Table 1.

Characteristics of the Family Physicians (FPs) and their practices

Variable	Percentage (number) (N = 58)
Location of practice	Brampton – 41.4% (24)
	Markham – 58.6% (34)
Female gender	55.2% (32)
Years practicing Family Medicine	Less than 5 years – 20.7% (12)
	5 to 10 years - 20.0% (11)
	11 to 19 years – 19.0% (12)
	More than 20 years – 39.7% (23)
University affiliation	32.8% (19)
Most common ethnic background of patients	Caucasian – 22.4% (13)
	Asian – 39.7% (23)
	Hispanic – 0% (0)
	Black – 0% (0)
	Mixed (no predominance) – 36.2% (21)
	Other (“African”) – 1.7% (1)
Number of patients with thyroid nodules or thyroid cancer seen in a typical month	0 to 1–53.4% (31)
	2 to 5–39.7% (23)
	6 to 10–1.7% (1)
	11 to 20–3.4% (2)
	21 to 50–1.7% (1)
	More than 50–0% (0)
Services that are easy to access in the vicinity of FP practice	Thyroid ultrasound – 100% (55)
	Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of the thyroid – 79.3% (46)
	Endocrinology consultation – 84.5% (49)
	Thyroid surgeon – 58.6% (34)
Order or perform biopsies of the thyroid	39.7% (23)
Follow some thyroid cancer survivors in FP practice (without concurrent specialist involvement)	32.8% (19)