P.E.I. health authority raises concerns about new medical school
A new medical school at the University of Prince Edward Island is set to start training its first class in fall 2024. But the nagging question is, with ongoing doctor shortages on the island, who’s going to teach?
Construction is already underway. Officials have signed agreements with Newfoundland’s Memorial University to develop the program and are working on accreditation, but who will staff the program has yet to be announced.
That’s the pinch point for Dr. Michael Gardam, Health PEI CEO.
Gardem and other senior officials answered questions for the health committee Wednesday, among them concerns about whether the medical school would work.
“Right now, we’re asking all of our doctors to do 150 per cent clinical work, so how on Earth are we going to start pulling back our doctors to enable them to do teaching without doing massive backfilling” said Dr. Gardam.
Gardam said there’s no doubt a medical school on the island would offer a lot of value to islanders, if it becomes an integrated part of health delivery in the province.
“I really struggle with figuring out, the way our current system is, how we would possibly be able to recruit, and frankly, pay for all of these doctors that need to come to the island in order to do the education.”
There’s more to opening a medical school than the classroom. The final step of medical training is a residency, where new doctors practice their skills and work on their specialization before heading into independent practice.
P.E.I. has just five residency slots a year.
“We struggle right now to meet all the demands to teach the students we have, or the students who want to come,” said Dr. Kathie McNally, Health PEI chief medical officer. “We turn down about 50 per cent of requests for undergraduate rotations because we don’t have the preceptors to do it.”
Typically 80 per cent of the doctors who do their residency on the island stay, which makes medical residencies critical for physical recruitment.
“What we know from the literature is that you’re more likely to stay where you do your residency, and so again, that residency program is super duper important,” said Dr. McNally.
UPEI is partnering with Memorial University on the medical school, which may be able to plug some of those gaps, but won’t ultimately solve the problem.
“If the alternative is, ‘Don’t worry, Memorial will do all that teaching and education,’ then I assume a lot of these students are going to be going to Newfoundland,” said Dr. Gardam. “At which point, they’re going to med school in Newfoundland.”
If so, Newfoundland will likely reap the benefit of that academic medical system and the new doctors it creates.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
BREAKING Police cordon off Iran consulate in Paris where man threatens to blow himself up: French media
French police cordoned off the Iranian consulate in Paris on Friday, where a man was threatening to blow himself up, Europe 1 radio and BFM TV.
Some Canadian families will receive up to $620 per child today
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
BREAKING Iran fires at apparent Israeli attack drones near Isfahan air base and nuclear site
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Ottawa to force banks to call carbon rebate a carbon rebate in direct deposits
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
Ontario woman loses $15,000 to fake Walmart job scam
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
After COVID, WHO defines disease spread 'through air'
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
Prince Harry formally confirms he is now a U.S. resident
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.