CaRMS by the numbers: More family medicine residency positions left unfilled this year than last 5 years

Data from the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) reveal 99 unfilled family medicine residency seats across the country. That's the highest number of unfilled positions in family medicine in five years and part of a continuing trend of fewer family medicine positions filled every year. “This, in my mind, is a leading indicator for what the future might be in terms of the healthcare system and that primary care focus,” John Gallinger, the chief executive officer of CaRMS said. “If folks are not going into the practice, then what pressures exist now are going to be simply exacerbated and even more so in the future.” A snapshot across the country shows that of those 99 spots left unfilled: 73 are in Quebec 11 are in Alberta 15 in Ontario, nine of which are in Northern communities The number coincides with a trend for Canadian medical graduates to pick another discipline when listing their first choice of placement, Gallinger said. The College of Family Physicians of Canada noted that 30.7% of applicants ranked family medicine as their first-choice discipline in 2022, down from 31.4% in 2021. There were also more positions in family medicine offered in 2022, 1,574 in total, up from 1,563 in 2021. Family medicine residency positions in Quebec that went unfilled in 2022 were in the same locations as spots left empty in previous years. Family medicine groups in Trois-Pistoles, Baie-Comeau, Rouyn-Noranda, Amos, La Sarre, Shawinigan-Sud and Gatineau have all had more than two unfilled residency spots for the past three years. Read: More training: Canadian family medicine residency to expand to three years Despite the unfilled positions, 99% of all Canadian medical graduates are able to obtain a residency position within one year after graduation. This year saw the highest number of international medical graduates (IMG) matched since 2014, at 439. In all, plenty remained unchanged in the data compared to previous years, Gallinger said. A consistent percentage of Canadian medical graduates choose to stay in the province where they were trained. “That percentage has been on the nose, consistent over the years despite pandemics, despite changes in timelines, despite virtual interviews, despite changes to the availability of electives,” he said. “That to me is indicative of a system that is capable of absorbing a fair bit of change and flux, but still delivers the big picture outcomes that you would hope,” he said. Read: Canadian med schools add seats tailored to attract future FPs while family medicine residency spots go unfilled The CaRMS data also present a more complete picture of the applicants, with self-reported diversity data from applicants was available for the first time. More than half of those who chose to respond considered themselves to be a racialized person. The following number of applicants chose to answer the self-identifying questionnaire: 568 Canadian medical graduates, representing 19.2% of these applicants 357 international medical graduates, representing 27% of these applicants 4 American medical graduates, representing 21% of these applicants A third of the Canadian medical graduates who responded grew up in households at or below the Canadian median income; 34% reported a household income under $75,000 when they were teenagers; and 26.6% grew up with household incomes greater than $150,000. In 2013, when the respondents would have been teenagers, the median after-tax income for two-parent families with children was $85,000; for lone-parent families, it was $41,700, according to Statistics Canada. “There’s a lot of speculation about that, so we’re happy to put some fact to some of the speculation,” Gallingersaid. The self-identification survey will be included as part of the matching process in future years. In total, 3,295 applicants entered postgraduate training in 2022 in the R1 match. The following number of applicants were also successful: 524 in the medicine sub-specialty match (e.g., adult rheumatology, general internal medicine) 234 in the family medicine/enhanced skills match (e.g., care of the elderly, addiction medicine) 69 in the pediatric subspecialty match (e.g., adolescent medicine, pediatric cardiology) Read: Fee-for-service fights on

CaRMS by the numbers: More family medicine residency positions left unfilled this year than last 5 years

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