Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums

User menu

  • My alerts

Search

  • Advanced search
The College of Family Physicians of Canada
  • Other Publications
    • http://www.cfpc.ca/Canadianfamilyphysician/
    • https://www.cfpc.ca/Login/
    • Careers and Locums
  • My alerts
The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Published Ahead of Print
    • Archive
    • Supplemental Issues
    • Collections - French
    • Collections - English
  • Info for
    • Authors & Reviewers
    • Submit a Manuscript
    • Advertisers
    • Careers & Locums
    • Subscribers
    • Permissions
  • About CFP
    • About CFP
    • About the CFPC
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
  • Feedback
    • Feedback
    • Rapid Responses
    • Most Read
    • Most Cited
    • Email Alerts
  • Blogs
    • Latest Blogs
    • Blog Guidelines
    • Directives pour les blogues
  • Mainpro+ Credits
    • About Mainpro+
    • Member Login
    • Instructions
  • RSS feeds
  • Follow cfp Template on Twitter
OtherCollege

Value of family physicians

David White
Canadian Family Physician November 2017, 63 (11) 893;
David White
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • eLetters
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading
Figure

The third goal of the CFPC’s strategic plan is to “Promote the value of patient care provided by family physicians.”1 Our value as family physicians rests firmly on our ability to achieve the first 2 goals of the College plan: setting and reaching high standards to develop and sustain ourselves as skilled family physicians, and meeting the evolving health care needs of the communities we serve.1

Facing the challenges

How does the College work to realize these goals? The College is not a negotiating body and thus does not directly bargain for payments or supports for family physicians. Our efforts are based on effective advocacy grounded in evidence and advanced through highly functional relationships with decision makers, other health care providers, and patients.

Currently, family physicians in many parts of the country are feeling beleaguered. During my year as President, meeting colleagues from every province and territory, I witnessed this first-hand. Family doctors in some communities are facing closures or transformations of health care facilities that will considerably limit their ability to provide the broad scope of care required for obstetric, emergency, or hospitalized patients. These changes constrain opportunities to pass important skills and knowledge on to the students and residents who will become the next generation of family physicians. Provincial governments might recognize the importance of strengthening primary care, but with the imperative to control budgets, they might go about it in ways that are coercive or ineffectual.

The feeling that family physicians are undervalued is reinforced by statistics. The Canadian Institute for Health Information recently reported that family physicians receive the third-lowest average gross clinical payments.2 The same report shows that the growth of alternate payment approaches, which often support the work of family physicians better than fee-for-service payments do, has leveled off. Statistics on burnout are the subject of debate, but there is little doubt that it is a real phenomenon and appears to be rising.3,4

On the other hand, polls regularly place physicians among the most respected professionals.3 Given that most interactions that Canadians have with physicians are directly with family physicians, our role has an important influence on those findings. It is undeniable that the work of family physicians, while demanding, is deeply rewarding in its effects on the lives of those we serve.

Opportunities and supports

Supporting and advocating for family physicians is especially crucial in challenging times. The vision of the Patients’ Medical Home is helping to guide negotiations about payment approaches and infrastructure support between provincial and territorial medical associations and governments. The strong relationships between our national College and other national health care organizations, such as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Nurses Association, and the Canadian Medical Association, are crucial to success in this realm. In a like vein, vibrant engagement between the CFPC and our provincial Chapters ensures coordination and complementary advocacy in each jurisdiction. Effective advocacy is grounded in evidence. The College’s role in championing research is essential to demonstrating the value of the patient care provided by family physicians.

We have the opportunity to learn and to borrow from sister organizations. The Canadian Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians both focused their most recent annual meetings on inspiration and physician wellness. A superb resource on physician health and preventive approaches is available from the Quebec Physicians’ Health Program in French (www.pamq.org/fr) and English (www.pamq.org/en).

One of the great privileges for College Presidents is the opportunity to speak with students in the family medicine interest groups in medical schools across the country. The enthusiasm that these young people demonstrate in their aspiration to join our discipline is truly moving. I would like to share their passion with all the family doctors in Canada, to help inspire and sustain us.

Footnotes

  • Cet article se trouve aussi en français à la page 894.

  • Copyright© the College of Family Physicians of Canada

References

  1. 1.↵
    1. College of Family Physicians of Canada
    . CFPC strategic plan. 2017–2022. Mississauga, ON: College of Family Physicians of Canada; 2017. Available from: www.cfpc.ca/StrategicPlan2017-2022. Accessed 2017 Oct 10.
  2. 2.↵
    1. Canadian Institute for Health Information
    . Physicians in Canada, 2016. Summary report. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Institute for Health Information; 2017. Available from: https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/physicians_in_canada_phys2016_en.pdf. Accessed 2017 Oct 10.
  3. 3.↵
    1. Gandhi S
    . Burnt-out doctors are facing a health-care crisis of their own. Huffington Post 2017 Aug 23. Available from: www.huffingtonpost.ca/sohail-gandhi/burn-out-doctors-are-facing-a-health-care-crisis-of-their-own_a_23158087. Accessed 2017 Oct 10.
  4. 4.↵
    1. Vogel L
    . CMA must address physician burnout, pharmacare, say doctors. CMAJ 2017;189(36):E1171-2.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Family Physician: 63 (11)
Canadian Family Physician
Vol. 63, Issue 11
1 Nov 2017
  • Table of Contents
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on The College of Family Physicians of Canada.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Value of family physicians
(Your Name) has sent you a message from The College of Family Physicians of Canada
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the The College of Family Physicians of Canada web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Value of family physicians
David White
Canadian Family Physician Nov 2017, 63 (11) 893;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Share
Value of family physicians
David White
Canadian Family Physician Nov 2017, 63 (11) 893;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Facing the challenges
    • Opportunities and supports
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • La valeur des médecins de famille
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

College

  • Building a family medicine movement
  • Un mouvement en médecine de famille s’amorce
  • Le soleil derrière les nuages
Show more College

President’s Message

  • Status quo is no longer an option
  • Solving the access problem
  • Transitions
Show more President’s Message

Similar Articles

Navigate

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Archive
  • Collections - English
  • Collections - Française

For Authors

  • Authors and Reviewers
  • Submit a Manuscript
  • Permissions
  • Terms of Use

General Information

  • About CFP
  • About the CFPC
  • Advertisers
  • Careers & Locums
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • Subscribers

Journal Services

  • Email Alerts
  • Twitter
  • RSS Feeds

Copyright © 2022 by The College of Family Physicians of Canada

Powered by HighWire