Canadian med schools add seats tailored to attract future FPs while family medicine residency spots go unfilled

Medical schools across Canada are increasing the number of undergraduate spots and working to support new physicians, but the added seats come as family medicine residency spots are being left unfilled. Across the country, more than 99 family medicine residencies remain unfilled after the second iteration of this year’s Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) match. Only 16 residency spots in all other specialties went unfilled, three of which were in internal medicine and three in psychiatry. McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., had fewer family residency spots filled on first iteration of the CaRMS match than in previous years, with 18 unfilled. Twelve were in Hamilton, three were in Kitchener-Waterloo and three in Niagara. “Usually, we would be disappointed if we had five unmatched spots across the program,” Dr. Cathy Risdon, chair of the department of family medicine told the Hamilton Spectator. “So, 12 is an unusually high number.” McMaster’s rural residency spots filled on first iteration, the Hamilton Spectator reported. In previous years, there were be unfilled rural spots. “We were ecstatic to fully fill our remote rural spots,” Dr. Risdon said. “We know that the shortage of family doctors in Ontario is being disproportionately felt in rural and remote areas.” In total, the school had 87 family medicine residency spots open for Canadian medical graduates and 12 for international medical graduates. Read: Ontario to add hundreds of medical school positions over next five years While residency spots sit unfilled, more seats are being added to undergraduate medical programs in Canada, but the application process for these new seats is often tailored to attract applicants interested in family medicine or practicing in certain communities. The government of Nova Scotia announced a pilot program to add five new medical school spots starting in September 2022. The spots are reserved for Nova Scotian students living in rural areas and successful applicants must commit to practice family medicine in rural Nova Scotia for five years once their training is complete. The placements were created through a partnership with Cape Breton University and Dalhousie University in Halifax. “We are eager to learn whether Nova Scotians will respond favourably to this new approach to admissions for this pilot program as it may form the basis for a longer-term initiative,” David Dingwall, president and vice-chancellor at Cape Breton University said in a press release. Starting in September 2023, the University of Ottawa will open two undergraduate medical school seats for a Nunavummiut and a Nunavut student. The move is a partnership with the government of Nunavut and Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the successful students would be eligible for additional support during their medical school training, such as a childcare allowance, a training allowance and tutoring. Meanwhile, Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., is offering 20 new seats in September 2023. The students will learn at a Queen’s University satellite campus at Lakeridge Health, which runs five hospitals and other healthcare centres in the Durham region of Ontario, located in the eastern portion of the Greater Toronto Area. The admissions process will prioritize candidates who want to practice comprehensive family medicine. The program is designed to help alleviate the shortage of primary care physicians in the Durham region. Read: Need a friend? Sask. program to provide mentor-physicians for new doctors To help bolster family medicine in Saskatchewan, the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine is overhauling their admissions model to include a “Saskatchewan connectedness index,” with the goal to admit medical students more likely to practice medicine in Saskatchewan upon graduation. It is also adding to its Saskatchewan International Physician Practice Assessment (SIPPA) program, which assesses international medical graduates (IMGs) before they begin independent practice. The number of seats in the SIPPA program will increase from 36 seats to 45 seats. Of the 257 SIPPA graduates since 2011, 78% practice in a rural or regional community, a university press release states. “Throughout Saskatchewan’s history, international physicians have been integral to our health care,” Dr. Jon Witt, medical director of SIPPA for the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine said in a press release. “IMG family physicians complement the existing work of the family medicine residency training program. These programs work together to support the needs of rural, underserved communities.” Read: More training: Canadian family medicine residency to expand to three years

Canadian med schools add seats tailored to attract future FPs while family medicine residency spots go unfilled

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