Chair's Message
With the Thanksgiving weekend behind us and as we move further into autumn, the colours continue to change across the region. Once again, we find ourselves well into a new academic year. For faculty, you will have welcomed new residents, and more recently, new clinical clerks into your practices. Teaching is ramping up on-campus and beyond, and over 150 first-year medical students will soon start their first clinical placement, the Longitudinal Clinical Experience (LCE), with you.
The LCE began several years ago to provide an early exposure for our students to real world patients in a generalist, primary care setting. A secondary, but no less valuable, role for this LCE program is to offer the opportunity for early mentorship for our students.
The goals of the program are:
- Students observe what family practice is all about.
- Students observe the front lines of our health care system.
- Students observe professional behaviour.
- Students learn about effective communication with patients.
The LCE can be a formative experience for medical students, and I would like to acknowledge faculty who have committed to supporting this program, as well as extending heartfelt thanks to all the Department of Family Medicine community preceptors and clinical teachers across southwestern Ontario for all your contributions to medical education. Each year, hundreds of family physicians open their practices to train the next generation of medical students and residents. Your generosity of time, expertise, and mentorship is the foundation upon which family medicine education is built. I recognize that teaching within the realities of busy clinical practices requires a deep commitment to education and to the future of our profession. If you are not involved in the LCE and would like more information or to get involved, please contact fmundergrad@schulich.uwo.ca.
Within Family Medicine, despite all the demands and challenges, there is also hope for the future. This year, and the next few, mark an exciting and potentially transformative period for primary care in Ontario. The provincial government, through work of the Primary Care Action Team, has made a clear commitment to strengthening primary care as the cornerstone of our health system. Significant investments are being directed toward improving patient attachment and expanding access to team-based care across the province. For many years, we have advocated for better support for family medicine and for ensuring every Ontarian has access to a family physician or primary care provider. It is heartening to see that message gaining traction in meaningful ways.
Perhaps most notably (at least by the Chairs of the Departments of Family Medicine across the province), was the Ontario government announcement about unprecedented investments to develop new Primary Care Teaching Clinics (PCTCs) to support the expansion of residency training. These new facilities will not only enhance patient care but also serve as vital training environments for our residents and medical students. Here in Southwestern Ontario and for the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, this initiative is a unique opportunity to expand into Schulich’s Distributed Education Network creating a larger presence in our surrounding communities to support recruitment and retention of physicians through providing both teaching and learning opportunities. The new PCTCs will be purpose-designed to support interprofessional, team-based care and will allow us to train more learners closer to where patients live and receive care. Collaborations are already underway with health system partners, hospitals, and communities to find opportunities for new teaching sites and innovative models of care. These developments align closely with our Department’s mission—to advance exemplary family medicine through education, research, and community partnership. The investments being made today will help ensure that our learners are prepared for the evolving realities of modern primary care, equipped with the skills and experiences needed to meet the needs of the patients and populations they serve. I look forward to providing more details about new PCTCs as plans come together.
As we continue to move through the academic year, I encourage all of us to take pride in the role we play in shaping the future of family medicine. Whether you are mentoring a student for the first time, conducting research or a quality improvement project that advances health equity, or providing compassionate care in your community, you are contributing to a collective vision of accessible, comprehensive, and person-centred care for all.
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As always, if you have comments, questions, feedback, or topics you would like to hear about in future newsletters, please reach out to me – Scott McKay smckay28@uwo.ca.
