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As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, family physicians transitioned to virtual platforms for patient care. Given that this was a new care platform, impacts on workplace motivations and well-being were unknown. While virtual care became a convenience and necessity, it also introduced many challenges such as loss of human contact and interaction between physicians and patients.
Furthermore, many concerns arise when it comes to compensation and how virtual care may decrease continuity of care. This study suggests that virtual care and controlled motivation are associated with low well-being and workplace frustrations. Motivations toward using virtual care became less self-determined, which led to poor well-being. Recognizing the struggles faced, could family physicians have the option to choose if they would want to use virtual and/or in-person care? Can they provide input as to which patients they would want to see in a virtual versus in-person format? What plans are being developed to ensure the mental health issues among family physicians are being addressed and that they are getting care needed to provide quality care for their patients? How do future physicians, such as medical students, feel about virtual care? Future studies may benefit from collecting data from a larger and more diverse groups of family physicians. Further research should be conducted to explore how implementing virtual care and ensuring family physicians’ well-being can be best achieved.