‘Frightening’ shortage of Canadian family doctor residents alarms experts

A record-breaking number of Canadian residents are turning away from family medicine, as hundreds of spots in the national residency program remain vacant.

A record-breaking number of Canadian residents are turning away from family medicine, as hundreds of spots in the national residency program remain vacant.

March data from the Canadian Resident Matching Service showed 268 resident family medicine residency positions remain unfilled across Canada after the first iteration of the 2023 match. Psychiatry residency was second with 23 vacant spots.

In 2019, there were 138 unfilled positions in family medicine and that number has gone up every year.

“What these numbers show us is that family medicine has become a field where we’re seeing fewer and fewer medical students choose to work in family medicine,” said Dr. Mekalai Kumanan, president of the Ontario College of Family Physicians.

Kumanan, who is also a family doctor in Cambridge, Ont., said the vacancy numbers are “disappointing to see,” and only fuel the crisis that family medicine is already experiencing in Canada.

Around 4.6 million Canadians are without a family doctor, according to a 2019 report by Statistics Canada. In Ontario, 15 per cent of the population is without a family doctor, 2022 research released by Inspire Primary Health Care showed.

“These challenges likely are contributing to family medicine being a less attractive specialty,” Kumanan added.

There are many reasons for residents’ lack of interest in family medicine and “paperwork burnout” may be top of the list, she said, adding that doctors in this field experience a significant administrative strain.