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Physician Results - National Results

Questions asked of all physicians (family physicians and all other specialists)

The following questionnaire was presented to and completed by physicians (family physicians and all other specialists) in Canada in 2004. Questions marked "FP", were asked to family physicians only, while those marked "SP" were asked to all other specialist physicians. Please review the questionnaire and use your cursor to click on those questions for which you wish to view results.

Search by Topic:

A. Work Setting	G. Access to Care
B. Patient Care Setting	H. Changes to Your Practice
C. Practice/ Work Profile	I. Professional Satisfaction
D. Clinical Practice Profile	J. Information Technology
E. Time Allocation	K. Education and Demographics
F. Professional Income

Please complete this questionnaire if one or more of the following apply to your current status: (please check ALL that apply to you)

؎	I am in full-time or part-time medical practice.
؎	I am a locum tenens. Please complete the questionnaire in relation to the last practice that you served, or are currently serving.
؎	I am employed in a medical or medically related field (e.g. administration, teaching, research).
؎	I am on a leave of absence or sabbatical from active patient care. Please complete the questionnaire in relation to your most recent medical practice.

If you DO NOT fall into any of the above-mentioned categories, please indicate your status below by checking the appropriate category. Return this uncompleted questionnaire in the enclosed stamped, self-addressed envelope. Thank you.

	؎	Medical Student	؎	Resident
	؎	Retired	؎	Other (please specify) ________________________

A: WORK SETTING
1. The following is a list of work settings. Check the category(ies) which best describe(s) the setting(s) where you work. Please check ALL that apply.

A	؎	Private office / clinic (excluding free standing walk-in clinics)	G	؎	Nursing home / Home for the aged
B	؎	Community clinic / Community health centre	H	؎	Administrative office
C	؎	Free-standing walk-in clinic	I	؎	Research unit
D	؎	Academic health sciences centre	J	؎	Free-standing laboratory/ diagnostic clinic
E	؎	Community hospital	K	؎	Other ______________
F	؎	Emergency department (community hospital or academic health sciences centre)

2.a) Please indicate which of the above settings is your MAIN work setting (i.e. the setting where you
spend most of your work time). Following the categories provided above, please circle ONLY ONE of the letters below.
A          B          C          D         E          F          G         H         I           J          K
2.b) Please indicate which of the above settings is your MAIN patient care setting (i.e. the setting where
        you spend the most time providing patient care). Following the categories provided above, please circle
        ONLY ONE of the letters below.
(If you do not do patient care, please circle N/A, and SKIP TO QUESTION 10).

A B C D E F G H I J K N/A

B. PATIENT CARE SETTING
3.a) With respect to your MAIN patient care setting specified in 2.b), indicate how that setting is organized. Please checkALL that apply.

؎	Solo practice	؎	Group practice	؎	Practice network	؎	Other	؎	Not applicable
Indicate which of the following, if any, you share with other physicians. Please checkALL that apply.
؎	Office space	؎	On-call duties
؎	Equipment	؎	Other ______________________
؎	Expenses
؎	Patient records
؎	Staff

3.b) Indicate the types of health care providers with whom you share patient care within your
MAIN patient care setting. Please check ALL that apply.

؎	Family physicians	؎	Occupational therapists	؎	Other (please specify) ____________________
؎	Specialist physicians	؎	Physiotherapists
؎	Nurse practitioners	؎	Social workers	؎	Other (please specify) ____________________
؎	Nurses (e.g., RN, LPN, RPN)	؎	Pharmacists
؎	Dieticians / Nutritionists	؎	Technicians/technologists
؎	Psychologists	؎	Midwives

3.c) Is your MAIN patient care setting wheelchair accessible? ؎ Yes ؎ No ؎ N/A

C. PRACTICE/ WORK PROFILE
4.a) Describe the population PRIMARILY served by you in your practice. Please check ONLY ONE.

A	؎	Inner city	E	؎	Geographically isolated / Remote
B	؎	Urban / Suburban	F	؎	Other _________________________
C	؎	Small town	G	؎	Cannot identify a primary population
D	؎	Rural

4.b) If there is a secondary population that you also serve, indicate which it is by circling the appropriate letter (using the categories provided in 4.a above). Please circle ONLY ONE.

A B C D E F N/A

5. Do any of the following groups represent more than 10% of your practice population?
If yes, please check ALL that apply.

؎	HIV / AIDS patients	؎	People living in poverty
؎	Patients with chronic mental illness	؎	Aboriginal peoples
؎	Patients with permanent physical disabilities	؎	Recent immigrants
؎	Patients with addictions	؎	Cultural minorities
؎	Homeless/ “street” people	؎	Other _____________________________________________
؎	Transient / seasonal populations

6. Please estimate the number of patient visits you have in a TYPICAL WEEK, EXCLUDING patient visits while on-call (on-call is defined as time outside of regularly scheduled clinical activity during which you are available to patients):

TOTAL

______

patient visits per week

7. Family Physicians/General Practitioners: Please indicate ALL areas of professional activity that are part of your practice and/or are areas of special interest. For areas of special interest, also give the percent of time spent in each (percentages do not have to total 100% but must not exceed 100%). Please note: you do not have to be certified in the area of professional activity to include it in your profile.

All other Specialist Physicians: Please indicate with a checkmark ALL of the disciplines and areas of professional activity listed below in which you practice/work, AND list the percent of time spent in each (percentages do not have to total 100% but must not exceed 100%). Please note: you do not have to be certified in the discipline/area of professional activity to include it in your profile.

Specialist Physician results for question 7 are available by special request.

D. CLINICAL PRACTICE PROFILE
8 FP. Which of the following procedures do you perform as part of your practice?
Please check ALL that apply.

؎	Audiometry	؎	Removal of superficial skin lesions (e.g. nevi, keratoses, cysts)
؎	Refraction	؎	Cryotherapy of superficial skin lesions (e.g. warts, nevi, lentigo)
؎	ECG interpretation	؎	Skin biopsy
؎	Pulmonary function testing	؎	Other biopsy
؎	Pap smears		_____________________________________
؎	IUD insertion	؎	Suturing
؎	Endometrial aspiration	؎	Toenail surgery
؎	Lumbar puncture	؎	Other minor surgery
؎	Casting / splinting		_____________________________________
؎	Aspiration/ injection of joints	؎	Other procedures
؎	Incising & draining abscesses		_____________________________________
؎	Anoscopy
؎	Other endoscopy _________________
؎	Needle aspiration (for diagnosis / biopsy)

8 SP. What are the five most common conditions you treat?

            1. ____________________________________________________________________________
            2. ____________________________________________________________________________
            3. ____________________________________________________________________________
            4. ____________________________________________________________________________
            5. ____________________________________________________________________________

Specialist Physician results for question 8 are available by special request.

9 FP. Please describe your involvement in maternity and newborn care.

؎	Maternity and newborn care are not part of my practice (Please SKIP TO QUESTION 10)
؎	Maternity and newborn care are part of my practice, and I provide: Please check ALL that apply.
		؎	Prenatal/ Antenatal care
		؎	Intrapartum care. Please indicate the number of births you attend per year: ______
		؎	I do not provide intrapartum care, but usually refer low-risk women to:
			؎	Another FP/GP	؎	An Obstetrician / Gynecologist	؎	A midwife
		؎	Postpartum care (in hospital or office, with reference to the mother)
		؎	Newborn care (in hospital or office, with reference to the baby)

9 SP. Excluding consultations, what are the five most common services you provide?

1. ____________________________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________________________________

Specialist Physician results for question 9 are available by special request.

E. TIME ALLOCATION

10.a) EXCLUDING ON-CALL ACTIVITIES, how many HOURS IN AN AVERAGE WEEK do you usually spend on the following activities? Assume each activity is mutually exclusive for reporting purposes, i.e. if an activity spans two categories, please report hours in only one category.

i) Direct patient care without a teaching component, regardless of setting	؎	hours / week
ii) Direct patient care with a teaching component, regardless of setting	؎	hours / week
iii) Teaching/ Education without direct patient care (contact with students/residents, preparation, marking, evaluations, etc.)	؎	hours / week
iv) Indirect patient care (charting, reports, phone calls, meeting patients’family, etc.)	؎	hours / week
v) Health facility committees	؎	hours / week
vi) Managing your practice (staff, facility, equipment, etc.)	؎	hours / week
vii) Research (including management of research and publications)	؎	hours / week
viii) Administration (i.e. management of university program, chief of staff, department head, Ministry of Health, etc.)	؎	hours / week
ix) Continuing medical education/professional development (courses, reading, videos, tapes, seminars, etc.)	؎	hours / week
x) Other (participation in professional or specialty organizations, medico-legal activities, etc.)	؎	hours / week
SUM of 10.a)i through 10.a)x TOTAL HOURS WORKED PER WEEK	؎	hours / week

10 FP.b) Of your direct patient care hours (EXCLUDING ON-CALL ACTIVITIES) indicated above
in 10.a) i and ii, please indicate how that time is broken down in the following activities.

i) Patient care in office/clinic	؎	hours / week
ii) Homecare	؎	hours / week
iii) Patient care in emergency room	؎	hours / week
iv) Hospital based activities	؎	hours / week
v) In-patient care in other types of institutions (e.g. nursing home, rehab facility, etc.)	؎	hours / week
vi) Other ___________________________________________________	؎	hours / week
SUM of 10.b)i through 10.b)vi TOTAL should not exceed the sum of i and ii in 10.a	؎	hours / week

“ON-CALL” = time outside of regularly scheduled clinical activity during which you are
available to patients.

11.a) Describe your on-call activity. Please check ALL that apply.

؎         Do not do on-call (Please SKIP TO QUESTION 12)
؎         Do obstetrical on-call
؎         Do on-call for hospital in-patients
؎         Do on-call for non-hospitalized patients - telephone availability only
؎         Do on-call for non-hospitalized patients - telephone availability and see patients as required
؎         Do emergency room on-call
؎         Do nursing home/ LTC facility on-call
؎         Other ________________________________________

11.b) Please estimate your average total number of on-call work hours PER MONTH:

____

hours/ month

11.c) Please estimate how many of your on-call hours each month are actually spent in direct patient care:

____

hours/month

11.d) Please estimate the number of patients you see on-call per month:

patients/month

12. In a TYPICAL year, how many weeks do you spend on each of the following activities?

_____	weeks engaged in clinical services / medical care, administration, teaching, research, on-going CME/CPD (continuing professional development)
______	weeks away from practice for CME/CPD purposes
______	weeks of vacation
______	weeks in other activities ______________________________________
52	*TOTAL MUST EQUAL 52 WEEKS*

13.a) In the last year have you been absent from work due to illness or disability?   ؎ Yes    ؎ No
            If YES, approximately how many days were you absent in the last year: _____ (number of days)
              Was the cause of the illness/disability work related?   ؎ Yes    ؎ No

13.b) In the last year have you taken time off work for personal reasons (e.g. maternity, paternity,
care of family members)? ؎ Yes ؎ No
If YES, approximately how many days were you absent in the last year? _____ (number of days)

F. PROFESSIONAL INCOME

14.a) In the last year, approximately what proportion of your professional income did you receive from each of the following payment METHODS? Please note: TOTAL MUST EQUAL 100%

	Fee-for-service (insured and uninsured)	_____	%
	Salary	_____	%
	Capitation	_____	%
	Sessional/ per diem / hourly	_____	%
	Service contract	_____	%
	Incentives and premiums	_____	%
	Other ___________________	_____	%
TOTAL TOTAL		100	%

14.b) If you had a choice, how would you prefer to be paid for your services as a physician?
Please check ONLY ONE.

؎	Fee-for-service only
؎	Salary only
؎	Capitation only
؎	Sessional/hourly payments only
؎	Service contract only
؎	Blended payment

If blended, what components would you want included? Check ALL that apply.

؎	Fee-for-service
؎	Salary
؎	Capitation
؎	Sessional/per diem/hourly payments
؎	Service contract
؎	Benefits/pension
؎	On-call remuneration beyond fee-for-service
؎	Other _______________________

14.c) Please indicate which of the following funding MECHANISMS contribute to your income, either
directly or through financial support of your practice setting/organization. Note: All of the funding mechanisms may not be available in your province/territory. Check ALL that apply to you.

؎	Alternative payment program
؎	Regional health authority/ board
؎	Academic health sciences centre
؎	Blended funding program
؎	Block funding program
؎	Rural/ northern/ underserviced incentives
؎	CMPA reimbursement
؎	Third party pension contributions or other benefits
؎	Other _________________________

G. ACCESS TO CARE

15. What arrangements do you have for care of your patients outside of usual office hours?
      Check ALL that apply.
            ؎ Physician available
            ؎ Individualized medical telephone advice
    If yes, who provides that advice? Check ALL that apply.
؎   a physician associated with your practice
؎   a nurse or other health care team member associated with your practice
؎   a service provided by an external agency (e.g. 1-800 tollfree telehealth line)
؎   other _____________________________
؎ Instructions to go to the emergency department
            ؎ Instructions to go to a walk-in clinic/ after hours clinic
            ؎ Instructions to call a housecall service
            ؎ Other ______________________________________________________
            ؎ No direction

16. Please rate the accessibility to the following for your patients:

Excellent

Very Good

Good

Fair

Poor

N/A

Referral to specialist physicians in general

Referral to Psychiatrists

Referral to Obstetricians / Gynecologists

Referral to Orthopedic Surgeons

Pediatricians/ Pediatric specialists

Anaesthesia services

Emergency room services

Palliative care

Hospital in-patient care on an urgent basis

Hospital care for elective procedures

Highly specialized services (e.g.trauma, stroke, renal dialysis, cancer, etc.)

Long-term care beds (e.g. nursing home, chronic care, etc.)

Routine diagnostic services (e.g. lab, x-rays, etc.)

Advanced diagnostic services (e.g. MRI, etc.)

Drugs and appliances

Community nursing services

Homemaking services

Occupational therapy services

Physiotherapy services

Psychosocial support services (e.g. psychologists, social workers, etc.)

Health care services in patient’s language/ culture

Female or male physicians as preferred by patient

17. To what extent are you accepting new patients into your MAIN patient care setting?
      Please check only ONE.
         ؎ No restrictions; practice is open to all new patients
            ؎         Partially closed. Please describe   ___________________________________________
            ؎         Completely closed
            ؎         Not applicable

17 SP. Typically, if your office is contacted with a referral, how long would the patient wait until the first consultation with you?

Urgent: ______ days ؎ Unsure

Non-urgent: ______ days ؎ Unsure

؎ I do not accept referrals

؎ N/A

View Question 17 specialist physician results by choosing your specialty of interest

H. CHANGES TO YOUR PRACTICE

18. With reference to the LAST TWO YEARS, please check all of the following changes you have already
made. With reference to the NEXT TWO YEARS, please check all of the following changes that you
are planning to make.

		Changes made in the LAST 2 years	Changes planned in the NEXT 2 years
Relocate my practice within the same province/territory	A	؎	؎
Relocate my practice to another province/territory in Canada	B	؎	؎
Relocate to Canada from another country	C	؎	؎
Leave Canada to practise in another country	D	؎	؎
Move from an urban/suburban to a rural/remote practice setting	E	؎	؎
Move from a rural/remote to an urban/suburban practice setting	F	؎	؎
Specialize in an area of medical practice _____________________________	G	؎	؎
Reduce scope of practice _________________________________________	H	؎	؎
Expand scope of practice ________________________________________	I	؎	؎
Reduce teaching, research, and/or administration responsibilities	J	؎	؎
Increase teaching, research, and/or administration responsibilities	K	؎	؎
Take a temporary leave of absence	L	؎	؎
Reduce weekly work hours (excluding on call)	M	؎	؎
Increase weekly work hours(excluding on call)	N	؎	؎
Reduce on-call hours	O	؎	؎
Increase on-call hours	P	؎	؎
Change from solo to group practice	Q	؎	؎
Change to a multidisciplinary practice model	R	؎	؎
Become part of a practice network	S	؎	؎
Change in mode of remuneration	T	؎	؎
Retrain within the medical field	U	؎	؎
Retire	V	؎	؎
Leave active practice for reason(s) other than above ____________________	W	؎	؎
Other change(s) _________________________________________________	X	؎	؎
NO CHANGES (if no changes made or planned, SKIP TO QUESTION 20)	Y	؎	؎

19.a) From question 18 above, please indicate the most significant change you MADE in the last two
          years. Please circle ONLY ONE.
A     B     C      D     E     F     G     H     I     J     K     L     M     N     O     P     Q     R     S     T     U      X
19.b) From question 18 above, please indicate the most significant change PLANNED in the next two
         years. Please circle ONLY ONE.
A     B      D     E    F     G     H     I     J     K     L     M     N     O     P     Q     R     S     T     U     V     W   X
19.c) Please indicate your reasons for the most significant changes that you circled in questions
19 (a) & (b) above. Please check ALL that apply.

MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGE	Changes MADE	Changes PLANNED
Reason(s) for change(s)	(19.a)	(19.b)
Want(ed) a career change	؎	؎
Health reasons	؎	؎
Family obligations	؎	؎
Financial priorities/necessities	؎	؎
To meet population/community needs	؎	؎
Other(s)_______________________	؎	؎

I. PROFESSIONAL SATISFACTION

20. Please rate your satisfaction with each of the following:

Very satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Neutral

Somewhat dissatisfied

Very dissatisfied

N/A

Your relationship with your patients

Your relationship with hospitals

Your relationship with specialist physicians

Your relationship with family physicians

Your relationship with non-physician health care workers

The availability of CME/CPD opportunities to meet your needs

Your ability to find locum tenens coverage for CME/CPD, holidays, personal time

Your current professional life

The balance between your personal and professional commitments

21. Which of your professional activities do you find particularly:

a) Stressful: ______________________________________________________________

b) Rewarding: _____________________________________________________________

J. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

22. What type of access do you have to the Internet in your MAIN patient care setting?
؎ none ؎ dial-up ؎ high-speed (cable, DSL) ؎ Don’t know what type

23. Please indicate which of the following is in your MAIN patient care setting, whether you use it, and
whether it is on a PDA (personal digital assistant/ wireless device).

	Have It	Use It	Have it on a PDA
Electronic patient health records	؎	؎	؎
Electronic patient appointment/ scheduling system	؎	؎	؎
Electronic reminder systems for recommended patient care	؎	؎	؎
Electronic interface to external pharmacy/ pharmacist	؎	؎	؎
Electronic interface to external laboratory/ diagnostic imaging	؎	؎	؎
Electronic interface to other external systems (e.g. hospitals, other clinics) for accessing or sharing patient information	؎	؎	؎
Electronic warning systems for adverse prescribing and/or drug interactions	؎	؎	؎
Electronic decision aids	؎	؎	؎
Telemedicine/ webcasting/ videoconferencing	؎	؎	؎
Online access to journals, clinical practice guidelines, medical databases (e.g. MEDLINE)	؎	؎	؎
Online CME/CPD courses/ programs	؎	؎	؎

K. EDUCATION & DEMOGRAPHICS

24.a) When and where did you complete your MEDICAL training?

	Year of Graduation	University Name	Country
Undergraduate medical training	_________________	_________________	_________________
	_________________	_________________	_________________
Post-graduate medical training	_________________	_________________	_________________
	_________________	_________________	_________________
	_________________	_________________	_________________
	_________________	_________________	_________________

24.b) Please specify any medical certification(s).
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________

24.c) Please specify any other non-medical degrees: __________________________________________

25. Marital status. Please check ONE only.

	؎	Single, separated, divorced or widowed
	؎	Married / Living with partner
		Is your spouse/partner a: ؎ Physician ؎ Other health care provider ؎ Neither

26. Do you have children or other dependents for whom you personally provide care/ supervision?

؎	No
؎	Yes	If yes, do you have major responsibility for the care of these individuals?
		؎ Yes	؎ No
		If these are children, what is the age of the youngest? _____years

27.a) Of all of the areas in medicine, what led you to select your current career?
Please check ALL that apply

A	؎	Intellectual stimulation/challenge	G	؎	Earning potential
B	؎	Doctor-patient relationship	H	؎	Research opportunities
C	؎	Workload flexibility and/or predictability	I	؎	Teaching opportunities
D	؎	Influence of a mentor	J	؎	Ability to pursue non-work related interests
E	؎	Influence of family	K	؎	Availability of training opportunities
F	؎	Prestige	L	؎	Other _____________

27.b) Indicate the ONE most important factor in 27.a) above.
A B C D E F G H I J K L

28. When did you decide on your current field of medical practice?

	؎	Before medical school
	؎	During medical school but prior to clerkship
	؎	During clerkship
	؎	During residency
	؎	After a period of time in practice
	؎	Other _____________________________________________

29.a) In which province(s)/territory(ies) do you currently practice? Circle ALL that apply.
BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL NT YT NU

29.b) Indicate the main reason(s) you selected your current practice location.
Please check no more than 2 reasons.

	؎	Availability of medical support system/ resources
	؎	Family reasons/ spousal influence
	؎	Liked the area
	؎	Opportunity for affiliation with a university
	؎	Community needs were a good match to my career interests
	؎	Practice opportunity was available
	؎	Religious/ social/ cultural reasons
	؎	Financial recruitment/ retention incentives
	؎	Other (non-financial) recruitment/ retention incentives
	؎	Other ________________________________________________________________

29.c) Please provide the 6-digit postal code of your MAIN patient care
setting or MAIN work setting if you do not provide patient care:

29.d) Select the ONE statement which best describes the environment in which you grew up prior to
university.

	؎	Exclusively/predominantly rural
	؎	Exclusively/predominantly small town
	؎	Exclusively/predominantly urban
	؎	Mixture of environments

29.e) In which province(s) did you grow up prior to university? Circle ALL that apply.
BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NF/LB NT YT NU Outside of Canada
30. What languages do you speak with your patients?

English

French

Other(s) ______________

31. Your year of birth: 19

32. Sex: male ؎ female ؎

33. Comments