks, the recruiting process can be tricky – often involving more resources and time than institutions can budget for.