Q & A with Alberta's Family Physician of the Year: Paul Humphries

We made an appointment with the Top Doc to get his thoughts on how family medicine continues to evolve to meet the needs of today's modern family.

Danica Erickson - 06 December 2016

Paul Humphries was recently recognized as Alberta's Family Physician of the Year, as well as one of Canada's Top Ten Family Physicians.

As an advisor and assessor to many practicing physicians in the Edmonton-area, you are also a patient when you visit the doctor's office. What does a Top Doc look for in his own family doctor?

I considered professional and personal attributes when selecting my own family physician.

On a professional level, can they provide comprehensive coverage for our needs? Is the clinic in, or close to us and accessible through a convenient system? Does this person have a pool of specialists to access when needed, without over-referring? Are they a sensible problem-solver?

On a personal level, I prefer a nice person who is also a teacher because teaching keeps you up-to-date.

What are the greatest changes in family medicine that you've seen over your 40 years of practice?

There are a few, but teamwork tops the list. I welcome the new era of teams of health care professionals meeting patient needs. The Primary Care Networks are an example of this positive change. Thanks to researchers like Barbara Starfield, family medicine is no longer an isolated profession, but recognized as being crucial to good health. I believe this will be rewarding for recent and future graduates. It has long been my practice and priority to recognize all of my health care collaborators for their contributions to the team.

Additionally, patients today are informed and intelligent rather than patronized, likely to be influenced by someone other than their physician, and savvy about finding valuable websites to access health information.

And finally, medicine has stopped just talking about using competency for assessing and monitoring physicians and other health care workers and is actually doing it! I will not miss using checkboxes and tests to evaluate practice readiness.

What would you say are the top reasons for a medical student to consider becoming a family physician?

The number one reason to become a family physician is the ability to solve problems; family medicine always presents sufficient problems to satisfy one's desire to problem-solve.

The people also make it all worthwhile for me, including having the opportunity to serve people and helping improve their lives, working daily with an incredible variety of different people, and garnering respect and gratitude in the communities I serve.

What has been the most rewarding part of your career to-date? I am pleased to have landed into a long phase of my career with so much variety and so much satisfaction in it. I've never once had to invoke my "If I have two days in a row when I don't want to go to work then I quit." rule.

Mora About Paul Humphries

Paul Humphries is currently the The Assistant Program Director, Rural with the Department of Family Medicine, and is a member of the Competency-based Medical Education team. His current medical practice is primarily focused on palliative care.