CMAJ • January 18, 2005; 172 (2). doi:10.1503/cmaj.1041157.
© 2005 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors
All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association.
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Letters
Correspondance

Sustainability of family medicine

Alex McPherson

Psychiatry (PGY4), University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont.

Canada is experiencing a shortage of family physicians. Bruce Wright and associates1 have identified several factors that might be used to increase the number of medical students choosing to enter family medicine. For its part, the Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario recently developed a position paper on the sustainability of family medicine, offering a view of this crisis from the perspective of Ontario's new physicians.2

As our position paper states,1 we believe that the lack of interest in family medicine initially develops during training, for a variety of reasons, including a lack of exposure to effective teamwork between family physicians and specialists. In addition, the position paper identifies many societal factors that have influenced the decline in supply of family physicians in Canada. All of these factors will require short-term interventions married with a long-term strategy.

Positive exposure to family practice in medical school and clerkship can spark new interest in the field, as well as reinforcing existing interest. For such exposure to occur, a cadre of dynamic and enthusiastic family physicians is required both within medical schools and in community practice. The concerns of practising family physicians, including reasonable workloads and appropriate payment mechanisms, must be addressed to make such student experiences possible, and new family physicians must be encouraged to undertake a mentorship role and must be supported in fulfilling that role.

References

  1. Wright B, Scott I, Woloschuk W, Brenneis F. Career choice of new medical students at three Canadian universities: family medicine versus specialty medicine. CMAJ 2004;170(13):1920-4.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Primary importance: new physicians and the future of family medicine. Position paper on the sustainability of family medicine. [place unknown]: Professional Association of Internes and Residents of Ontario; 2004. Available: www.pairo.org/Content/Files/Primary%20Importance.pdf (accessed 2004 Aug 23).



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Re: Sustainability of Family Medicine
Peter Wells
CMAJ, 17 Feb 2005 [Full text]
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