Characteristics of sample of FPs and GPs: Analytic weighting was used; N = 6789.
| INDEPENDENT VARIABLE | N (%) | MEAN SCOPE OF PRACTICE SCORE (SD) |
|---|---|---|
| Physician-related variables | ||
| Physician age,* y | ||
| • < 35 | 745 (11.0) | 8.8 (1.9) |
| • 35 to 44 | 2308 (34.0) | 8.7 (2.0) |
| • 45 to 54 | 2502 (36.9) | 8.7 (2.1) |
| • 55 to 64 | 965 (14.2) | 8.6 (2.2) |
| • ≥ 65 | 269 (4.0) | 7.6 (2.5) |
| Years in medical practice† | ||
| • 0 to 10 | 1679 (24.7) | 8.9 (1.9) |
| • 11 to 20 | 2452 (36.1) | 8.7 (2.1) |
| • 21 to 30 | 1986 (29.2) | 8.6 (2.2) |
| • 31 to 40 | 540 (8.0) | 8.3 (2.3) |
| • > 40 | 132 (1.9) | 7.6 (2.4) |
| Physician sex | ||
| • Male | 4472 (65.9) | 8.8 (2.1) |
| • Female | 2317 (34.1) | 8.3 (2.0) |
| Additional postgraduate training after family medicine residency | ||
| • Yes | 2391 (35.2) | 8.9 (2.1) |
| • No | 4398 (64.8) | 8.5 (2.1) |
| Physician payment type | ||
| • Fee-for-service only | 3051 (44.9) | 8.3 (2.2) |
| • Other | 3738 (55.1) | 8.9 (1.9) |
| Availability of health care resources to main practice setting | ||
| Referral to specialists‡ | ||
| • 1 (poor) | 503 (7.4) | 8.7 (2.1) |
| • 2 | 2051 (30.2) | 8.8 (2.0) |
| • 3 | 2607 (38.4) | 8.7 (2.0) |
| • 4 | 1252 (18.4) | 8.4 (2.2) |
| • 5 (excellent) | 375 (5.5) | 8.2 (2.4) |
| Hospital beds§ | ||
| • 1 (poor) | 1720 (25.3) | 8.7 (2.0) |
| • 2 | 2421 (35.7) | 8.6 (2.1) |
| • 3 | 1738 (25.6) | 8.5 (2.1) |
| • 4 | 695 (10.2) | 8.9 (2.1) |
| • 5 (excellent) | 215 (3.2) | 9.3 (2.1) |
| Practice organization | ||
| No. of different types of allied health professionals in main practice setting|| | ||
| • 0 to 2 | 5936 (87.4) | 8.8 (2.1) |
| • 3 to 5 | 791 (11.7) | 8.0 (2.0) |
| • ≥ 6 | 62 (0.9) | 7.4 (2.1) |
| Main practice setting | ||
| • Private office or clinic | 6101 (89.9) | 8.7 (2.1) |
| • Community clinic, CHC, CLSC | 468 (6.9) | 7.9 (2.2) |
| • Academic family medicine teaching unit | 220 (3.2) | 8.9 (1.7) |
| Practice type | ||
| • Solo practice | 1619 (23.9) | 8.4 (2.2) |
| • Family physician group practice | 4512 (66.5) | 8.8 (2.0) |
| • Family physician–specialist group practice | 658 (9.7) | 7.9 (2.3) |
| Geographic variables | ||
| Population served¶ | ||
| • Urban | 4291 (63.2) | 8.2 (2.1) |
| • Semiurban | 1363 (20.1) | 9.2 (2.0) |
| • Rural | 1135 (16.7) | 9.7 (1.6) |
| Provinces# | ||
| • Newfoundland and Labrador | 114 (1.7) | 9.0 (1.8) |
| • Prince Edward Island | 68 (1.0) | 9.4 (1.6) |
| • New Brunswick | 135 (2.0) | 9.7 (1.5) |
| • Nova Scotia | 248 (3.6) | 9.4 (1.6) |
| • Quebec | 1450 (21.4) | 7.2 (2.0) |
| • Ontario | 2550 (37.6) | 8.6 (2.0) |
| • Manitoba | 209 (3.1) | 8.8 (2.0) |
| • Saskatchewan | 209 (3.1) | 10.1 (1.3) |
| • Alberta | 628 (9.3) | 9.3 (1.9) |
| • British Columbia | 1178 (17.4) | 9.7 (1.5) |
CHC—community health centre, CLSC—centre local de services communautaires.
↵* Mean (SD) physician age was 46.2 (9.5) years.
↵† Mean (SD) number of years in practice was 18.0 (9.6) years.
↵‡ Availability of specialists for referral was scored on a 5-point Likert scale (with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent). Mean (SD) Likert score for availability of specialists was 2.9 (1.0).
↵§ Access to hospital beds was scored on a 5-point Likert scale (with 1 being poor and 5 being excellent). Mean (SD) Likert score for access to hospital beds was 2.3 (1.1).
↵|| The mean (SD) number of allied health professionals in the main practices settings was 1.1 (1.3).
↵¶ This referred to the population primarily served by the respondent’s practice, as selected by the respondent. The original categories of inner city and urban-suburban were collapsed into urban; small town was collapsed into semiurban; and rural, geographically isolated, and remote were collapsed into rural.
↵# Complete-case analysis excluded all respondents from the territories.