aaronjw Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Curious to know what people would classify as a primary health practitioner. Reading this from Ontario Ministry of Health they seem to define them as family, paediatricians, surgeons, allergists, orthopaedists, gynaecologists or psychiatrists. An important part of maintaining health and wellness is regular contact with a primary health practitioner. Contact with a medical doctor in the past 12 months is an indicator that tests this ongoing maintenance, reflecting both access to a medical doctor and individual behaviour in seeking out medical care. For this indicator, a ‘medical doctor’ includes contact with family or general practitioners, paediatricians, surgeons, allergists, orthopaedists, gynaecologists or psychiatrists. As observed in the chart below, residents of southern rural, northern rural and northern urban communities have lower rates of contact than the provincial average of 81.6%. Northern rural communities also demonstrate lower average rates of contact than southern rural communities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future_doc Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 FM for most, paediatrician for children, perhaps gynaecologist for women Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Allergists are primary healthcare practitioners? News to me. Obs-gynes are often primary care practitioners in the US, but that's not common here. I actually had a patient ask my obs-gyne preceptor the other day if she could see her for all her general health issues, and my preceptor said that there simply wasn't enough of them in the city to afford to see women for non-gyne-related problems without creating a ridiculous wait for obs-gyne issues. Anyway, IMO, a "primary care practitioner" is a person who you can see without a referral. So an NP or a family doc or an ER doc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted February 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Anyway, IMO, a "primary care practitioner" is a person who you can see without a referral. So an NP or a family doc or an ER doc. This is what I believe as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questforstarfish Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 I agree with the above, and (as much as my ass may be kicked for this) I personally would include a nurse practitioner as well. A lot of people have no primary care doctor but may see an NP or naturopath regularly for assessments or maintenance of health. So basically yeah, any health care provider you can see for a variety of health problems without a referral! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellorie Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Allergists? That's a weird idea. In the US, family docs, pediatricians, internists and ob/gyns all provide primary care. In Canada, I would say it's only family doctors. That said, lots of people are so bad about going to the doctor that if anyone with an MD is eyeballing them once in a while, it's probably an improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted February 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 I agree with the above, and (as much as my ass may be kicked for this) I personally would include a nurse practitioner as well. A lot of people have no primary care doctor but may see an NP or naturopath regularly for assessments or maintenance of health. So basically yeah, any health care provider you can see for a variety of health problems without a referral! I'm going to cut this one before it ends bad. NO discussion on a naturopath LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking1 Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_91r18_e.htm Ctrl-f "naturopathic doctor" for larfs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking1 Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Also of interest, the Medicine Act in Ontario: http://www.search.e-laws.gov.on.ca/en/isysquery/943ffd14-339a-422d-b5cb-bee4d20521e4/71/doc/?search=browseStatutes&context=#hit1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Ctrl-f "(a) the College of Chiropractors of Ontario" are real doctors http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_91r18_e.htm Ctrl-f "naturopathic doctor" for larfs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking1 Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Ctrl-f "(a) the College of Chiropractors of Ontario" are real doctors In Ontario, yes, they may make themselves known as "doctor so-and-so". How long that lasts remains to be seen; I've heard a lot of their services being delisted from OHIP, and last I checked they don't have many scientists on their side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeking1 Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 What's also interesting in the Regulated Health Professions Act is the number of professions that can designate themselves "psychotherapists" professionally, including: nurses; occupational therapists; physicians and surgeons; and psychologists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 i was sort of joking around, i hope they hang around, my chiropractor always gives me tons of great nutrition and general health advice, he's married to a "real" doctor, so obviously this semantic schism doesn't exist everywhere, and i wonder why so many people are obsessed with it, phd psychologists call themselves doctors, so do optometrists etc. perhaps doctors should clarify that they are doctors of medicine, rather than use the term doctor. if gp's are supposed to "treat" my future illnesses and check for any illness i may have, which doctor is supposed to advise me in "preventing" illness and in how to be in generally good health, maybe a dietician could get a phd, and i could call her doctor of dietary medicine, and science would be behind her, so no worries about unscientific (often this is really a surrogate term to replace "unprofitable to some (any - imaging as an atypical example) industry") quacks. In Ontario, yes, they may make themselves known as "doctor so-and-so". How long that lasts remains to be seen; I've heard a lot of their services being delisted from OHIP, and last I checked they don't have many scientists on their side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 it's not interesting if you've worked in a mental hospital, the nurses use to run the sex offender program, doing pretty much all of the therapy. i'm pretty sure you should throw social workers in there as well. if people will pay you for therapy i think a chaplin should be able to call themself a "psychotherapist". personallly, i would just call myself a therapist... there are such an infinite number of concoctions of the term that trying to regulate it is moot point, just let the market decide. What's also interesting in the Regulated Health Professions Act is the number of professions that can designate themselves "psychotherapists" professionally, including: nurses; occupational therapists; physicians and surgeons; and psychologists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leap87 Posted February 6, 2012 Report Share Posted February 6, 2012 In Ontario, yes, they may make themselves known as "doctor so-and-so". How long that lasts remains to be seen; I've heard a lot of their services being delisted from OHIP, and last I checked they don't have many scientists on their side. Actually, the scientific community is pretty divided in terms of chiros. Their college is working hard to communicate with back experts so they can improve their techniques. I know a lot of chiros who are in grad school trying to research different chiro techniques to have some scientific backup and I believe, recently, they've published quite a bit. Every field has a couple of bad apples. People need to start thinking on their own, instead of basing all of their arguments on what is seen on the news. In that case, I wouldn't want to become a physician because of all of the different "scandals". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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