Despite Canada’s shortage of family doctors — only 1.3 million Ontarians do not have a family doctor — data from the Canadian Resident Matching Service shows the number of medical school graduates who list family medicine as their first choice of specialty. steady decline for nearly a decade. Dr. Kamila Premji, a family physician and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s school of medicine, told CTV’s Your Morning on Tuesday that the training required to become a doctor is “very intense.” “You learn a large amount of complex material, you work long hours when you do clinical rotations, and I think that can affect some medical students as well,” he said. Graduates can have tens of thousands of dollars in student debt, and Premji said reimbursements in family medicine tend to be lower compared to other medical specialties. Working in a community-based specialty like family medicine also doesn’t come with the same support that a doctor in a hospital setting might get with a team of health professionals. There are also leases, hiring, employment law and taxes that a family doctor must consider, Premji said. “I think when medical students are considering these options, these factors are very much front of mind, and in fact research has shown that,” he said. But on the other hand, Premji said she chose to become a family doctor in part because of the variety of patients she gets to see, from newborns to the elderly. Family medicine is also unique in that you can build relationships with your patients throughout their lives, he said. Dr. Rachelle Beanlands, a family medicine resident, told CTV’s Your Morning on Tuesday that the specialty felt like a “natural progression” of her love of people and medicine. “It’s the place where you get to know the people, as well as the medicine, and really get to be an expert on people and families,” he said. But Beanlands is also aware of the stress that can come with a career in medicine, saying she hopes to grow her practice slowly to avoid burnout. Burnout among health care workers gained widespread attention during the COVID-19 pandemic, and experts say the issues have continued. Some emergency rooms in Canada are closing due to staff shortages, and Canadian Medical Association president Dr. Katharine Smart told CTV News Atlantic in May that the burnout rate for doctors and nurses is double what it was before the pandemic. Beanlands said it’s not just doctors and nurses who feel burned out, but also personal support workers and others who work in health care. “I think COVID really brought it to light, unfortunately. It was a conversation that was starting to happen in medical circles, but now it’s at the forefront and something that needs to be recognized,” Beanlands said. Watch the full interviews with Dr. Kamila Premji and Dr. Rachelle Beanlands at the top of the article. With files from CTV News
