A total of 189 doctors-residents ended their journey at the University of Sherbrooke this year. The 106 finishing in family medicine represent 56 % of the cohort. This figure particularly delights the dean of the FMSS, Dominique Dorion, who will leave his post as dean in a few days.
“When I arrived in 2017, we had decreased admissions to medicine and since that time, we have readmmed the number of students admitted each year by 40 %. These students, when they choose their specialty, we offer them with solid encouragement family medicine. ”
In recent years, the government of Quebec has asked Medicine Faculties to increase the number of family medicine students. According to Professor Dorion, “it is a battle each year to convince students to choose family medicine”.
It is therefore particularly proud of the number of graduates in this specialty this year. “This is what society needs and our students say yes, we are there. Is this the solution? I like to say that we still have one for one or two generations of students before solving the problem of family medicine in Quebec. Those who will return to the FMSS in 2025 will graduate in six or seven years and they will be badly the last piece to allow solid access to Quebecers. ”
Choose family medicine
Allowing this “solid access” to health care is one of the reasons that motivate several medical students to choose family medicine.
For the finishing Laurence Boudreau, it is also human contact with the patients who tipped the scales in favor of this specialty. “The key in family medicine is that we can do long -term follow -up with our patients, it allows us to develop exceptional relationships with them.”
For her part, Camille Boileau has also chosen family medicine, despite the challenges that come with the profession. “We are leaving in a system that needs arms. It is a system that is difficult to navigate and we are the defenders of patients in there. It is an environment that is demanding, there is paperwork, requests, forms, but I think that by surrounding yourself with colleagues and professionals, this is what allows us to do the best for our patients. ”
Change the system?
The Sophie Payeur family medicine will do not practice in Estrie soon. For her, improving access to health care does not only go through doctors. “We are limited in what we can do, 24 hours ago in a day. I think there must be a reorganization of the system, that there are other stakeholders such as psychologists, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists who come to help us too. I think that’s the key instead of adding pressure on family doctors who are often not bad already overwhelmed. ”
The president of the College of Doctors of Quebec, Dr Mauril Gaudreault, also shares this opinion. “With the climate and the current network, I think that it is necessary to emphasize the necessary collaboration, especially with other professionals.” According to Dr. Gaudreault, the expansion of professional practices is “a path to which we must also go”.
The president still judges that access to care definitively involves more family physicians. “It is said to be a lot that the major health problem is access. So access to the first line will go first and foremost through well -trained family doctors. ”
