Nearly 6,000 physicians were displaced by Katrina.(News)

A recent study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimates that Hurricane Katrina and flooding in New Orleans may have displaced an estimated 5,944 active, patient-care physicians, the largest single relocation of doctors in U.S. history.

It's expected that Hurricane Rita may boost the total to an unknown degree, according to the as-yet-unpublished study.

Approximately 6,000 "physicians doing primarily patient care in the 10 counties and parishes in Louisiana and Mississippi have been directly affected by Katrina flooding," said the study's author Thomas C. Ricketts III, M.D., deputy director for policy analysis at the university's Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Of the physicians in the Katrina flood-affected areas, which included six Louisiana and four Mississippi counties or parishes, most doctors-2,952-were specialists, with 1,292 in primary care and 272 in ob.gyn. practice.

Data for the analysis were drawn from the American Medical Association's master file of physicians for the month of March and FEMA-posted information, as well as data from the American Association of Medical Colleges, Tulane University and Louisiana State University medical schools, the Texas Board of Medicine, and the state of Louisiana.

In an interview, Dr. Ricketts said most of the calls he's gotten to date have been from physician recruiters or from practices in various parts of the country, asking for names of physicians who need a job.

Locum tenens or temporary positions have been an option for many, according to Phil Miller, a spokesman for Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, a physician search firm based in Irving, Tex.