An organization that represents Ontario doctors is expressing concern about what it says is a declining number of medical school students choosing family medicine.
Park said medical school graduates decide each year the type of medicine in which they want to specialize and the Canadian Resident Matching Service , a national, independent organization, matches graduates with residency placements at medical schools in two rounds annually. "It is clear. We need to act now to ensure there is a future for family medicine in Ontario," he added. "We have to ensure that funding for doctors keeps pace with the rising cost of inflation and is reflective of their ability to operate their practice."Park said another reason that medical school students may not be choosing family medicine is because they are hearing about the "crushing" administrative burden that comes with it.
Family doctors are the foundation of the health care system, said Park. They provide the "vital link" to specialist care, help patients to stay healthy, prevent disease by identifying risk factors, manage chronic disease and get their patients access to diagnostic services, he added. "When we go and we work with family physicians in their clinics, we can also see how much time they're putting into unpaid, unappreciated work that they still have to do."