Fewer medical students are becoming family doctors. This family medicine resident understands why
Fewer medical students are becoming family doctors. This family medicine resident understands why
Six months into her first year of residency, Dr. Himani Dhar has dreams of being a full-time family doctor — but longstanding issues within the field have already become quite clear to her.
"It can be overwhelming sometimes ... I'm finding burnout is quite common," said Dhar, who studied at the University of Windsor before moving to London for medical school and Kingston for post-graduate residency.
Dhar is pursuing family medicine at a time when 1.8 million Ontarians are without a family doctor, according to the Ontario College of Family Physicians (OCFP) — a number that is expected to grow over the next few years.
But while Dhar sees many positive outcomes in becoming a family doctor, the 27-year-old says her first-hand experience in the field has shown her why so few medical school students are pursuing the same path as her.
"Particularly in family medicine, a lot of burnout tends to be associated with having to do so many administrative tasks," said Dhar.
Administrative burden has been a longstanding issue in family medicine, according to the OCFP. Dhar says, after spending a full day attending to patients, she and her peers often spend hours afterward on "extra paperwork and documentation."
"So it's less time you could be allocating to spending time with friends and family and less time taking care of yourself. When you go through that every day, it does tend to take a toll," said Dhar.
That toll is being felt by family doctors of all experience levels, according to Windsor-based family physician Dr. Jennifer Bondy who sits on the OCFP's board of directors.
The result she said, is fewer medical school students giving family medicine a chance.
"At the end of medical school, students have the opportunity to select what kind of speciality training they would like to go on to pursue. That's called the CaRMS match. Last year, we saw an increasing number of positions going unfilled," said Bondy.
"About 86 per cent of the positions that were unfilled by the end of the second match were in family medicine."
Dr. Jennifer Bondy, board member for the Ontario College of Family Physicians, says it is become increasingly challenging to encourage medical school students to specialize in family medicine. Pictured in Windsor, Ont., on Jan. 26, 2023. (Sanjay Maru/CTV News Windsor)There are a multitude of inefficient administrative tasks that family doctors have to do, such as completing multiple forms, which could be consolidated to save time, according to Bondy.
However, other solutions need to be implemented to make family medicine more appealing, she added.
Bondy suggests that team-based care, where a variety of healthcare workers, including social workers, physician's assistants, nurse practitioners and pharmacists provide care to patients, which would allow family doctors to focus on the patients who need them the most.
She also suggests if an additional 1,000 healthcare workers were added to the medical system, it would go a long way in relieving pressures that family doctors are currently facing — as many have maxed out their patient load.
"I love what I do and I think there are a lot of incoming medical students who would like to do something similar," said Bondy.
"But that comes down to having an opportunity to practice medicine and to speak with patients and see them face-to-face... as opposed to having to work away with some of these inefficient administrative processes."
As for Dhar, she wants people to know that family doctors are trying their best to accommodate the needs of their patients. She said the realization of filling such a dire need is amplified during conversations with people outside the field.
"When I'm talking to people who recognize that I'm a doctor, they'll make comments like, 'Can you be my family doctor?' So we're very aware there is a shortage and there is such a great importance to the field."
Despite the early challenges, Dhar is constantly reminding herself why she wanted to pursue family medicine in the first place.
"It really makes you a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to medicine. You have to know a bit of everything," said Dhar.
"You get to establish a relationship with your patients over a long period of time. You really get to watch them grow and you're able to help them in all phases of life."
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
The parents of young Ontario hockey player Ben Teague have been searching for answers since he died while at a team retreat in 2019. The mystery about what happened and the code of silence in hockey culture is explored in CTV W5's 'What Happened to Ben,' on CTVNews.ca and W5's official YouTube channel.
In an effort to keep the foreign interference story at the forefront, and to do an apparent end run around the Liberal filibuster blocking one study from going ahead, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is forcing MPs to debate and then vote on a motion instructing an opposition-dominated House committee to strike its own review.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump's calls for protests ahead of his anticipated indictment in New York have generated mostly muted reactions from supporters, with even some of his most ardent loyalists dismissing the idea as a waste of time or a law enforcement trap.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Bargain hunters are one step closer to seeing sales at Nordstrom's closing Canadian locations. At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Monday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start liquidating its merchandise.
Some of the world's largest central banks came together on Sunday to stop a banking crisis from spreading as Swiss authorities persuaded UBS Group AG to buy rival Credit Suisse Group AG in a historic deal.
A community is in mourning after a 10-year-old girl was killed earlier this week when flames tore through her family’s camping trailer southeast of Brantford.
Waterloo regional police say they arrested nine people for impaired driving over the course of nine hours between 6:30 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day and 3:30 a.m. on March 18.
Lane restrictions are now in place on Wellington Street as construction gets underway on Phase 1 of the Wellington Gateway and Municipal Infrastructure Improvements project.
The first day of spring in the London region will be a beautiful one. The daytime high is forecast to be 6 C, slightly warmer than the average high for this time of year.
According to officers with the Huronia West OPP detachment, a search of the vehicle turned up a "substantial amount" of suspected drugs with a street value of roughly $20,000.
Police say they found the accused had been driving while under suspension and had an open liquor container in the vehicle, adding to the number of charges he faces.
A 46-year-old man has been taken to hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries after a single-vehicle crash on MR80 near Donaldson Crescent in Val Caron.
Bargain hunters are one step closer to seeing sales at Nordstrom's closing Canadian locations. At a hearing at Osgoode Hall in Toronto on Monday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave the U.S. retailer's Canadian branch permission to start liquidating its merchandise.
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
Ontario employers who withhold foreign workers’ passports or work permits could face steeper penalties under new labour laws, with maximum fines setting them back up to $200,000.
Ontario employers who withhold foreign workers’ passports or work permits could face steeper penalties under new labour laws, with maximum fines setting them back up to $200,000.
Officials are still looking for victims after a fire ripped through a building in Old Montreal last week, killing at least one person. At a press conference Monday morning, spokespersons for the Montreal police and Montreal fire department said six people are still missing. They come from various locations in Quebec, Ontario and the U.S.
Quebec provincial police (SQ) announced Monday morning that a third person has died in connection with the tragedy in Amqui, in the Lower St. Lawrence region, where a driver drove his pickup truck into pedestrians a week ago.
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
The University of Prince Edward Island Faculty Association says its staff has gone on strike after what it says are failed attempts to enter additional negotiations with the university's administration.
The student union president at Cape Breton University said food insecurity has become a concern for many students and the on-campus food bank cannot keep up with demand.
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
The Town of Strathmore and Siksika Nation hosted the first Lead By Example Powwow this weekend in honour of a young Indigenous man who was shot to death four years ago.
Autopsies confirmed gunshot wounds as the cause of death for two constables responding to a domestic dispute Thursday, the Edmonton Police Service says.
In a heated race to the playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers will try to bank some points against lesser competition when they host the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
A vehicle burst into flames in South Vancouver after an early morning collision Monday, prompting police to shut down the intersection at Kingsway and Tyne Street amid an investigation.
People who rely on transit to get around parts of the Fraser Valley are scrambling to find alternatives as workers with BC Transit walk the picket line.
Police in Halifax say three people have been stabbed and a student is in custody following a weapons complaint at a high school in Bedford, N.S. The victims were taken to hospital for treatment, but the extent of their injuries is not yet known.
Dr. Jennifer Bondy, board member for the Ontario College of Family Physicians, says it is become increasingly challenging to encourage medical school students to specialize in family medicine. Pictured in Windsor, Ont., on Jan. 26, 2023. (Sanjay Maru/CTV News Windsor)There are a multitude of inefficient administrative tasks that family doctors have to do, such as completing multiple forms, which could be consolidated to save time, according to Bondy.
