Of the 232 residents today, more than 50% are involved in general medicine and will settle in different regions of Quebec, says Mauril Gaudreault, President of the College of Physicians of Quebec. Especially since the department at Laval University had set itself the goal of having half of its graduates take this path.
What’s more, these doctors survived the pandemic, most of them as interns.
“I’m really very proud,” says Julien Poitras, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University.
“These students survived the pandemic. […] They contributed to the care of the population, which in this context often involved additional effort. »
– A quote from Dr. Julien Poitras, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University
Since 2020, 725 doctors have graduated from Université Laval, 264 in 2022 and 233 in 2021.
according to dr Poitras is expected to increase that number over the next few years. In medicine, there is an increase in cohorts. We have more students than in recent years. It grows. The Department of Health and Higher Education has passed significant increases […].
According to the Ministry of Health, 17% more students have been admitted to doctoral studies in medicine since 2019.
dr Julien Poitras, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Laval University
Photo: Radio Canada
Regional workforce
according to dr Julien Poitras has made the regions more attractive to general practitioners by opening medical pavilions in Rimouski and Lévis. They are familiarized with the region from the very first days of training. They are stuck in a hospital, they look at the care, the dean of the medical faculty specifies.
The new doctors say they are aware of the task at hand, while the number of Quebecers waiting for a GP is slowly diminishing.
“I expect to open my practice with 500 patients and we’ll see if I can accommodate more,” says Carl Vincent, a recent graduate who will lead Terrebonne. Hours are waiting for her at the Pierre-Le Gardeur Hospital and in a family medicine group.
Others, like Camille Genest, will go to Baie-Comeau. We find that general practitioners play the largest role in the regions.
According to Laval University, the proportion of doctors who choose general medicine is also increasing.
With information from Louis-Philippe Arsenault