Making a difference in patients’ lives: Celebrating family medicine residents
“You might see 12 patients a day and you know them well. You know their whole family, their medical history. But you don’t know what they’re here for. You never know what issues will come through the door. Each is a puzzle to solve, so reading body language and listening carefully are key.”
At the University of Toronto Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), resident doctors – who have obtained a Doctor of Medicine degree from medical school – receive in-depth family medicine training for two years at one of 14 hospital teaching sites. After graduation, they are fully fledged, licenced family physicians who may go on to practice in many different clinical settings: community offices, hospitals, emergency rooms, long-term care and more. It’s an opportunity to potentially master many aspects of medicine.
“Family medicine residents are essential, hard-working members of clinical teams. We learn about the process of independent decision-making, and at my training hospital, we get to do tasks such as running codes in the emergency, inserting IUDs, performing skin biopsies and many other procedures,” says Dr. Xu.
Family medicine residents also play a big supporting role in COVID care teams, such as giving vaccinations. “We’re always putting our best foot forward even through long hours and stress. It’s great to have Resident Doctors Awareness Week for everyone to appreciate all that residents do,” she says.
“Our current residents are training in an unprecedented time, with COVID-19 adding new layers of challenge and complexity,” says Dr. Stu Murdoch, Director of Postgraduate Education at DFCM as well as Academic Chief of the Family Medicine Teaching Unit (FMTU) at Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH).
“Throughout the pandemic, our residents have continued to bring energy and enthusiasm to their day-to-day work despite juggling redeployment, supporting the vaccination effort and driving community outreach alongside virtual care, virtual learning and – of course – exams.”
After completing medical school at the University of British Columbia, Dr. Xu decided to make the cross-country move for a family medicine residency at U of T, in part for its influential academic leaders and culture of innovation. She chose RVH in Barrie for her residency.
“RVH offers the perfect balance between lots of hands-on experience and excellent teachers. As a community hospital, it’s learning oriented and has more flexible opportunities for residents. And within DFCM’s residency program at U of T, we’re encouraged to start our own projects and join pilot programs,” she says.
As a newcomer, she’s found the community at RVH to be respectful and inclusive, and she enjoys Barrie’s outdoorsy, wellness-focused lifestyle.
Despite her entire residency taking place during COVID, Dr. Xu enjoys the connections she’s made. “The only way to get through this without burning out has been to support each other. I don’t have family here, so I was determined to make my co-residents my family,” she says. “I’ve made some lifelong friendships.”
To nurture these connections even further, Dr. Xu joined PARO, the Professional Association of Residents of Ontario, as Toronto’s Site Chair. Leading 46 Toronto general council members in different specialties and liaising with the five other Ontario university leads, she’s proud to advocate for resident working conditions, plan events and represent family medicine.
“I feel that as the Site Chair, I have the chance to impact the culture in residency. I want to make this a safe space where we can share experiences and ideas,” Dr. Xu says. One goal is to help improve the communication between residents, training programs, U of T and affiliated hospitals, which will serve as the basis for many initiatives.
She’s also interested in learning more about the healthcare system and how to improve them. As such, she’s completing a Master of Science degree in System Leadership and Innovation (MScSLI) through the Integrated 3-Year Program in Leadership. This pilot program, developed by DFCM in partnership with U of T’s Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME), enables medical residents to complete a Master’s degree alongside their clinical rotations and fosters future leaders in healthcare.
“As a family doctor, the challenge is in maintaining your broad generalist knowledge,” Dr. Xu says. “And I want to keep learning and acquiring new skills.”
February 7-11, 2022, is Resident Doctors Awareness Week 2022. Join the celebration! Check out PARO’s news post, and for more information on residency, visit DFCM’s Residency webpages or the Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC) website.
