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Background: There is little evidence to show what scope of practice (SOP) means from the point of view of family physicians, how family physicians think about their SOP as it changes over time, or what factors shape and influence their SOP. Understanding family physician perspectives on SOP and the factors that influence it can aid our understanding of how it can constrain and enable physicians' agency and autonomy in professional practice., Methods: Using qualitative description and incorporating constructivist grounded theory data collection and analysis techniques, four focus groups were conducted involving twenty-four Ontario-based family physicians from different contexts, at different career stages, and with different practice experiences., Results: Participants' SOP was highly dynamic, changing throughout their careers due to factors both within and beyond their control. Their sense of their own SOP was the product of a continuous cycle of personal and professional transitions, exposures, and experiences throughout their careers. These family physicians sought regular and sustained mentorship, support, and engagement for their SOP throughout their careers. This was particularly the case during professional transitions and for drivers of their SOP for which they felt unprepared early in their careers, such as through the first years of independent practice, and when functioning as owner-operators of medical practices. Four descriptive themes were identified focusing on the nature of their current practice, their professional preparedness and supports, practice management dynamics, and 'doctors are people, too'., Conclusions: The SOP of the family physicians in this study was dynamic and unique to each individual, it emerged from interactions between their personal and professional lives and identities, and it was embedded in their lived experiences. SOP was also to some extent imposed and externally driven. This study advances understanding by exploring the 'why' and 'how' of SOP rather than focusing solely on what it is., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: The context for specialty residency training in pediatrics has broadened in recent decades to include distributed community sites as well as academic health science centers. Rather than creating parallel, community-only programs, most programs have expanded to include both community and large urban tertiary health center experiences. Despite these changes, there has been relatively little research looking at residents' experiences in these distributed graduate medical education programs., Objective: A longitudinal case study was undertaken to explore the experiences of residents in a Canadian pediatrics residency program that involved a combination of clinical placements in a large urban tertiary health center and in regional hospitals., Methods: The study drew on 2 streams of primary data: 1-on-1 interviews with residents at the end of each block rotation and annual focus groups with residents., Results: A thematic analysis (using grounded theory techniques) of transcripts of the interviews and focus groups identified 6 high-level themes: access to training, quality of learning, patient mix, continuity of care, learner roles, and residents as teachers., Conclusions: Rather than finding that certain training contexts were "better" than others when comparing residents' experiences of the various training contexts in this pediatrics residency, what emerged was an understanding that the different settings complemented each other. Residents were adamant that this was not a matter of superiority of one context over any other; their experiences in different contexts each made a valuable contribution to the quality of their training.