Physicians in canada

Question

i'm new in bc, canada, i used to live in the states and familiar with their health care. There, i got list of doctors from my previous insurance company, so it was easier for me to find a doctor. now i don't know how to find physicians and find information about them here in canada. apparently finding information about physicians in canada on the internet is not as easy as finding physicians in the states. so please if anyone has a clue or find a web on how to find the physicians and how the procedure in here, pls answer my questions. and one more question, in the states we took our sons who is under 2 to pediatrician for check ups, can we take him to pediatrician in canada only for check ups? cause i hear we can only go to the pediatrician if the physicians cant help us. is that true? thx for answering my questions

Answer 1

hi. i moved to ont myself.  I got a nightmare when I met a lady online trying to ask for referrals. You do not aks for referrals. You are intereviewed by the dr there. There is a huge shortage too that makes it harder. They list them often under health and wellness. I have a list for you though if you can find one that will see you. If not you are stuck gong to the LONG ER and walk in clinics.

Get to know the BC ministry of health site as well.

Your last question is not true. You will find that a lot of Canadains either do not know or want you to quit and go back to the US. I am sorry. It drove me nuts. I got online and read the rules the laws and got luck by calling and asking     all over. OFten i got nowhere sometimes i met a fellow american who helped a lot.  

Answer 2

in our system the General Practioners are basically "gatekeepers" to the health system of specialists one being peditricians.  The first visit to a ped specialists usually has to be by referral of a GP and then if a condition is such that child requires continuous treatment you would book you appts usually directly thru whatever specialist oversees their therapy.  The problem is few docs wants to be a GP now  as hours are long and dealing with a lot of mundane medical issues so they are in high demand and hard to find accepting new patients  

Try some local walk in clinics for the kids routine care (vaccines, colds, whatever etc) as they are staffed by young physicians sometimes splitting their time between hospital duty and building a practice.  Being young they are sometimes actively recruiting new patients/.  It gives you a chance to visit them prior to becoming one of their regular patients too.  

The websites below are those for the regional authorities in Vancouver area who also have lost of info on health issues;

http://www.vch.ca

http://fraserhealth.ca