Building A Community for Physicians in Ontario

This week on The Doctor Is In, I want to discuss the power of community.  Being a doctor sometimes feels incredibly lonely.  We feel a heavy responsibility of holding our patients’ health in our hands.  Being a part of a community of doctors across Ontario lessens that burden. Over the last few weeks I have had an amazing time meeting physicians in Kingston, Brockville and London and I had the opportunity to build community with them.  What an honour.

Along with practicing physicians I also had the privilege of attending the oath ceremony at Queen’s University medical school and the white coat ceremony at Western University medical school.  There, I addressed the classes of 2030 as they begin their journey in medicine.  I focused my remarks on what it is to live in the present and to find balance from the very beginning of their careers.  

I spoke to this because burnout remains one of the most significant threats to health human resources in Ontario.  We want physicians to feel comfortable prioritizing themselves and their wellbeing so they can better enjoy their work and care for patients.  I am excited for the classes of 2030 across Ontario—they are the future of medicine and our future is bright.  I am proud to welcome them to the OMA as our newest members.  

Along with medical students I have had the opportunity to meet with a wide variety of practicing physicians.  I heard from community physicians and hospital physicians, consultative specialists and family medicine specialists, residents and staff physicians.  We had the opportunity to meet, greet and eat together in Kingston, where physicians from across the region were invited to learn about leadership, about the OMA, and to connect with each other. In Brockville I had the opportunity to meet hospital physicians and family doctors in the community.  In London I had the opportunity to meet with the deans of Western’s medical school and physicians working in one of the largest family health teams in the province.

(the incoming 2030 class of medical students at Queen's)

I learned about the challenges of expanding primary care practices in Ontario, the challenges of recruiting new physicians to smaller communities, the challenges of supporting academic doctors in the community, and the power of building a network of colleagues who care for one another.  In Brockville, I was reminded how some of the community we have lost in the last several years happened when Covid literally isolated us from each other.  We buckled down and got to work during the pandemic, and in focusing on our patients we lost some of our social connections.

This makes the OMA’s ability to bring doctors together even more important than prior to the pandemic.  The power of our association is not only in advocating for doctors in Ontario but in connecting doctors with one another across the province.  When we are part of a community, when our coworkers become more than just colleagues, we create momentum and energy to accelerate physician advocacy.  

The amount that I learn from these visits is astonishing.  I meet doctors in the first year of their residency and physicians several years into their retirement.  I meet physicians from all different specialties.  And we have the opportunity to share what is working and what isn’t working in our day to day lives.  Sometimes what we are experiencing is very similar to those of our colleagues, and sometimes it is unique.  But in sharing our experiences, we are no longer experiencing them alone.  When I started my year as president, one of my top priorities was increasing physician engagement in our association.  What I now realize is that increasing engagement first begins with increasing connection.  I look forward to getting to know as many members as possible this year.