Northern Ontario Physician Workforce Data

What do we know about where our grads have gone?

As we continue to move forward with NOSM’s physician workforce strategy it is important for us to know where NOSM’s learners have gone.  We will embark on a process that will see this data update in the autumn of each year.  The data below reflects data as of October 2020.

In broad strokes, the data to date shows that:

Of those learners who did both their undergraduate and their postgraduate training at NOSM, 89% have stayed in Northern Ontario.

Of those who have done their undergraduate MD training at NOSM (some of whom will have done their postgraduate training here, some will have done it at another institution), approximately 52% have stayed in Northern Ontario.

Of those who have done their postgraduate (specialty) training at NOSM 60% have stayed in Northern Ontario.

Of the 831 unique medical learners completing a program at NOSM (either undergraduate or postgraduate), approximately 50% have stayed in Northern Ontario.

What do we know about our current needs?

As of January 2021, based on data gathered from community and hospital level recruiters, we know that we need at least 313 physicians across Northern Ontario.

This data is imperfect as there are challenges about whether current funding allocations meaningfully reflect the need of the population, so we need to understand that these are minimum numbers, and they are current need.  The data does not include any forecasting information like anticipated retirements, nor the likely need to replace some experienced physicians with large practices with more than one new physician in order to safely and effectively manage the practice population.

Importantly the current need also reflects only clinical service requirements and do not include the expectations of participation in teaching or other scholarly work.

So, understanding the caveats above, we know that, as of January 2021, we currently need a minimum of 313 full-time equivalent physicians across Northern Ontario.