If You Build It They Will Come…and Stay: A Community-Based Family Medicine Program

In response to a government request to address physician shortages in underserved communities, the University of Toronto (U of T) established the Family Medicine Residency Program (FMRP) at the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Prior to establishing the FMRP, approximately 21% of Barrie residents did not have a family physician. This study investigated residents' training experiences, strengths and opportunities for improvement of a community FMRP, reasons why graduates choose to work in Barrie after graduation, and graduates' practice setting and location.

RVH graduates from 2011-2016 (N=45) were invited to participate. Semistructured one-on-one interviews sought insight into graduates' experience in the program. We collected online survey data to gather demographic information. We determined current practice location using a government-funded data set and the public registry of the provincial licensing body.

Analysis of qualitative data provided insights into an overwhelmingly positive educational experience that contributed to graduates choosing to stay and work in Barrie. Participants noted the wide range of hands-on training opportunities as a strength of the program. They perceived that the program added value to the local community by increasing capacity to provide care to an underserved patient population. Tracking data demonstrated that two-thirds of graduates continued to work in the RVH region after graduation.

The successful establishment of a new university-affiliated FMRP in an underserved community provides a strong mechanism to recruit physicians. Training in this setting provided excellent educational experiences to residents, who felt prepared to enter independent practice upon completion of training.