How medical education shapes perceptions of family medicine

Canadian medical education has a responsibility to graduate a physician workforce to support a robust health system that meets our population health needs and enhances health equity. With the Canadian primary healthcare system in crisis, there is growing energy to enhance training in a manner that supports improvement to how the discipline of family medicine is perceived, experienced by family physicians, and engaged by all physicians in our interdependent healthcare system. One option that has been identified as particularly appealing is to feature primary care and active interdependence between medical specialties more centrally and deeply in undergraduate training. Currently, however, there is widespread speculation that the role of family medicine in the healthcare system is being systemically devalued through implicit and hidden aspects of medical school curricula. This research uses discourse analysis, non-participant observation, and qualitative interviewing techniques to describe the ways in which the Undergraduate MD Program curriculum at McMaster University positions family medicine within the wider healthcare system, and how it influences student perceptions of the role of family medicine in the healthcare system. The ongoing analysis reveals that the school’s strategic position affirms the value of family medicine in a way that is inconsistently realized within curricular documents and learning environments. Specifically, students consistently encounter messaging that negatively influences their perspective on the value of community-based family medicine in the healthcare system. Research is ongoing, interviews with students represent the next phase of inquiry.

Leads: Lawrence Grierson, Sarah Kinzie, Keyna Bracken
Contact: Lawrence Grierson (griersle@mcmaster.ca)