Time to change the way physicians are trained in Canada

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 67, No. 8, October 2025, Page 274 Letters
By: Anthony Walter, MD

Dr Deena Case’s letter [BCMJ 2025;67:198] about the high rate of infertility among physicians emphasized that this situation arises from the length of time it takes to train to be a physician in Canada. Consequently, the ova of female doctors are likely to exceed their best-before date prior to the time they are professionally ready to conceive.

She raises a valid observation: Is it really necessary that the training to become an effective physician involves so much of a person’s adult life? The experience for a member of my family was 4 years to obtain an undergraduate degree and 2 years for a master’s degree before acceptance into 4 years of medical school. That was followed by 5 years of specialty training and then over 2 years of subspecialty training, with 1 year out for serious health problems. That is 18 years (well over one-third of one’s earning lifetime), paid for out of pocket after high school, before significant earnings begin, as well as putting oneself years behind in the housing market, with no pension to compensate at the end of a career working for the government system. Can such a setup provide the physician workforce for our country?

Next month, my niece’s son enters medical school in Denmark, with nothing more than a high school diploma. No wonder the Danes are such a well-provided-for nation. Time for Canada to cut prerequisites and catch up.
—Anthony Walter, MD
Coldstream

This letter was submitted in response to “Re: Infertility among physicians.”

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Anthony Walter, MD. Time to change the way physicians are trained in Canada. BCMJ, Vol. 67, No. 8, October, 2025, Page(s) 274 - Letters.


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geoff sinton says: reply

I went straight from high school to medical school in the UK. Getting a degree first means that students spend university getting high grades, which does not necessarily mean a broad education and certainly does not encourage personal growth. Most doctors need to know how to interact with people and all need to know how to be able to relax, not how to spend every waking hour studying and working a minimum wage job to pay for the pointless degree so they can try to get into medical school.

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