Community Medicine

[princess19]

i am interested in community medicine but am unsure of what the actual practice entails. is there opportunity to still be a clinician, and if so, is it as a family doctor? can anyone provide more info about what the residency program / actual career & lifestyle entails?

[Satsuma]

I have very briefly spoken to a couple residents about this program. I am not at all an expert. I would suggest you talk to the program director at your school (if your school has a program in community med) or try and get in touch with some residents currently in the program somewhere.

 

In terms of lifestyle, it is very predictable and controllable for the most part. Very 9-5ish (unless SARS or something happens!). The possible careers actually seem varied enough, based on your interests. Some people choose to be certified as a family doctor and some choose not to (it is not mandatory as only 1 year of clinical training is required by the college).

 

So...if you become certified as a family doc then sure it is possible to combine direct clinical work with community medicine work. One resident I spoke with though said it can be a bit tricky to do both, but that many people do. She gave me an example of a doc who has an interest in homelessness/substance abuse...and so his community med work involved getting a facility to service this populations needs, and he also acts as the primary doc for those in that program.

 

You could become a public health officer, do international work etc. So things at population levels...like managing disease outbreaks etc.

 

Now, I am not entirely clear on what distinguishes them from someone in another specialty who did a Masters in Public Health for example. I don't think the latter path could get you to public health officer, but for some other roles they fill, I think it could be similar. Essentially that is their program afer all....2 years family med training, a Masters in Public HEalth/Epidemiology (or whatever the university you attend calls their particular degree) and fieldwork in community medicine. So that is just something I didn't manage to quite sort out.

 

I have come accross 2 residents in the program and they both were quite happy.

[HappyEnough]

Check out the program outlines on http://www.carms.ca; that might be able to give you more information on any of the programs you are interested in, as well as the sites that offer what you are seeking in a residency.

[Satsuma]

http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:lbcx03WeEAsJ:www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/php-psp/pdf/the_landscape_of_community_medicine_registry%2520_training_in_ca.pdf+community+medicine+canada&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

 

Above is a link to a report on the status of community med in canada.

It is a bit old (2005) but perhaps some info you might find useful.

[ploughboy]

Now, I am not entirely clear on what distinguishes them from someone in another specialty who did a Masters in Public Health for example. I don't think the latter path could get you to public health officer, but for some other roles they fill, I think it could be similar.

 

I know of two Medical Officers of Health who didn't do Community Medicine residencies. One is a family doc by training, the other a medical microbiologist. Both of them, however, went back to school for an MPH.

 

So it's possible. Don't know how often it happens, though.

[A-Stark]

Fairly often, I'd think. Less usual would be someone like my dad, who did his rotating internship, followed by medical micro, and MHSc, and finally sat the community medicine exam.

[Aadil]

thanks Satsuma thats so generous of u so telling it.....specially for the thing u explained in 2nd paragraph

[moo]

I know this is a bit late but I just wanted to add my bit seeing as I am a CM resident.

 

I can tell you that I am very happy doing CM. I was a family doc for a year (and still do 30 hours a week of clinical work as a full time MPH student in my CM program) after I got my CCFP in 2008. As for what day-to-day is like, it really depends on where you work. The traditional CM specialist works as a Medical Officer of Health in a public health unit. Like emerg docs, you don't need your FRCPC to work as a MOH. You can be a family doc with an MPH, MSc, or MHSc (the degrees are all similar). Or if the health unit is rural and desperate, you can just be a family doc. You spend your days at meetings, advocating for certain things (for example, meeting with city planners/politicians to advocate for healthy built environments, for harm reduction programs, etc.). You may field questions from public health nurses regarding any adverse vaccine events that they can't deal with. You prepare reports. You do research on your population and in general, in collaboration with epidemiologists (most of whom are masters trained, either an MSc or MPH).

 

However, most CM residents don't go into MOH positions. A lot of us end up doing research. For instance, I am interested in cancer epi and will likely end up at a place like BC Cancer in the cancer prevention and control division. SOme of us work at Centers for disease control as epidemiologists. Others work for First Nations Inuit Health or with WCB.

 

Almost all residents do a CCFP nowadays as well. I may or may not end up doing some clinical work in the end but it's possible. Our program director does HIV research and he does a half day a week of HIV primary care.

[Heino Inge]

You can do masters in public health at any university right after bachelors. If you are staying in a country like India,you can also get into post graduation in community medicine after completing medicine.