Preparing our Future Family Physicians Report & Evidence Summaries

• The three-year renewed residency will be phased in gradually starting in 2027.
• In a renewed three-year residency, our aim is to have residents in their transitional phase of training provide service in needed areas with a commitment to underserved communities and unattached patients.
• The three-year renewed residency will better prepare graduates to practice anywhere, ideally in a team setting, and adjust to the changing role of family physicians. This will increase:
  • Health workforce capacity
  • Efficiency and care coordination that may reduce referrals
  • High-quality primary care and help managing complex, chronic illness

• Home and long-term care
• Addiction and mental health care
• Emergency/acute care medicine
• Indigenous health
• Health equity and anti-racism
• Virtual care and health informatics (digital health)

• Values relationships and whole person care
• Offers versatility and adaptiveness
• Enjoys diagnostic puzzles and possesses impeccable clinical acumen
• Values community life, seeks to overcome inequities, and improve health conditions
• Thrives as a collaborative leader in a health care team

The CFPC’s Prescription for Primary Care identifies solutions to meet the needs of Canada’s health care systems and help solve the crisis in family medicine. One of the key solutions includes education reform. This is the current work of the OTP, which is funded by the Team Primary Care: Training for Transformation initiative (TPC). OTP is one of TPC’s 20 practitioner-specific training projects, which aims to change the practice environment and strengthen residency training, helping to achieve the Patient’s Medical Home vision.

The recommended changes to residency training are complex and will take multiple years to implement. See our project roadmap. Waiting would only prolong the current crisis in family medicine. The urgency to get started dovetails with the urgency of health system change and addressing physician well-being.

Millions of people in Canada do not have a family doctor and managing the needs of communities is becoming increasingly complex. To better serve our communities and prioritize physicians’ well-being, we need comprehensive team-based care. With a three-year residency, future physicians will be able to work in a team-based model and offer care that meets the needs of today’s patients.

• Consulted with more than 500 interest holders across more than 175 activities. This includes:
  • Field research with more than 300 practicing family physicians, including rural physicians. Analysis also included residents and medical students.
  • Focus group research with early career physicians. (Are early career family physicians prepared for practice in Canada? A qualitative study).
  • Multiple expert panels with members who are teachers and educational leaders.
  • Discussions with Chapters, the academic community, regulators and decision makers across Canada.
• Consulted with the Board regarding the proposed changes on a regular basis.
• Analyzed Family Medicine Longitudinal Survey data.
• Conducted multiple literature searches (resulting in more than 25,000 reviewed articles) and assessed 25 different data sets (national, provincial, electronic medical records).