Fewer Canadian medical-school graduates were denied crucial residency placements this year than last, a result that is good news for future physicians and for a health-care system eager to put their skills to use.
Residency placements are essential for medical graduates: They cannot be licensed to practise until they complete hands-on training for between two and seven years, depending on the medical discipline they choose. They argued that some cash-strapped provincial governments were failing to fund enough residency slots to keep pace with the number of new graduates, devastating high-achieving students and throwing their careers into limbo.
But Michael Parvizian, a second-year medical student at McMaster University in Hamilton and a leader with the Ontario Medical Students Association, expresses worry that the effects of those short-term fixes could wane in the future.