ON medical students interested in family medicine declining, have negative impression of field: Opinion

The number of medical school students showing interest in family medicine is declining at a time when Ontarians are already struggling to find a family doctor, reports Sarah Kester for CBC. The percentage of students who have chosen family medicine as their first choice has dropped from 38% in 2015 to 30.7% in 2022. Those in the field say that students may have a negative impression of family medicine due stories about burnout or hearing messages during their studies about family medicine being a less ambitious or “backup” field. CBC spoke with Dr Rachelle Beanlands, a resident at the University of Ottawa, who said that graduates also feel unready to take on the administrative burdens related to having their own practice. CBC Note: Archived stories may contain dead links or be missing source links.