What we heard from New-to-Practice Family Physicians and Family Practice R2 Residents

As part of our engagement with members on the future of primary care, Doctors of BC and Resident Doctors of BC recently co-hosted a discussion session with residents and new-to-practice (NTP) family physicians.

These doctors are the future of primary care. Hearing their voices helps us to understand what they want and need to succeed in family practice in BC, and to enjoy a fulfilling career in a revived primary care system.   

The 85 participants spoke to us about the challenges and barriers they face when considering a career in longitudinal family practice, and resources and supports they would need before committing to a practice or providing locum services.

What we heard (Read the full report)

They told us that longitudinal community family practice is not an attractive choice. They are concerned about inadequate resources to support patient care, juggling unmanageable workloads, administrative and paperwork burdens, and impacts on the health and wellness of physicians.

They would like to see:

• Support for current unsustainable overhead costs.
• Adequate and equitable compensation for expertise required to provide longitudinal care, including for the extra time needed for increased patient complexity
• Flexible, blended compensation models, fee for service time modifiers, and improvements to fee codes.
• Effective locum coverage for parental leave and other time off.
• The opportunity to be flexible and gain real-world experience before deciding where to settle.

Overall, NTP physicians are interested in joining a well-run, team-based multi-disciplinary practice, with updated EMR technology, where they are paid fairly with overhead and benefits, can access support for family leave, and have some level of autonomy.

Also check out:

• What We Heard #1 – from first group of 5 sessions with physicians 
• What We Heard #2  - from second group of 4 sessions with physicians 
• What We Heard – Representative Assembly – with input from members of the RA
• What doctors of BC is doing to advocate for future of primary care 

What’s next?

An in-depth analysis of input from the July 20 session with R2 Residents and NTP FPs will be combined with member feedback gathered from nine additional consultation sessions held in June and July 2022 and our online “Have Your Say” platform.  Input from all of these engagement efforts will help determine priority actions for our organization and to move forward to government.

We ae always interested to hear your thoughts. E-mail us with our comments or questions at View Email Addresscommunications@doctorsofbc.ca