Maureen Topps is the Executive Director and CEO of the Medical Council of Canada.
Nothing matters more in my role than helping Canadian and international medical graduates succeed as they prepare to practice medicine in Canada. But what does success look like and how do we measure it?
Domhnall MacAuley is a CMAJ Associate Editor and a professor of primary care in Northern Ireland, UK. He recently attended the Society for Academic Primary Care annual conference in Exeter, England.
Resources for primary care in the United Kingdom are under increasing pressure, as Dr. Jennifer Dixon, Chief Executive of the Health Foundation, outlined in her keynote address to the Society for Academic Primary Care meeting in Exeter last week. A healthy growth in spending from about 1990 until 2008 was followed by a rather dismal change in the funding landscape: the proportion of overall health spending allocated to primary care gradually declined and has now been flat for the last 6 years at roughly 9%. Overall, however, spending on health as a percentage of GDP is about average within the EU and despite austerity policies, spending on health has been relatively well preserved compared to education, for example. When it comes to public satisfaction with primary care, the main problem mirrors what we see in Canada - access. ...continue reading
Mark Speechley is a Professor of Epidemiology at Western University
The age-old debate over who should be addressed as ‘doctor’ lives again in recent letters to CMAJ. Of course, it is important not to confuse the public. Since more people get sick than get university educated, members of the public are more likely to have met a physician-doctor than a professor-doctor. As a PhD epidemiologist, ‘the population is my patient’. Consequently, when I meet my medical colleagues in the hospital, I do not expect to be addressed as ‘Doctor’, but should the whole population be in the hospital, and the crowding in the corridors be so acute that I would have the statistical power to practice my profession by expertly assembling the massed throngs of gurneys into long rows of cases and controls, or exposed and unexposed, as appropriate, I would most certainly expect to be addressed as such. ...continue reading
Domhnall MacAuley is a CMAJ Associate Editor and a professor of primary care in Northern Ireland, UK.
Research conferences should be an opportunity to gain insights from discussion and collegial debate about new research. At times, though, I have seen debate become adversarial and counterproductive; questions can be aggressive and speakers defensive. But one of the great attributes of the North American Primary Care Research Group annual meeting (NAPCRG) is the culture intellectual rigor yet respectful and collegial discussion, and the support for early career researchers. Researchers with impressive track records in publication in international journals are always keen to share their knowledge and help their colleagues. David Meyers, a long time NAPCRG supporter unable to attend the conference this year due to illness sent a video message in which he said, "May you find meaning in your work and friendship in your colleagues." ...continue reading
Mohamad Matout is a Psychiatry Resident (R1) at McGill University
The debate regarding what should future doctors be learning during medical school is sensitive and convoluted. During the four years in which students learn basic sciences and acquire basic clinical knowledge, due to lack of time, little is taught with regards to major topics such as nutrition1, lifestyle changes, oral health2 and basic computer literacy3. One could argue that psychology is another field in which future physicians lack structured education. Our curriculum is usually centred around understanding the biology of pathophysiology and, when possible, the neurobiology of psychopathologies. While we may be introduced to the area of psychology and an understanding of pathologic defense mechanisms, the world of psychotherapy remains mysterious to medical students and physicians in general. ...continue reading
Domhnall MacAuley is a CMAJ Associate Editor and a professor of primary care in Northern Ireland, UK. He's currently also Chair of the Jury for the National Research Award of the Swiss College of Primary Care Medicine
Swiss primary care research has a very bright future, from what I could see at the early career researchers meeting (TAN HAM) that I attended recently in Bern. Oliver Senn put together a superb programme but the key to its success was the commitment and contribution of the researchers. It was their programme and, not only did they present their work with skill and style, and almost exclusively in English, but each research presentation was chaired by one of their peers as the senior academics looked on from the side lines. The presentations were fantastic, covering a range of topics, as described below. But I thought the peer chaired sessions were an innovation worth replicating at other national and international meetings.
Many countries are struggling to recruit and retain a family medicine workforce and Switzerland is little different. ...continue reading
Domhnall MacAuley is a CMAJ Associate Editor and a professor of primary care in Northern Ireland, UK
Have we lost something in the success of academic family medicine? We produce quality research, have created successful interdisciplinary academic teams, demonstrate competitive publication outcomes and generate significant grant income. But, academic primary care may have drifted away from, and perhaps even alienated, some family medicine colleagues. There are thoughtful and reflective family doctors who read, write, discuss and debate many aspects of general practice but feel undervalued as they do not fit the university based academic profile. ...continue reading
Domhnall MacAuley is a CMAJ Associate Editor and a professor of primary care in Northern Ireland, UK
Was I wrong!
Pioneering Professional Practice doesn’t sound like the most stimulating title of a Plenary Address but Helen Stokes-Lampard, Chair of the UK's Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Council, gave an uplifting, encouraging and inspiring address on the topic on day 2 of the SAPC ASM 2017. Helen encouraged us all to rediscover the joy and sparkle of general practice despite poor morale, a constant feeling of being under siege, and increasing resource limitations in the profession. I liked her analogy that primary care, secondary care and social care were interdependent and need to be together- a three legged stool that depended on all three components to remain stable. ...continue reading
Domhnall MacAuley is a CMAJ Associate Editor and a professor of primary care in Northern Ireland, UK
Shakespeare’s Warwickshire was the background to last week's 46th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Academic Primary Care (SAPC) where Professor Christine Ennew, Provost of the University of Warwick, introduced the meeting by emphasising the importance of primary care in the development of their young medical school. She also underlined her belief in the transformational power of universities and how their contribution to academic medicine can alter clinical practice.
It saddened me that her optimism and enthusiasm contrasted with the stark reality of general practice as outlined by Candace Imison, Director of Policy at the Nuffield Trust ...continue reading
Carrie Ladd is a part time general practitioner in the UK National Health Service, a spare time RCGP Clinical Fellow in Perinatal Mental Health, and a full time mum…doing overtime!
Despite all the pressures, challenges and daily frustrations of working in the NHS, I still feel being a General Practitioner in the UK is the best job in the world. Well, second best to being a mum to my incredibly fun and loving two young children. But which role is truly the more challenging? Those who have children will know instantly what I am talking about and those without may well know from friends that this question has serious ground for debate. Despite 13 years of further professional development in the form of continued education, assessment and appraisal since leaving Southampton Medical School, there are many difficult moments I deal with as a mum where I feel as unsure and inexperienced as any other parent. People often generously assume that of all health professionals, medics in particular will know what to feed their fussy baby, how to discipline their child in front of the grandparents and what to do when their “spirited” toddler throws a tantrum in a supermarket. I write to correct this misconception. ...continue reading