2nd Iteration 2014 Interview List

[rmorelan]

My point is that the College of Family Physicians has been striving to improve the standing of family medicine (ie. creating a separate college and moving away from the term GP, increasing FP teaching in medical schools to counter specialist bias).

 

The scarcity of Family Medicine spots in an increased applicant pool only helps them achieve that goal more.

 

Perhaps but they also don't control the number of residency spots to the degree you are implying.

 

all those things you mentioned were actually logical things to do as well in general. Bottom line is we needed and still need family doctors more than most other things and they have a huge impact on the health system.

[NLengr]

 

The culture of medicine also lends itself to "more and more" - training, degrees, fellowships, whatever.

 

Tell me about it. Today I heard rumours that one of the community practice jobs I am interested in may require new hires to have a masters, plus the requirement for a surgical fellowship they decided was appropriate 6 months ago. All this for a job with zero research time or funding where the health authority specifically said they will not support research by my specialty.

[bloh]

There's just far too many students, at every stage of the game.

 

Too many in preclerkship in lectures, small group teaching sessions that are not so small, bedside teaching etc

 

Too many in clerkship on many services. For many services, it was basicaly a glorified shadowing student because of the number of trainees.

 

And too many as evidenced by CARMS.

 

And too many at the end of the tunnel as evidenced by lack of jobs in many ares.

 

Going to medical school shouldn't be a gamble. We should be training the right number of people for the jobs that we need. That's the point of having it be administered publicly by people who can see the big picture.

We're doing a disservice to our healthcare system at every step of the training by poorly training the new doctors because of an overabundance of trainees. And then a large proportion of them end up being miserable because they are in a field that don't enjoy, doing extra training that will have no impact on their clinical acumen and at best working in an area that doesn't work for them or their family.

It's absolutely tragic and will only get worse.

[newgrad2014]

There's just far too many students, at every stage of the game.

 

Too many in preclerkship in lectures, small group teaching sessions that are not so small, bedside teaching etc

 

Too many in clerkship on many services. For many services, it was basicaly a glorified shadowing student because of the number of trainees.

 

And too many as evidenced by CARMS.

 

And too many at the end of the tunnel as evidenced by lack of jobs in many ares.

 

Going to medical school shouldn't be a gamble. We should be training the right number of people for the jobs that we need. That's the point of having it be administered publicly by people who can see the big picture.

We're doing a disservice to our healthcare system at every step of the training by poorly training the new doctors because of an overabundance of trainees. And then a large proportion of them end up being miserable because they are in a field that don't enjoy, doing extra training that will have no impact on their clinical acumen and at best working in an area that doesn't work for them or their family.

It's absolutely tragic and will only get worse.

 

Totally agree with what you are saying. The number of CMGs per year has more than doubled compared to 10 years ago.

[jO-M]

Does anyone happen to know what happens to unmatched students in Alberta or Ontario? I heard a rumor they don't have the so-called 'clinical trainee' licenses - what if they want to do electives in another field (ie: switching from surgery to something else for the second time around?)

[A-Stark]

They won't be able to do electives if they graduate. What I'd expect is that schools will offer the ability to delay graduation for more electives.

[ER scrub]

Tell me about it. Today I heard rumours that one of the community practice jobs I am interested in may require new hires to have a masters, plus the requirement for a surgical fellowship they decided was appropriate 6 months ago. All this for a job with zero research time or funding where the health authority specifically said they will not support research by my specialty.

 

God that's too much. Sorry to hear. Are there just so many applicants that they are throwing additional criteria to narrow the field? It doesn't sound like these new requirements are incredibly relevant so I can definitely see how frustrating that can be. I initially was headed into a field which I truly liked but it was one where extra degrees/fellowships would be needed and I just resisted and went down another path. A very tough call but I knew I didn't have that kind of patience in me (heck I don't have a lot of patience to begin with). Hope things start looking better for you.

[rmorelan]

They won't be able to do electives if they graduate. What I'd expect is that schools will offer the ability to delay graduation for more electives.

 

they do it somehow - definitely have run into multiple unmatched people from one year doing more electives preparing for round two.

[ploughboy]

However, this new trend of family med being more competitive might be desired by the CCFP as it makes family medicine less of a backup choice now and more desirable to those that seek prestige thus raising the quality of residents in that specialty.

 

"We had to destroy the village in order to save it." - anon, Vietnam War.

 

Sounds like even quality med students are scrambling for family med spots in Fort Podunk this year. More likely that this is due to an increase in med school matriculants without an entirely proportionate increase in residency spots, rather than some nefarious plot by the CCFP.