Health News For Champlain
Monday, May 09, 2011
Pembroke Regional Hospital
First Year Medical Students Will Get A Taste Of The Valley During Community Week 2011
PEMBROKE – A group of first-year medical students from the University of Ottawa will get a taste of the valley later this month when they spend a week in the community shadowing physicians at the Pembroke Regional Hospital.
Organized by the Eastern Regional Medical Education Program (ERMEP), Community Week 2011 is designed to introduce first-year medical students to medicine being practiced in communities outside the urban centres.
“In a rural community, medical students receive personalized instruction, as well as the opportunity to experience medical practice and learn skills in a way that would be impossible in the city,” said Dr. Sarah Simkin.
“At the same time, they can sample the recreational and communityoriented activities that commonly form part of the rural lifestyle. For rural physicians, hosting medical students is an excellent learning opportunity to share medical and community knowledge and skills, and to be energized by the enthusiasm of new learners,” Dr. Simkin said.
Pembroke Regional Hospital has participated in Community Week for the past eight years and this year, will host 15 medical students from the University of Ottawa May 24-27.
“Teaching medical students in a smaller centre like Pembroke is a very important contribution to their education,” said Dr. John Epps.
“They see that excellent health care is not limited to the cities. They have better opportunities to work closely with physicians and patients here than they might in a big city hospital and we’ve already seen medical students decide to set up their first practice in Renfrew County after studying here. What could be a better reward for teaching than that?”
During the time the students are in our community, both the Hospital’s Medical Affairs Department and the community’s Upper Ottawa Valley Medical Recruitment Committee cater to the students needs and interests and showcase some of the area’s hospitality by providing evening recreation and social activities including a tour of the area.
The Hospital also provides each medical student with a gift bag. Local businesses and organizations are invited to show their support to our medical community and by welcoming the students on external signage or contacting the Hospital’s Medical Affairs office if your business has something unique to share or showcase.
Since 2004, the Pembroke Regional Hospital has hosted 82 first-year medical students in addition to those students and residents hosted at different times throughout the year by medical staff.
Since 2008 alone, the regular training of medical students has involved 120 medical students who have studied in the following specialties: family medicine, emergency medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics, psychiatry, radiology, general surgery, urology and ENT and experience feedback has been very positive.
“I really enjoyed my time at the Pembroke Regional Hospital,” said Kelly Chen.
“The facilities are amazing and all the staff were extremely friendly and I really appreciated the doctors’ willingness and enthusiasm in allowing us to shadow them. Having activities with the people who live and work in (the area) was also a great idea because it gave us a chance to talk to them and get insight that we would not otherwise have been able to get from being there one week.”
Physiatrist Dr. Debbie Timpson said most specialists in physical medicine and rehabilitation work in large urban or academic centres so it is important for those considering this specialty to understand what rehab services can be provided and provided well, following best practice recommendations, in a rural setting.
And Dr. K. C. Li noted the importance of such experiences as a long-term recruitment tool.
“If there are no medical students, there are no future doctors,” Dr. Li said.
“During the career of a doctor, he or she accumulates a huge amount of experience which is not available in text books and most would like to pass on this experience to future doctors,” Dr. Li said, noting that part of the joy of teaching is being able to watch former medical students mature into caring, resourceful, collegial colleagues.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Carolyn Levesque, Public Affairs and Communications Coordinator
(613) 732-3675, ext. 6165 / carolyn.levesque@pemreghos.org
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