Workload of French-speaking family physicians in francophone rural and northern communities in Ontario.

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that French-speaking family physicians (FSPs) in Ontario are less numerous in areas with high proportions of francophones. The purpose of the current study was to assess whether the degree of concordance between physicians' language of competence and the linguistic profile of the community in which they practise is associated with workload and to explore variations in this relation in rural and northern regions of the province.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the 2013 College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Annual Membership Renewal Survey.

Geographic variation in FP and GP scope of practice in Ontario: Comparative provincial study.

Objective: To describe and compare the scope of practice (SoP) of GPs and FPs between the rural northern, rural southern, urban northern, and urban southern regions of Ontario.

Design: Cross-sectional retrospective analysis of the 2013 College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario official register and annual membership renewal survey data.

Setting: Ontario.

Impact of the rural pipeline in medical education: practice locations of recently graduated family physicians in Ontario.

Background: The "rural pipeline" suggests that students educated in rural, or other underserviced areas, are more likely to establish practices in such locations. It is upon this concept that the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) was founded. Our analysis answers the following question: Are physicians who were educated at NOSM more likely to practice in rural and northern Ontario compared with physicians who were educated at other Canadian medical schools?

Methods: We used data from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.

Milestones on the social accountability journey: Family medicine practice locations of Northern Ontario School of Medicine graduates.

Objective: To assess the effect of different levels of exposure to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine's (NOSM's) distributed medical education programs in northern Ontario on FPs' practice locations.

Design: Cross-sectional design using longitudinal survey and administrative data.

Setting: Canada.

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.

Outcomes of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine's distributed medical education programmes: protocol for a longitudinal comparative multicohort study.

Introduction: The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) has a social accountability mandate to serve the healthcare needs of the people of Northern Ontario, Canada. A multiyear, multimethod tracking study of medical students and postgraduate residents is being conducted by the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research (CRaNHR) in conjunction with NOSM starting in 2005 when NOSM first enrolled students. The objective is to understand how NOSM's selection criteria and medical education programmes set in rural and northern communities affect early career decision-making by physicians with respect to their choice of medical discipline, practice location, medical services and procedures, inclusion of medically underserved patient populations and practice structure.

Promising quantities, disappointing distribution. Investigating the presence of French-speaking physicians in Ontario's rural Francophone communities.

Introduction: Previous studies have suggested that there may be a lack of French language healthcare services in the province of Ontario. The purpose of this study was to determine if physicians in Ontario who expressed a proficiency in providing services in the French language are located in 'Francophone communities'.

Method: Responses from 10,968 Ontario-based family physicians (FPs) certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and uncertified general practitioners (GPs) who responded to the 2007 College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Annual Membership Renewal Survey were analysed and compared to the 2006 census of the population of Ontario.

Examining the geographic distribution of French-speaking physicians in Ontario.

Objective: To determine how many physicians in Ontario express a proficiency in providing services in the French language, and to assess the geographic distribution of such physicians.

Design: Population-based analysis of the 2007 College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Annual Membership Renewal Survey.

Setting: Ontario.

A closer look at Ontario's northern and southern rural physician demographics.

Introduction: In Ontario, Canada, there is a tendency to conflate rural and northern issues and although much of northern Ontario is rural, this is not exclusively the case. In this study, data were utilized from the licensing and regulatory body of physicians in Ontario to provide a more nuanced understanding of the distribution of the physician population across varying degrees of rurality in northern and southern regions.

Methods: This is a report on the geographic distribution of the 22 688 GPs, and specialists certified by the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada who had their primary practice address in Ontario.