ArticleCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2024
Long-term trends in the work hours of physicians in Canada.
Article in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Physician Age and Patient Outcomes: A Systematic Review.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Physician Work Patterns in Pregnancy, Parental Leave, and Return to the Workforce.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Toward a family medicine capability framework for Canada: From competence to capability.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2026Article
- General practitioners' acceptability to handle unscheduled visits: a french nationwide cross-sectional survey.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Enabling Canadian Physician Wellness in the Age of Digital Innovation: What Do We Need to Succeed?Applied clinical informatics · 2025Article
- Changes in Family Physicians Over Time in Alberta, Canada: A 16-Year Population-Based Cohort Study.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Usability, Technical Performance, and Accuracy of Artificial Intelligence Scribes for Primary Care: Competitive Analysis.JMIR human factors · 2025Article
- Work-Life Imbalance: A Challenge and an Opportunity for Neurosurgery.Neurosurgery practice · 2025Article
- Family Physicians in Focused Practice in Ontario, Canada: A Population-Level Study of Trends From 1993/1994 Through 2021/2022.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Beyond headcount: four dimensions of Canada's primary care access crisis and a three-level agenda for action.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Strategies to increase access to physician-led anesthesia care in Canada.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2024Article
- Reality check-an urgent call for innovation in Canadian anesthesia care delivery.Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie · 2024Article
- Supporting future and current rural physicians.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2024Article
- Comparison of resident salary and living wage in Canada: a cross-sectional study.Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgieArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPhysician work hours directly influence patient access to health care services and play a vital role in physician human resource planning. We sought to evaluate long-term trends in hours worked by physicians in Canada, overall and by subgroup.
methodsWe used Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey to identify physicians via occupation and industry coding information. We estimated descriptive statistics and performed graphical analysis of the average weekly hours worked by physicians over the 1987-2021 period.
resultsOverall, weekly physician work hours remained stable from 1987 until 1997, after which they declined. Average weekly hours decreased by 6.9 hours (
interpretationThese findings may indicate a long-term shift in work preferences among Canadian physicians; male physicians may be seeking a better work-life balance, which, in turn, has narrowed the gap in hours worked by sex, with potential implications for pay equity. Policymakers and planners should carefully consider changes in hours worked, rather than just the total number of physicians, to ensure an accurate evaluation of the physician workforce.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.