Family doctors working in rural areas of Canada are much more likely to be taking new patients than those in urban areas, new research has found.
The study from the Canadian Institute for Health Information found that more than 35 per cent of rural doctors whom they surveyed were accepting new patients, compared to just 18 per cent in urban areas.
The age of family doctors, their gender, where they got their degree, and the type of practice they had all contributed to whether they were taking on more patients. But the biggest factor by far was their location.
The CIHI researchers found that of the rural doctors surveyed, those who obtained their medical degree internationally were far more likely to have an open practice than those who were educated in Canada.
About 62 per cent of international graduates said they were accepting new patients versus 27 per cent of Canadian graduates.
The same finding applied to urban doctors, although not to such a great extent -- 27 per cent compared to 16 per cent.
The study noted that there tended to be more internationally educated doctors in rural areas than in urban ones. That's because there are usually more opportunities to set up practices in rural communities.
The survey also found that male physicians were slightly more likely to have open practices than their female counterparts. And those GPs working in group or interprofessional practices, rather than of on their own, were more likely to be open to new patients.
Doctors younger than 45, and those older than 54 were also more likely to be accepting new patients. This trend held for physicians working in both rural and urban settings.
For urban family doctors, those who said they were satisfied with their professional lives were significantly more likely to say they were accepting new patients than those who were dissatisfied. But among rural doctors, satisfaction with professional life did not appear to influence whether they were taking new patients.
The study, called "What Do We Know About Family Physicians Who Accept New Patients?" used data from the 2007 National Physician Survey. The survey was conducted by the College of Family Physicians, the Canadian Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
Geoff Ballinger, manager of CIHI's Health Human Resources says it's important to understand what influences family doctors to accept new patients, since it "can help in addressing issues associated with timely access to care."
