Dalhousie med school sees more family doctor graduates than other fields

This year Dalhousie University in Halifax graduated more medical students into the family medicine field than any other and it comes at a good time.

"I would say that there is a dire need for family physicians," said Dr. Katherine Stringer, department head of family medicine at Dalhousie University.

The 2024 graduating class has 62 medical students pursuing their residency training in family medicine, which is a major milestone for the program, especially at a time where more Maritimers don’t have a family doctor.

According to recent data from Nova Scotia Health, there are 160,234 Nova Scotians on the need-a-family-practice wait list, which represents 16.2 per cent of the provincial population.

There are 38,157 patients looking for a family doctor on Prince Edward Island, which represents 22 per cent of the island's population.

In New Brunswick, the medical society says at last count there were 92,000 people on the doctor wait-list.

Stringer says Dalhousie Medical School has been systematic in their approach to the doctor shortage and the strategy is straightforward.

Over the past five years, they have increased the family medicine curriculum by bringing more family doctors into the classroom and by putting all medical students into family clinics across the Maritimes.

"If you look back to medical schools in the past, they are traditionally taught within the hospitals, and now we are realizing, well, that's not where most of the medicine is practiced, so really we should be teaching outside of hospitals," said Stringer.

By all accounts the strategy is working. In 2018, 25 per cent of the graduating medical class chose to pursue family medicine. Fast forward to 2024 and 52 percent of the class in moving into family residency.

Dalhousie medical school grad Dr. Nick Ellingwood was one of them. He credits his learning in the family clinics and his mentorship with family physicians as driving factors to pursuing family medicine.

"I think it was my time in a family practice outside of the hospital setting that was really instrumental in my decision to pursue family medicine," said Ellingwood.

The 26-year-old is beginning his family and emergency medical residency in New Brunswick this week and says being able to form relationships with patients and the variety of medical practices within family medicine is the part of the job he most enjoys.

"Being able to develop such great relationships with my patients and understanding their individual needs and unique needs of the community is something that I value," said Ellingwood.

While working in the emergency department he saw what it was like for individuals who were struggling without a family doctor. He's seen the need in his community and the family doctor shortage in the Maritimes and that's part of what motivates him.

"How that impacts their hospital stay and presenting to the emergency room and how that could have been alleviated if they had a family physician," he said.

Stringer says of the 62 grads who are entering family residency training, 40 are electing to do their post-graduate placements in the Maritimes.

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