Doctor's Inundated
The doctor is inundated, poll finds
Complexity of cases, chronic conditions impose new demands
For a growing number of Dr.'s, a typical 15-minute visit is simply not enough.
The Dr. is seeing more elderly patients who need more of his time.
"The population is aging, and that certainly is having an effect," he said on Monday. "We are seeing more chronic disease and complexity in managing patients with multiple medical problems, including heart disease, arthritis, mental health problems and cancer."
A survey of 12,000 physicians across the country shows some 72 per cent of Canadian doctors report the complexity of their patient caseload is placing increasing demands on their time, while 63 per cent said managing patients with chronic conditions was a factor in this.
Other findings of the National Physician Survey, conducted in 2010 by Mount Sinai, says care for an aging population is complex.
WAIT TIMES: Patients requiring urgent care are waiting longer to see physicians. Some 61 per cent were seen withinaday by their family physicians in 2010, compared with 65 per cent in 2007. Some 32 per cent saw specialists within one day in 2010, compared with 37 per cent three years earlier.
CASELOAD: Nationally, the average size of a family doctor's practice is 1,700 patients. In Ontario, the
average is smaller, at1,600 patients. On average, family doctors see 107 patients a week; itis 117 in Ontario.
Older family physicians tend to maintain larger practices than their younger colleagues. For physicians aged 55 to 64, average practice size is 1,900 patients. For physicians under 35, the average is U60 patients.
Nearly 80 per cent of physicians aged 35 to 44 do on-call work, compared with 43 per cent among physicians 65 and over.
HOURS: The average work weekfor family doctors was just over 50 hours in 2010, about the same as in 2007. But the amount of time devoted to direct patient care decreased slightly, from 33.3 hours to 32.7 hours a week. The remainder is spent on administrative and managerial duties, teaching, research and continuing education.
ELECTRONIC RECORDS: Thirty nine per cent of doctors reported using some form of electronic medical records, an increase of 13 per cent from 2007. The biggest adopters were in Alberta, where 28 per cent reported using electronic charts only, and Ontario, where 20 per cent reported doing so. Among the slowest to convert were doctors in Quebec, where 56 per cent reported using paper charts only.
Complexity of cases, chronic conditions impose new demands
For a growing number of Dr.'s, a typical 15-minute visit is simply not enough.
The Dr. is seeing more elderly patients who need more of his time.
"The population is aging, and that certainly is having an effect," he said on Monday. "We are seeing more chronic disease and complexity in managing patients with multiple medical problems, including heart disease, arthritis, mental health problems and cancer."
A survey of 12,000 physicians across the country shows some 72 per cent of Canadian doctors report the complexity of their patient caseload is placing increasing demands on their time, while 63 per cent said managing patients with chronic conditions was a factor in this.
Other findings of the National Physician Survey, conducted in 2010 by Mount Sinai, says care for an aging population is complex.
WAIT TIMES: Patients requiring urgent care are waiting longer to see physicians. Some 61 per cent were seen withinaday by their family physicians in 2010, compared with 65 per cent in 2007. Some 32 per cent saw specialists within one day in 2010, compared with 37 per cent three years earlier.
CASELOAD: Nationally, the average size of a family doctor's practice is 1,700 patients. In Ontario, the
average is smaller, at1,600 patients. On average, family doctors see 107 patients a week; itis 117 in Ontario.
Older family physicians tend to maintain larger practices than their younger colleagues. For physicians aged 55 to 64, average practice size is 1,900 patients. For physicians under 35, the average is U60 patients.
Nearly 80 per cent of physicians aged 35 to 44 do on-call work, compared with 43 per cent among physicians 65 and over.
HOURS: The average work weekfor family doctors was just over 50 hours in 2010, about the same as in 2007. But the amount of time devoted to direct patient care decreased slightly, from 33.3 hours to 32.7 hours a week. The remainder is spent on administrative and managerial duties, teaching, research and continuing education.
ELECTRONIC RECORDS: Thirty nine per cent of doctors reported using some form of electronic medical records, an increase of 13 per cent from 2007. The biggest adopters were in Alberta, where 28 per cent reported using electronic charts only, and Ontario, where 20 per cent reported doing so. Among the slowest to convert were doctors in Quebec, where 56 per cent reported using paper charts only.
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