Barriers to offering French language physician services in rural and northern Ontario.

Introduction: Rural and Northern Ontario francophones face many health-related challenges including poor health status, a poor supply of French-speaking physicians, and the potential for an inability or reduced ability to effectively communicate with anglophone healthcare providers. As such, it can reasonably be expected that rural and Northern Ontario francophones experience barriers when receiving care. However, the experience of physicians working in areas densely populated by francophones is largely unexplored.

Strategies for improved French-language health services: Perspectives of family physicians in northeastern Ontario.

Objective: To identify strategies to improve the quality of health services for Francophone patients.

Design: A series of semistructured key informant interviews.

Setting: Northeastern Ontario.