Percentage of Canadian Medical School Graduates Still Practicing Medicine
Based on the most recent and highest quality evidence, there is no specific percentage data available that directly answers what proportion of Canadian medical school graduates are still practicing medicine.
The available evidence does not provide a clear statistic on the retention rate of Canadian medical graduates in medical practice over time. However, the evidence does offer some insights into related patterns of medical graduate career paths and retention within specific regions.
Medical Graduate Career Patterns in Canada
Regional Retention Patterns
Recent research shows varying retention patterns across different Canadian regions 1:
- Quebec (86.5%) and Ontario (80.4%) have above-average retention rates across the medical education continuum
- Alberta and British Columbia demonstrate high retention rates across the training continuum and into professional practice
- Family medicine has the highest retention rates from undergraduate to postgraduate training (81.9%)
- Psychiatry has the highest retention rate across the training continuum and into professional practice (71.2%)
Career Stability and Switching
A study examining the stability of medical student career interests found 2:
- Family medicine, surgery, and internal medicine showed the greatest stability from medical school entry to graduation
- Approximately 50% stability in career choice from entrance to exit of medical school
- Students tend to switch between careers with similar matching difficulty scores
International Medical Graduates in Canada
Research on international medical graduates (IMGs) in southwestern Ontario revealed 3:
- IMGs constituted 15.3% of family physicians in southwestern Ontario
- IMGs were more likely to:
- Be older and have been in practice longer
- Have practiced longer in their current locations
- Be in solo practice and accepting new patients
- Be serving in small towns and rural/isolated communities
- IMGs were less likely to:
- Have completed a family medicine residency
- Be involved in undergraduate or postgraduate teaching
- Provide maternity and newborn care
Career Choices and Medical Education
A study on career destinations of graduates from a medical school with an 18-week longitudinal integrated clerkship in general practice found 4:
- 43% of alumni were engaged in general practice as a career 6-8 years after graduation
- This suggests that curriculum design may influence long-term career choices
Challenges in Physician Distribution
There appears to be a mismatch between student career interests at medical school entry and the current specialty mix of physicians in Canada 5:
- Urban Family Medicine shows the greatest mismatch with fewer students interested in this career compared to the current proportion of practicing physicians
- Psychiatry also shows fewer interested students than the current proportion of practicing physicians
Key Considerations
- The data suggests regional variations in physician retention across Canada
- Specialty choice impacts retention patterns
- Educational experiences and curriculum design may influence long-term career choices
- There are spatial inequities across medical school service regions
While the evidence doesn't provide a specific percentage of Canadian medical graduates still practicing medicine nationwide, it does highlight the complex factors affecting physician workforce retention and distribution in Canada. Tracking graduate outcomes more systematically could help medical schools demonstrate their commitment to social accountability and improve physician workforce planning.