Good news and bad news for emerging doctors
A bright, tough future awaits, writes Dr. Alykhan Abdulla.
Dear future doctor,
Congratulations on finishing medical school in the Class of 2024! I know Match Day, (the day your future medical specialty is decided) is today, March 19, and I wanted to take a moment to celebrate all you have done to get here. And give you some reassurances for the future.
Many of you have done one or two or even three university degrees, written scientific papers, done research, undertaken philanthropic or charity work, held many jobs or even started your own businesses, and tried multiple times to actually get into medical school in the first place. In the end, you did it! You got into medical school. Remember less than eight per cent who apply get into medicine. You were on top of the world.
Then things got harder.
Medical school and clerkship (where you act as student doctors in hospitals and clinics) challenged every competency you had. As your mentor and professor, I truly appreciated your advocacy, leadership, patience, empathy and optimism. You succeeded despite the long hours, high personal demands, constant hours on call, and the hard questions on physiology or therapeutics when you had the least amount of sleep.
But then the next hurdle was applying for which type of doctor you would be for the rest of your life. This was even more competitive. Those specialties from 2023 that were glamorized and paid top dollar — like dermatology (which only had 30 positions available in Canada) or neurosurgery (with 20 positions in Canada) — left your chances at one per cent against the smartest medical students in the country.
But remember, you are a doctor in the end. It doesn't matter what type of doctor you are. Your family will still be proud of you; society
Your life will have meaning, but you will struggle personally with burnout.
will need you. There are only 2,900 new MDS added in Canada annually, and less than 100,000 in total in Canada, the lowest per capita amount in the OECD.
You are a valuable resource!
Sorry, but there is bad news, too.
You have the highest debt of any graduating medical school class, typically between $100,000 and $200,000. Your income level as a doctor will be lower than at any other time in history relative to inflation and the cost of living. It will be hard, when you finish residency, to find a job that lets you work where you want to live (it is very hard to find positions in big urban centres). You will have delayed having a family and buying a home, which will present new challenges. And if you become a family doctor — this year there will be the highest number of unfilled positions in family medicine than at any other time in history — your own government will devalue you by paying the lowest income among all types of doctors, and it will chastise you for not working hard enough.
But no matter what the political climate is and the challenges are, I appreciate and admire each and every one of you. Welcome to the medical family. Your life will have meaning, but you will struggle personally with burnout. Don't be demoralized. We will not give up challenging and trying to rectify terrible health policy. Your patients will not give up fighting for you. Canada needs more doctors — especially family doctors. And I will need you when I get older.
Dr. Alykhan Abdulla is a comprehensive family doctor working in Manotick, Ont. He is board director of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and director for longitudinal leadership curriculum at the University of Ottawa undergraduate medical education.
X-twitter: @Alykhanabdulla
Linkedin: Dr. Alykhanabdulla MD, FCFP,
Dip Sport Med, CCPE, MCPL, ICD.D