abstract
- The physician resource databank, compiled and maintained by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), contains functional information from 41 599 of Canada's licensed physicians. The information was gathered from a 20-item questionnaire sent to 47 162 physicians. Of the total, 38 653 responses came from physicians who had completed their training and these were included in the analysis to produce a profile of the supply of physicians in Canada. The data from physicians younger than 35 years indicate some changes in the structure of the supply: 27% are women (compared with only about 9% of physicians older than 45 years).The implications of these statistics are not yet clear, but within the next decade the numbers in some specialties-surgery, anesthesia, obstetrics and gynecology, and radiology-may be too few to meet the demand as more than 20% of the current practitioners reach retirement age. Other findings are that [List: see text]