73 resident positions shunned in family medicine in Quebec

According to data obtained by Radio-Canada, 73 positions for family medicine residents have not been filled in Quebec faculties of medicine this year, the majority of the 99 vacant places across Canada. Positions located mainly in the regions.

Last year, a record 75 positions were not filled in Quebec. There have been hundreds in total for a decade.

With an average of 1,000 patients per family doctor, the problem is unavoidable when the headlines report nearly a million Quebecers without a family doctor.

“I will have my own clientele”

In a few weeks, Marjorie Gagné will complete her residency in family medicine after two years of clinical training in a FMG in the Lanaudière region.

Eventually, as boss, I’ll have my own clientele, and it’s really this possibility of having people that we follow, that we know by heart, that interested meexplains this student from Rivière-du-Loup.

Marjorie Gagné will soon complete her family medicine residency.

Photo: Radio-Canada / Davide Gentile

Family medicine, however, was not his first choice at the start of his medical studies. An aborted research project in a specialty led her to reorient her career towards family medicine.

There is a bit of a medical culture that seems to tend towards the fact that it is much less glamour to go to family medicine than to go to a specialtyobserves today Marjorie Gagné.

” We often hear phrases like: “I’m just going to be a family doctor”, which is a bit of a shame for our profession. »

The doctor and deputy medical director of the GMF-U du Nord de Lanaudière, Dr. Mathieu Pelletier, is well aware of this culture, having observed it during his studies in the 2000s.

Now a full professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Laval University, he regrets that the profession suffers from a lack of popularity.

Last year, 3 out of 12 resident places were not filled at the GMFhe cites as an example.

” This is a trend that we see in all of Quebec, and it will have impacts for years if we do not react now. »

Efforts to develop internship environments

Spokesperson for the four faculties of medicine in Quebec, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal, Dr. Patrick Cossette, recalls that the number of admissions to the family medicine residency has almost doubled in 15 years.

By e-mail, he specifies that the places that remain vacant are mainly outside the major urban centers […] and that many of the factors that make a profession attractive do not depend on medical schools.

We have opened several delocalized campuses for nearly 20 years to attract and train undergraduate students in the regions. […] and we are continuing our efforts to develop new internship environments [GMF-U] in all regions of Quebec to welcome more and more family medicine residents in the years to comecontinues Dr. Cossette.

Dr. Jessica Ruel-Laliberté, president of the Federation of Resident Physicians of Quebec, confirms that the situation of family medicine is of concern to her organization.

Photo: Radio-Canada

According to the president of the Federation of Resident Physicians of Quebec, Dr. Jessica Ruel-Laliberté, it remains a concern, at the Federation, to ensure that there is an interest and that we can promote family medicine in Quebec.

Given the political context of the last few months, I would tell you that, for us, the big message is that we see a direct link between comments made by the government, which is “doctor bashing” then the fact that students later see family medicine as less attractive than other specialtiesshe adds.