Chair's Message
As 2023 winds down, I want to reflect on some of the highlights of the year and look ahead to 2024 in this edition of the Department of Family Medicine newsletter.
It was such a busy year and it’s incredible how it has flown by. Although it seems like yesterday, it was in April that we launched our new mission, vision, and strategic plan. Our vision, Transforming Healthcare… Optimizing the health and well-being of patients and communities, represents our purpose and the impact we want to have into the future. Our mission, We train and inspire the next generation of Family Physician clinicians, researchers, educators, and leaders. We deliver the highest quality clinical care, produce impactful research, advance inter-disciplinary care models, and strengthen community partnerships, represents what we do for the people we serve. Now our work is starting to focus on our strategic outcomes and how we evolve the work we are doing to achieve our goals.
One of the highlights of the year, I think, was coming back together, in-person, for our resident graduation ceremony and dinner at The Great Hall in Sommerville House on campus in June. It had been many years since we hosted a dinner with graduates and their families, alongside faculty and staff, to celebrate their achievement of becoming a family physician. I can’t wait for this event in 2024!
In the late spring and into the early summer, I took opportunities to visit some area clinics and meet with full-time and adjunct faculty to learn more about where they work and teach and hear about successes as well as frustrations they have. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting and listening to the ideas from your colleagues about what we are doing well, should do more of, and to hear about what we should stop or do differently. The feedback I heard will help to shape the direction of the Department over the coming years. I look forward to continuing to “get out there” and learn this coming year.
In the fall, we were notified that the outstanding research arm of our Department, the Centre for Studies in Family Medicine (CSFM), was renewed by Western as a Senate approved research Centre until March 31, 2028. A huge thank you and congratulations to Dr. Amanda Terry and the entire CSFM team for this success.
We cannot reflect on the year without acknowledging the primary care crisis we are in. Access to family physicians is getting worse and worse. Administrative burden and overhead costs seem to be skyrocketing. There seems to be little tangible help from governments to address the situation. Compounded by system-wide health human resource challenges, it is clear we have tough times ahead trying to meet the needs of ever more complex patients and the increasing number of people struggling to secure necessities like food, housing, and healthcare. Despite this dire situation, I see the unwavering commitment you all have to help, as best you are able, to be a small part of a solution to a big problem.
As I turn towards 2024 and look ahead, there are lots of great things on the horizon. Interviews for residency are earlier this year and being held on January 17, 20, 21 and 24. What an opportunity to showcase the amazing postgraduate training program we have here at Western and attract some of the brightest, best, and most-promising future family physicians. If you are interested to help with interviews, we still need a few more physician interviewers, please reach out to our Postgraduate Team at fmpgc@schulich.uwo.ca.
We are excited that the Department has received (and will receive more) resident spots as a part of the announced expansion by the Ontario Government. We have added more residents to some of our existing training sites and are very excited to be bringing on Listowel as a new rural training site starting in July 2024. Over the next few years, we anticipate additional expansion of our residency training program and are working on plans to develop more new training sites within London, and throughout the region – more to come when we can make official announcements.
2024 will also see our Department, as well as all the Departments of Family Medicine across the country, continue to take a hard look at the training we are providing, and identifying areas of strength, areas for improvement, and any gaps between our curriculum and the core professional activities outlined in the CFPC Resident Training Profile document (https://www.cfpc.ca/rtp). This work will allow us to evolve our curriculum to meet the needs of our trainees better than ever and help them launch into successful careers providing comprehensive family medicine. As you may be aware, one element of this work was examining the possibility of a 3-year residency curriculum, as I discussed in the October newsletter. Since the CFPC annual general meeting on November 1, the college has signalled it will not be changing accreditation standards to mandate a 36-month residency program. Regardless of the length of residency training, we are committed to providing our learners with the best possible opportunity to learn and flourish as a family physician – stay tuned for more information about some of the exciting changes and enhancements coming to our program for implementation during the coming months to years.
There are also some changes on the horizon in 2024. We will be saying farewell to two colleagues – Dr. Julie Copeland and Dr. Kevin Pottie – who will both be moving on to the next phase of their careers at Dalhousie University. I want to acknowledge the value they have both brought to our Department as clinicians, teachers, administrators, and researchers. We will miss them both and wish them all the best for what their futures hold.
Lastly, as the year draws to a close, I extend heartfelt appreciation to the dedicated physicians, staff, faculty, and interprofessional health care providers who have tirelessly and compassionately served our learners, patients, and each other in 2023. Your efforts have made a profound impact on the lives you've touched. Regardless of background or belief, may this holiday season bring you moments of joy, reflection, and renewal, providing you the strength to continue your work in the coming year. Wishing you and your loved ones peace, fulfillment, and the warmth of shared moments. Happy holidays!
