Future role of the personal physician in Canada: Opinions of family medicine residents, faculty members, and community family physicians

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Themes and subthemes describing respondents’ answers to the question “Will people have personal physicians anymore?”

THEMES	SUBTHEMES	EXPLANATION
Yes	Patients want it	Patients will continue to want and fight for a personal physician in the future
	Personal relationships	The personal, trusting relationship between patient and doctor will remain vital to providing good patient care
	Coordinators of care	Personal physicians are necessary because they help patients manage, coordinate, and navigate their care in a complex health care system
	Care over the life course	Personal physicians treat patients over the life span, which is necessary for good patient care
Maybe	System pressures	Decreased resources and increased constraints of the health care system might affect the future of personal physicians
	Loss of philosophy	Not all family medicine practitioners still identify with the patient-centred, humanistic view of the field
	Evolution of medicine	The field of medicine has changed throughout history and will continue to change
No	Replacement of the personal physician	Family health teams have already begun to replace the personal physician in Canada
No	Putting the system before the person	The health care system will threaten the future of the personal physician