More graduates will pursue family medicine in Canada, up from 2023

More new medical school graduates will train to be family physicians in Canada this year than ever before, a development that will help but not solve a primary-care crisis that has left millions without a family doctor.

A total of 1,627 graduates from medical schools in Canada and abroad will become family medicine residents this summer, up from 1,529 last year, according to the organization that matches fledgling physicians with crucial hands-on training positions.

The increase isn’t solely due to provincial governments funding more residency placements in family medicine, although 73 new spots in the discipline were added nationwide this year.

It’s also a reflection of the fact that fewer family medicine training slots went unfilled this year than in any of the past three years, according to the Canadian Resident Matching Service, which released the final results of its annual matching process on Thursday.

The matching service, known as CaRMS, said 75 family medicine residency slots were left vacant, down from 100 last year, 99 in 2022 and 89 in 2021. The majority of this year’s unclaimed family medicine spots – 70 of the 75 – were in Quebec, a province that has long struggled to fill its quota for future GPs.

“Family medicine has gotten to such a crisis point,” that key players from provincial politicians to medical school leaders to doctors’ associations are finally giving the shortage the attention it deserves, said Michael Green, president of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and head of the department of family medicine at Queen’s University.

[…]