Keywords: Primary Care

Social, Political, and Scientific Issues in Family Medicine

This course was originally established about 30 years ago within DFCM’s masters degree program. It explores the history and current state of Family Medicine as an academic and community-oriented discipline. Using McWhinney’s Textbook of Family of Medicine (2016) and a series of guest speakers, learners will analyze and evaluate presentations on a variety of social, political and scientific issues in primary care, and in doing so, broaden their understanding of the forces that influence one’s ability to provide quality primary care in Ontario, Canada.

There will be 7 modules involving in-person, interactive seminars and online activities (discussion and reflective activities). The in-person sessions occur approximately every 2 weeks from September to December with the online activities occurring between sessions.

Each in-person seminar is 3 hours in length and broken into a 90-minute student led discussion and analysis of selected chapters from McWhinney’s Texbook of Family Medicine (2016) and a 75 min seminar on selected primary care-oriented topics. There are 21 hours of in-person learning in this course.

For the online activities, learners prepare for and engage in quizzes, 3 online discussion groups and 2 reflective papers deepening learning gained in seminars and applying learned concepts to their own practice and to novel primary care topics.

Freeman, T. (2016). McWhinney’s textbook of family medicine (T. Freeman, Ed.; Fourth edition.). Oxford University Press.

2025-2026-ECHO (Extension for Community Health Outcomes) Ontario Mental Health

CAMH provides leadership to the overall Program, titled “ECHO Ontario Mental Health”, which encompasses eight unique ECHO courses including: ECHO Ontario Mental Health, ECHO Ontario Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, ECHO Ontario Addiction Medicine and Psychosocial Interventions, ECHO Ontario Integrated Mental and Physical Health, ECHO Ontario Psychotherapy, ECHO Ontario Trans and Gender Diverse Healthcare, ECHO Ontario Adult Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and ECHO Ontario First Nations, Inuit and Métis Wellness.

Learning in these programs is supported through the provision of didactic presentations and interactive case-based learning during every session. ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) is a ‘Hub’ and ‘Spoke’ model of knowledge sharing which links expert specialist teams (the “Hub”) with Ontario healthcare providers in local communities (the “Spokes”), using multi-point videoconferencing.

Research Issues in Family Medicine and Primary Care

​​Research Issues in Family Medicine/Primary Care is a hybrid course approved in the School of Graduate Studies at University of Toronto (CHL5605H). It is featured in the MPH and MScCH in Family and Community Medicine field. This course provides an introduction to research methods in family medicine and primary care settings. The course will familiarize students with the principles of research methods, research design, and clinical measurement and will reinforce critical appraisal skills.

Each session will consist of a review of key concepts by the instructor, followed by interactive group discussion about the assigned exercises. Reading of the course materials and completion of the assigned worksheets or assignments is required preparation for each session.​

*hybrid definition – please not this is NOT dual delivery. All classes are synchronous with 50% of sessions online and 50% in-person approximately.