Pamela Mark on 40 years of family medicine and giving back

You must have seen so much change over the past 40-plus years of your practice.

Oh gosh. There is no comparison between then and now. I mean, Dad was interested in computers, but I don’t think he could ever imagine that we would one day be able to do things like talk with patients over video chat.

When I joined my dad, his charts were these three-by-five index cards that you would write on in tiny little letters. And the files would take up so much space. I eventually transitioned to computerized charting. That was a major shift, because I had been handwriting all those decades and now, all of a sudden, I had to learn how to type while looking at the patient so I could have an actual conversation with them. My patients would tease me about how I would be trying to pay attention to them and fix typos at the same time. I got a lot better after a year!

Now with artificial intelligence, the next shift will be to sit back and fully commit all your attention to the patient and not have to worry about recording. I’m so jealous of the next generation of doctors who will get to work with these scribe programs.

As a student, I know that a highlight was your involvement with Daffydil, the annual student-run musical production. Why has it meant so much?

I tell people that Daffydil is how I got through medical school. It was school-related, but didn’t involve trying to cram more knowledge into my brain.

Daffydil had students from all different years. I could talk to people from the year ahead of me about what was stressing me, and they always had a good word or a good tip or something. They were always very encouraging.

I was really proud of our shows. They were always special because people wouldn’t expect this level of performance from medical students. Everyone involved was so smart, but also so talented. You just wanted to be around those people.

What are your hopes for family medicine in the future?

What we really have to work on is getting more doctors to go into family medicine because that’s really fallen behind. It’s not totally puzzling – especially with our salaries in Ontario. It’s better than it was, but still, it’s not enough for students to choose family medicine. But I also think something else is missing. I haven’t figured that out.

I think people will lose out by not going into family medicine. It’s the beauty of the continuity of the practice. Knowing somebody for 35, maybe 40 years, you help them through their life stages, help them make major decisions with their health, sometimes beyond that, too, because they want to talk about family issues or other things. That’s so rewarding and it’s a privilege to be part of that.

Do you have any advice for students who are considering family medicine?

I think that they need to look at the longevity of the relationships they’ll have in their careers and if that’s something that they want. Family practice goes beyond just medicine; it goes into building relationships with your patients. I don’t know many other specialties that have that same experience. You are so much more involved in different people’s lives. You’re in a position to really connect with them and influence their health decisions and that is so rewarding – especially if they listen to you. They don’t always, but you get that ability to see them again and nudge them in a good way.

By Emma Jones