718 Canadian Family Physician • Le Médecin de famille canadien VOL 52: JUNE • JUIN 2006 Letters Correspondance

argue that 2 years is already plenty and we would have a hard time selling students on the idea of a longer pro-gram. Actually, there is no shortage of curriculum. It already takes 3 years to earn a CCFP (EM) designation. Family medi-cine is at the forefront of emerging primary care fi elds in chronic disease management, collaborative and team care, community care, self-care, prevention, and health informat-ics. Hospital care and hospitalist work also come to mind. In the end, the biggest challenge might be to con-vince ourselves. We have been undervalued for so long that we are starting to believe our work isn’t important and doesn’t need much skill or training. That was never true. We will be even more important in the future, and specialty recognition is a step in the right direction