Data from the Canadian Post-MD Education Registry (CAPER) indicate that the number of regular ministry-funded post-MD trainees in Canada decreased from 6674 in 1996/97 to a low of 6399 in 2000/01. However, the number increased to 6556 in 2002/03, and more ministry-funded positions are expected to be made available over the next 2 years to accommodate larger numbers of medical school graduates.
The number of trainees who are not funded by a Canadian ministry of health, mostly visa trainees whose training costs are covered by a foreign government, has almost doubled in the last decade, from 1326 in 1993/94 to 2446 in 2002/03. This means that despite the decrease in ministry-funded positions, there was an overall increase in the number of post-MD trainees between 1993 and 2003.
Between 1993/94 and 1999/00, the number of international medical graduates (IMGs) in ministry-funded positions dropped by 63%, from 790 to 291. The number is now rising again, reaching 488 positions in 2002/03.
In 2002/03, 39% of physicians exiting from Canadian post-MD programs were trained in family medicine, a proportion that has been fairly stable since 1997/98. The number of residents choosing to do an extra year of family medicine has almost quadrupled in the past decade, from 40 in 1993/94 to 155 in 2002/03. Of the 155 physicians who opted for an extra year of training, 63% chose emergency medicine. — Shelley Martin, Lynda Buske, CMA Research Directorate