Could a dedicated medical school for family doctors solve the shortage?

Health researchers say B.C. could help alleviate the province’s family doctor shortage by following the lead of an Ontario university that has launched the country’s first dedicated program for family medicine.

“We hope that this is the start of a revolution in medical education,” said Dr. Randy Wax, Lakeridge Health’s chief of staff and was instrumental in spearheading the program.

Unlike other medical programs where students spend their final years “scrambling” to figure out what kind of residency they are going to match with upon graduation, Wax said “students are selected and chosen to become family physicians from the very beginning.”

Jane Philpott, dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University and a former federal health minister, said the program is aimed at addressing the “completely unacceptable” family doctor shortage rippling across Canada.