/Family Doctor/ Specialist Doctors/ Internal Medicine/ Anesthesiologists/ Doctors/

What are the different types of doctors?

Canada has more than 96,000 doctors. Roughly half are family doctors – the go-to doctors for most health issues. The others focus on specific areas of medicine.

What is a family doctor?

Think of family doctors as your health care home base. Also known as general practitioners, they’re ideally who you see first when you’re feeling unwell or seeking advice on staying healthy.

Family doctors diagnose and treat a wide range of issues from seasonal allergies to chronic conditions like diabetes.
If you need specialized treatment, they can also connect you with the right experts.
They also get to know you and your medical history and provide regular check-ups to keep you healthy.
As of 2022, there are just over 48,000 family doctors in Canada. Even so, more than six million people in Canada don’t have one.

What are the types of specialist doctor?

Canada has over 47,800 specialist doctors across dozens of specialties. They can be grouped into three main categories:

Clinical specialists treat specific conditions or groups of people. These include pediatricians (children’s health), neurologists (brain and nervous systems) and dermatologists (skin).
Surgical specialists are experts in performing certain procedures, usually in hospitals. For example, obstetricians and gynecologists provide reproductive care and surgeries, while orthopedic surgeons operate on bones, joints and muscles.
Laboratory specialists conduct tests and analyze samples from patients to help diagnose and treat diseases. These include microbiologists who study illness caused by viruses and other microorganisms and pathologists who examine body tissues and fluids to understand the cause and nature of disease.

After family medicine, the specialties with the most doctors in Canada are psychiatry, internal medicine and anesthesiology.

What do psychiatrists do?

Psychiatrists are medical doctors who assess, diagnose and treat mental health conditions. They spend 13 to 14 years training to diagnose and treat mental, emotional and behavioural disorders, including substance use disorders.

There are more than 5,600 psychiatrists across Canada – an increase from previous years, but still not enough to meet demand for mental health care.
Many psychiatrists are close to retirement. More than a quarter graduated more than three decades ago.

What is internal medicine?

Internal medicine physicians or internists diagnose and treat conditions affecting the internal organs. They’re also specially trained to manage patients suffering from advanced illnesses or diseases of more than one organ system.

Many internists complete extra training focusing on specific organs like the heart (cardiologists), digestive system (gastroenterologists) or respiratory system (respirologists).
Others focus on complex patients including people with life-threatening conditions or injuries (critical care doctors), older adults (geriatricians) and those at the end of life (palliative care).
There are more than 4,000 internists in Canada.

What do anesthesiologists do?

Anesthesiologists manage sedation during surgery and other procedures. They manage your pain before, during and after procedures. They also provide advanced life support and procedures to restore breathing in the emergency department and intensive care unit, as well as pain relief during childbirth and for patients with chronic or ongoing pain.