Medical students’ interest in being family doctors on decline even as provinces boost training spots – CBC

Universities trying to make primary care more attractive

Apr 05, 2023

Dr. José François spends a lot of time thinking about how to attract students to family medicine.

At a time when six million Canadians — one in five — don’t have access to a family doctor, and fewer Canadian-trained medical students than ever consider it their No. 1 choice in specialties, François is one of many across the country speaking out about an alarming trend.

“Over the last five years, we’ve seen a decline in the number of learners that identify family medicine as their first choice. It’s about 30 per cent right now,” said François, head of the University of Manitoba’s family medicine department.

Compare that to 2015, when 38 per cent of applicants ranked family medicine as their first choice, according to data released by CaRMS, the Canadian Resident Matching Service.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/medical-students-family-doctors-declining-interest-1.6801372