The family physician - anesthetist: a review of two training programs.

A considerable proportion of anesthetic services in Canada is provided by family-physician anesthetists, particularly in community hospitals and rural areas not served or not fully served by specialist anesthetists. In the 1970s, the Departments of Anesthesia of the Universities of Toronto and Western Ontario established short training programs to meet the needs of these physicians and communities. In 1983, both universities surveyed the physicians who had completed the programs to assess the characteristics of the practices of these physicians and to further discussion about the appropriate training for such settings. This paper describes the two programs for training of family-physician anesthetists and reports on the survey of trainees who have completed the programs.