Her story of losing out in a highly competitive admissions process has renewed calls for reform of a Canadian system that experts say is not adequately meeting a critical need for family doctors. “You’re a bit of a number,” Walker said of the medical school application process. “It’s hard to be able to show your personality and your goals.” Walker stands in front of the Two Rivers Family Health Group building in Cambridge, Ont., where she worked as a medical office assistant for nearly a year during her undergraduate studies. (Submitted by Katie Walker) If Walker had been able to advance through the interview round of the application process, she would have told them why she was interested in family medicine. “The connections there are really impressive to me,” he said. “Being able to learn people’s stories and help them and learn about their families and guide them through their health journeys over the years is something that is really appealing to me. “If I had been able to get to the point of interviewing for more schools, I feel like it would have gone a little better,” he said. Walker had an 85% undergraduate average, an 88th percentile score on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) and nearly 12 months of experience as a medical secretary at a clinic in Cambridge, Ont. But it wasn’t enough. Four schools – Western University in London, McMaster University in Hamilton, University of Toronto and Queen’s University in Kingston – rejected Walker’s application, twice, in 2021 and 2022. Policymakers should require medical schools to report how many family physicians they produce.- James Dickinson, professor of family medicine at the University of Calgary This spring, the Ontario government announced it will add 160 new undergraduate positions and 295 graduate positions at medical schools across the province over five years. Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry admits 171 students to its MD program each year: 133 in London and 38 at the Windsor campus. “Significant changes to the medical school admissions process have taken place in recent years,” said Western University spokeswoman Crystal Mackay, “specifically focused on lowering barriers for underrepresented populations in medicine, such as those who self-identify as racial, those from low socio-economic background and those from rural or remote areas’. The school is also putting more emphasis on non-academic features now, he said. READ | A portion of the letter Walker received from Western in 2021: Walker applied twice to four Ontario medical schools, including the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University. She was rejected every time. (Submitted by Katie Walker) Walker also applied to more than 20 US medical schools, and one, the University of Illinois at Chicago, accepted her. It starts there next month. According to Statistics Canada, 4.6 million people in this country did not have access to a family doctor in 2019. Last December, the Canadian Medical Association said 2,400 family doctor positions were advertised on government recruitment websites.
Should medical schools be held more accountable?
“Part of the problem now is that we have a system that is very focused on training specialists,” said James Dickinson, a University of Calgary professor of family medicine and community health sciences. According to Dickinson, two-thirds of all medical students pursue residency training, and among those who remain, a large percentage attend emergency medicine or hospital programs. “So the number going into general family medicine that the public needs on the front line is really very small,” he said. The Canadian Medical Association says that in the six years between 2015 and 2021, the percentage of medical graduates choosing family medicine fell from 38.5 per cent to 31.8 per cent. Plus, the more specialized you are, the more money you make, Dickinson said. Dr. James Dickinson, professor of family medicine and community health sciences at the University of Calgary, says when it comes to the shortage of family doctors in Canada, “Part of the problem now is that we have a system that is very focused on specialist training.” (CBC) “Policymakers should be asking medical schools to report how many family physicians they produce,” Dickinson said. “I think if medical schools were to really focus on this, they could kind of change what they’re doing.” Dickinson is also concerned that family doctors are not getting enough training, something the College of Physicians of Canada has also said. “We now have the shortest family medicine training in the civilized world — two years,” he said. “Most countries go to three, four or even five years. “We need to have more and better training for family medicine graduates to give them the skills so they can go into these places and feel confident that they know what to do.”
