Rural orientation for medical students
By Scott Woodhouse - Express Staff

A program designed to encourage new physicians to practice in under-serviced areas is providing some first year medical students with their first small-town experience.

Like Vancouver native Vinnie Wee, who is spending the week shadowing local doctors and seeing first-hand what working in a small hospital is all about.

"I haven't been in a small town before and it's been a good experience for me," she said Monday morning after helping Dr. Remillard stitch up a patient in the emergency room at the Meaford Hospital site.

"It opens up new possibilities for you that you may not have thought of before," she said.

Wee and fellow first-year student James Andrew are just two of 104 first year medical students from the University of Western Ontario taking part in the fourth year of this program which is designed to encourage new physicians to practice in rural and under-serviced areas upon completion of their training. All first year students will spend a week at one of 32 separate hospitals throughout Southwestern Ontario.

Coordinated by the Southwestern Ontario Rural Medicine Unit (SWORM) and beginning June 4, 2001, the Rural and Regional Undergraduate Medical Education Week will allow medical students to see first-hand the type of practice and issues facing both rural doctors and their patients.

Andrew said he was very impressed by the small hospital's facilities and added they were cramming a lot into a very short visit.

"We're getting to see quite a variety of what goes on in a local hospital," he said. "It's been very interesting. It's a good way to end first year."

Nurse educator Lynne Whitton helps organize the week for the students and says they try to show them the small-town lifestyle as well as the medical side of things.

"We keep them busy, but not too busy - we want them to see the beauty of our area," said Whitton.

During their week in Meaford, Wee and Andrew will shadow local physicians in their offices, observe the surgeon in the operating room, work with the radiologist and in the emergency room. They are also required as part of their curriculum to make a presentation to the local high school.

"This will result more students graduating with the knowledge, skills and interest to pick rural practice as a career choice," said Dr. James Rourke, Director of the SWORM Unit. "Evidence shows that medical schools that are the most successful in producing doctors who will practice in rural areas are those with coordinated rural medical education programs which provide early and extensive rural experience, combined with a positive medical school support for rural practice."

Rural and Regional Undergraduate Medical Education Week involves the participation of more than 200 physicians and other healthcare workers located throughout the Southwestern Ontario. The medical students will have a variety of experiences including time spent with rural emergency departments, family doctors' offices, local specialists, community services and a general orientation to rural and community medicine.

In September 1997, rural experiences and education for all medical students were incorporated into the new undergraduate medical curriculum at The University of Western Ontario, beginning with first year medical students and extending throughout their medical school training.

Southwestern Ontario is currently more than 300 physicians short. More than 40% of Southwestern Ontario's population is considered rural including communities of less than 10,000 Many of these communities remain short of physicians and other health care providers, and face significant time and distance barriers to accessing specialized medical services.