Advocacy Tool: The Importance of Terminology

We've released a position statement to support you in advocating for the use of accurate terminology when referring to specialist physicians trained in family medicine.

Terms such as 'primary care clinician' and 'family practitioner' do not reflect the depth of training, scope of practice, or professional identity you have as family physicians, and catch-all terms like 'primary care provider' convey inaccurate equivalency with other primary care professionals.

We are urging all health care organisations, government bodies, and communications platforms to use 'family physician' or 'family doctor' to ensure patient clarity, professional recognition, system effectiveness, and your appropriate leadership in team-based care.

As family physicians, you provide comprehensive, continuous care to over 70% of British Columbians and play a vital, irreplaceable role in the province's health care system, and the language used to describe that role should reflect it.

We've also developed a letter template you can use, should you wish to provide clarity on the use of appropriate terminology in your own advocacy efforts and messaging to MLAs to support this statement.

Read the full statement here.