“We have to take everything into context. With family medicine, we’re looking at the whole person.” | Anne Zaharia
Growing up in Montreal with a family physician mom and a general surgeon dad, Anne Zaharia got an inside look at two very different kinds of health care. Yet she still entered med school not knowing where she wanted to specialize. “When I got into clinical work, it narrowed down to a choice between internal medicine and family medicine. They’re both about providing frontline care, and that’s important to me,” says the 25-year-old, who is just beginning her second year of residency at St. Mary’s Hospital Center, in Montreal, one of four teaching hospital centres affiliated with McGill. In the end, Zaharia liked the versatility that comes with being a family doctor, and the need to really get to know patients. “We have to take everything into context–Who is this person? What’s going on in their lives? With family medicine, we’re looking at the whole person.”
Zaharia’s choice is increasingly popular. Over the last decade, the number of McGill med students who go into family medicine has doubled thanks to stepped-up efforts by the Faculty to promote the specialty. “McGill has long been a hotbed of basic science research,” says Dr. David Eidelman, who became Dean of the Faculty of Medicine in January 2012, “and that is always going to be very important. But as our population ages, chronic diseases proliferate and, in Quebec, more babies are born, there’s an increased need for quality frontline care and access to family doctors. We’ve always had very good family medicine people: Now it’s a priority.”
The past year continued initiatives to “orient the Faculty to meet the needs of the population that we are serving,” in the words of Eidelman. Leaders such as Dr. Howard Bergman, the new Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, Dr. Miriam Boillat, Associate Dean of Faculty Development, and Dr. Robert Primavesi, Associate Dean of Medical Education and Student Affairs, are raising the discipline’s profile. Created in response to community demand, the Integrated Clerkship in Gatineau is growing, as is the McGill residency program there, giving students extensive training (en français) in local hospitals while encouraging them to continue their careers in the region.
Looking ahead, the Faculty is getting ready to launch a new curriculum in 2013-2014, which will ensure every medical student is exposed to family medicine from their first year of studies. Equally important in the new curriculum is building in close collaboration among all of the Faculty’s health professionals, including nurses and physical, occupational and speech therapists.
Patient-related research is also a priority. McGill’s family medicine Master’s degree program trains current family physicians to research real-world patient care. When it comes to questions of care–In what situations might a nurse provide better care than a doctor? How can we help elderly patients stay out of the emergency room?–there aren’t yet hard and fast answers. “These questions are as critical as ones about the roles of this particular gene in that particular disease,” says Eidelman. “Both in research and clinical work, family medicine touches people’s lives in a very direct way.”
Health highlights from the past year include:
Eighty-four students began family medicine residencies within the McGill hospital network, filling all available positions for the first time ever.
More than 90 per cent of students admitted to the medicine program at McGill are from Quebec and 75 per cent of our medical residents remain in Quebec after their studies (based on the latest available data, 2009 cohort).
The McGill Academic Health Network (MAHN), with support from the Larry and Cookie Rossy Family Foundation, launched an ambitious collaboration to achieve outcomes in cancer patient survival, mortality and satisfaction among the best in the world. The partners include McGill, the MUHC, the Jewish General Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital Center.
The Gerald Bronfman Centre for Research in Clinical Oncology celebrated its 20th anniversary with several events, including the launch of the Bronfman Scientific Lecture series.
Close to 200 doctors, nurses and other allied health professionals from Quebec met at the inaugural RUIS McGill Symposium to share best practices in aging, children’s health, telehealth and other critical areas. RUIS McGill serves 1.8 million people over 63 per cent of Quebec’s land mass.
Close to 700 people attended the second Goodman Cancer Research Gala, raising $1.15-million in support of the Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Research Centre.
The Jim Lund Dental Clinic at Welcome Hall Mission celebrated treating nearly 800 patients since opening its doors two years ago. The Clinic, named for the late Dean of Dentistry, provides pay-what-you-can care for lower-income Montrealers while also training students and residents.
This year has seen a record number of med students, such as Montreal native Anne Zaharia, choose family medicine residencies in McGill hospitals. "We've always had very good family medicine people," says Dr. David Eidelman, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, but "now it's a priority."