Fewer medical students pursuing family practices

Data from the Canadian Resident Matching Service, a not-for-profit organization that matches students with medical training, show a steady decrease in the number of medical students choosing family medicine as their first choice of practice over the past seven years. Only 30.7% of students in Canada ranked family medicine as their top choice in 2022, down from 31.4% in 2021 and 38% in 2015. Nearly every aspiring family physician is snatched up immediately upon their residency placement, with more than 97% finding a match this year - higher than any other discipline. Students and researchers attribute the problem to a growing negative impression of family medicine, fuelled by what they feel is an endless stream of anecdotes about doctor burnout.