Alberta, Saskatchewan and P.E.I. top provinces for doctors to practise: report

Saskatchewan and Alberta are among the top provinces for doctors to practise, according to a ranking compiled by a industry publication informing Canadian doctors.

The Medical Post used six metrics to determine the standing of Canada’s provinces and ranked Alberta first with an A- overall, followed by Saskatchewan and Prince Edward Island, which both scored Bs.

Saskatchewan’s ranking in the September 2018 issue wasn’t necessarily surprising, but the authors weren’t sure what to expect, said Tristan Bronca, associate editor of the independent magazine.

Saskatchewan received the highest score in professional satisfaction – a category based on findings from the Canadian Medical Association’s 2017 Physician Workforce Survey.

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“I don’t have a very good idea of why doctors in Saskatchewan, specifically, are so professionally satisfied,” Bronca said.

“I just know that most of them are very satisfied.”

Saskatchewan received a B+ in compensation and B’s in medico-legal favourability and quality of life. The province garnered a C+ in regulatory favourability and a D in work-life balance.

No province scored better than a C in work-life balance and Ontario, Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador received F grades.

“Doctors, generally, are extremely hard working people and they’re feeling squeezed, a lot of them,” Bronca said.

The Saskatchewan Medical Association (SMA) is “pleased” with the results of the doctor survey, according to a statement from honourary treasurer Dr. Barb Konstantynowicz.

Progress in the province has included physician executive appointments to the senior leadership group of the Saskatchewan Health Authority and more physician positions being filled, Konstantynowicz said.

“However, despite the survey’s findings the SMA is working toward putting more resources into primary health care, retaining and recruiting rural physicians, recruiting more specialists where they are particularly needed … and in improving physician well-being,” Konstantynowicz said.

The Medical Post’s overall rankings are below:

• Alberta (A-);
• Saskatchewan (B);
• P.E.I. (B);
• Quebec (B-);
• New Brunswick (B-);
• B.C. (C+);
• Ontario (C+);
• Nova Scotia (C+);
• Newfoundland and Labrador (C+); and
• Manitoba (C).