It is often difficult to help patients wean off benzodiazepines (benzos), especially if the patient has been using this medication for a long time and alternative treatments do not work as well for them.

There is a large differential for chronic pain and it can be difficult to address. Some patients with chronic pain take high amounts of opioids, leading to discomfort with continuing the prescription.

Patients with anxiety can often overuse health-care resources by presenting multiple health concerns to their physician. Family doctors can face difficulty if the cause of a patient’s concern is anxiety.

Harmful use of alcohol contributed to 17,000 deaths in Canada in 2020, with an estimated $6.3 billion spent that year on healthcare cost related to alcohol use.

Rising rates of obesity and diabetes, drug shortages, patient demand and societal discussions around fat-shaming, have placed family physicians in a difficult position, at times acting as gatekeepers for medications, determining which patients should gain access to GLP-1 agonists.

In Canada, one in 300 people ages 15 and older are transgender or non-binary, meaning that most family doctors care for gender non-conforming people in their practice.

Family physicians are often seen as the safety net for the entire health care system. Family doctors frequently face pressures from hospitals, specialists, families, and patients to fill the endless gaps in health care.

The Public Health Agency of Canada released data at the beginning of 2024 that showed the number of opioid-related overdoses and deaths in 2023 increased across the country.

Currently, there are long waitlists for free psychiatric assessments for adults with suspected ADHD, leaving patients unable to receive the necessary treatments.

AI and technology are changing the ways family doctors practice family medicine. This includes through the adoption of virtual visits and consults, and using AI to chart patient records, all of which family physicians need to stay up to date on.

Due to current challenges in healthcare, there are often delays in getting referrals for children and youth with depression, leaving family physicians to manage their care.

Leaving or transitioning back into your practice, or decreasing your hours due to retirement, relocation, illness, or maternity leave can be challenging, especially amid the current family medicine crisis where patients struggle to find new family doctors and there is a shortage of locums.