'It's unending:' Ottawa doctor says shortages are creating burnout
Fifteen minutes after the Meadowlands Family Health Centre opened its doors Tuesday morning, family physician Dr. Barry Dworkin was already staring at appointments with roughly 20 patients.
He started the day with an open calendar.
Like many physicians across the country, Dr. Dworkin has a patient list of more than 1,600 people. Every day, he deals with dozens of in-person and telehealth consults, while updating the records, prescriptions, and treatments of more than twice that many.
“Nine more in the urgent care box, another 18 to go through again. It’s unending,” Dr. Dworkin quipped after refreshing his checklist for the second time that morning.
“The problem is there’s only a certain amount of time in the day and we need more coverage, we need a nurse practitioner, a physician's assistant, because there’s a lot of things that can be handled by other staff,” he added.
The frenetic pace and seemingly unending list of incoming tasks are just some of the factors that are leading to burnout across the health care industry, particularly among family doctors.
“We’re at a very critical juncture in our health care systems across the country because we’re not seeing enough family physicians; five million Canadians without a family doctor, we need to address that problem now,” Dr. Ann Collins, the former Canadian Medical Association President, said.
In Ontario there are more than 1.3 million people without a family doctor. The shortages are frustrating not only those looking for care, but those attending as well.
“You need to add more physicians on but there’s no family physicians that actually do this anymore,” Dworkin said.
Dworkin says the result is doctors working long hours, including on weekends and vacations, all in an effort to simply stay up to date and not be overwhelmed by each day’s workload. He says it’s that pressure that creates burnout and fatigue; something he and other doctors are constantly mindful of.
“When you start to lose your empathy, you know you’re in trouble. It hasn’t gotten there yet, but there have been days where your empathy gets really tried,” Dworkin said.
Experts say more needs to be done to recruit physicians and nurses.
“We have to make it more desirable for physicians to choose as a speciality, but also to stay as a speciality,” Collins said.
But any solution will take years, leaving doctors like Dworkin filling the gap and seeing as many patients as they can within the tight constraints of the day.
“We need to be very, very concerned because we’re losing many years of a family physicians services,” Collins said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
It could take years to catch up on child vaccinations in Ontario post-pandemic
Ontario is still playing catch up on routine vaccinations that many children missed during the pandemic and public health officials are warning that it could take years to solve the problem.