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General Practitioners and Family Physicians
What they do?
General practitioners and family physicians perform some or all of the following duties:
A. Provide counselling and support to patients and their families on a wide range of health and lifestyle issues
B. Perform patient advocacy role
C. Co-ordinate or manage primary patient care
D. Provide continuous care to patients
E. Supervise home care services
F. Report births, deaths, and contagious and other diseases to governmental authorities.
G. Examine patients and take their histories, order laboratory tests, X-rays and other diagnostic procedures and consult with other medical practitioners to evaluate patients' physical and mental health
What education do I need?
1. You must complete a bachelor's degree and then complete a Doctor of Medicine degree at a recognized institution. In Quebec, you must complete a college program in health science and one year of pre-medicine university studies, and must graduate from an approved medical school.
2. You must finish two to three years of a family medicine residency program.
3. You must also complete the qualifying examinations of the Medical Council of Canada and obtain a licence from the licensing authority in the province/territory where you'll work.
4. Most recent entrants have an undergraduate university degree.
High School Subject that will help:
1. Math
2. Physics
3. Chemistry
4. Biology
What can you expect to make:
The average hourly wages for General Practitioners and Family Physicians is $24.24/HR, which is close to the average for occupations in the health sector and close to the average for all professional occupations. These wages grew at an above-average rate from 2002 to 2004.
Average Wage
Expected Wage by Age
Unemployment:
0% of General Practitioners and Family Physicians are unemployed. This rate is below the average for professionnal occupations.
Unemployment
Trends in Unemployment
Current Job Outlook:
The job outlook for General Practitioners and Family Physicians is considered Above Average because:
1. Employment grew at an average rate.
2. Hourly wages ($24.24) are above the average ($18.07), and the rate of wage growth is also above average.
3. The unemployment rate (0%) is below the 2004 average (7%).
Future Job Prospects:
Your job outlook will continue to be Above Average because:
1. The employment growth rate will likely be above average, opportunities should increase because of ongoing trends--a growing and aging population that requires more health care, technology advances that create new treatments for previously untreatable diseases, and increased government funding of health care.
2. Although the retirement rate will likely be average, the number of retiring workers should contribute to job openings.
3. The number of job seekers will likely match the number of job openings.
Highest Concetration:
The highest concentrations (per 10,000 people) of General Practitioners and Family Physicians are found in British Columbia and Nova Scotia while the lowest concentrations are in New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
Unionization Rate:
The unionization rate (54%) is close to the average (32%) for all occupations.
Useful Experience:
1. Business and financial management
2. Committee work
Part Time Workers
Part time workers:
10% of General Practitioners and Family Physicians are employed only on a part-time basis. There were 42,600 workers employed in these occupations in 2004, an increase of 20% since 1997.
Age Demographics
Age Demographics:
The relatively low percentage of younger workers suggests few entry-level job openings, and could point to a greater need for workers with experience or a number of years of training. The older-than-average worker (45) will likely be offset by a later retirement age (67) resulting in an average retirement rate to 2009.
