Northern Medical Program Graduates Thirty-one Doctors
Saturday, May 12, 2012 @ 4:57 PM
Prince George, B.C. – The University of Northern British Columbia today celebrated the graduation of its 5th year of Northern Medical Program graduates with a ceremony at the Canfor Theatre.
Thirty-one graduates of the program today received their NMP shingle, carved out of beetle-pine, and their doctor’s long white coats, representing their transition from medical student to medical doctor.
This year’s graduating class has the highest number of UNBC-originated undergraduates from any year so far. Ten of the thirty-one students graduating this year were UNBC undergrads before entering the Northern Medical Program.
The graduates were addressed Saturday by Dr. Geoffrey Payne, Interim Regional Associate Dean, Northern Medical Program at UBC.
Comments
Congrats!
That’s fabulous! And certainly a lot to be proud of. Congratulations to the new doctors!
Congratulations to them for their achievements.
Will they stay in the Central and North area of B.C.?
metalman.
The majority will, as they still have to go through their residency. There are limited spots in Northern BC for that, and still not a for sure if they do finish of in Northern BC will they stay. There are lots who have stayed and overall the program is a success for sure !
Congratulations to all of the graduates. May the choice of careers serve you happiness and gratitude throughout your lives.
Lunarguy. You say there are lots who have stayed. I am not aware of any statistics that would show how many actually stayed in the North. Where do you get your info from????
As soon as they are done their residency they will get the heck out of here as fast as they can. Just for better roads alone!
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/article/20111107/PRINCEGEORGE0101/311059996/homegrown-doctors-putting-down-local-roots
A year old article in the Citizen. It is anecdotal since it does not cite any survey taken.
As it says, it is still on the early side to determine how successful it is in its goal of putting more (not all, not most, but more …. there is a distinction, especially since it is free for all grads to locate where they wish, no incentive and no coercion).
Note the words about âCBC TV News in Vancouver taking a shot at the NMP, claiming less than 25 per cent of the 2008 grad class set up family practices in northern B.C.â
Why family practice only? One good reason would be that to be a specialist one would still be in residency 3 years after graduating. So the 25% has to be compared to the number of grads in family practice residencies.
This is the 5th graduating year. One of our friends who comes from the northern half of the province graduated this year. He will start a 5 year residency at UBC in a specialty which is needed in the North. There is no way of predicting whether he will, if he completes it, end up back in the Northern Health region or not, but we will only find that out in 5 or 6 years from now.
When we have 5 years of statistical information one can reach a credible conclusion. For family practice physicians that will be true in another three years or so. In the meantime, articles like the one linked above will have to do.
One more piece of info from the article.
“They missed the biggest success of our program,” said Hillhouse. “In my year particularly, about 75 per cent of my class matched into a family [residency] program of some sort, most of them rural.”
So there we have the number for that year – 75% into residency.
So, in fact, when one looks at only family practice physicians, 33%, not 25% of the class as CBC reported, of those who went to family practice ended up practicing in northern areas.
Time will tell as to how successfuel this program is. Its a bit of a stretch to refer to people locating in Ft McMurray, and Grande Prairie, as being part of staying in the North. Where do you draw the line??
Another issue that is alway glossed over when people discuss the NMP is the fact that these doctors do their first year at UBC, and when they graduate, they get their diploma from UBC, not UNBC. In additon there is no difference between people going to University at UNBC, UBC, or Uvic. Are we to beleive that the people who go to UVIC go because of a program **Train them on the Island, and they will stay on the Island** I think not.
Furthermore. The Goverment started these programs in Victoria, and Pr George, to take the pressure of Vancouver hospitals, and doctors because of the huge number of people who were taking their residency in the Vancouver area. Vancouver doctors wanted a significant reduction in the number of graduates taking their residency in Vancouver, because of teaching overload,hence, the programs at Victoria, and Pr George.
So we now have a situation where if you apply to UBC to become a doctor, you could end up going to Victoria, Pr George, or UBC, you as an individual can state your preference, however the UBC board will in the end decide where you go.
I am aware of a number of people who in fact wanted to go to UBC or Victoria, but who ended up in Prince George, and others who thanked their lucky stars that they did not draw Prince George.
So lets keep with the whole story, and not just with the part that makes us feel good.
I guess the question is. Do we have more Doctors per capita to-day than we did when the first class graduated, or is it the same, or is it less. By just looking at those who graduted at UNBC, without looking at those who came to this area from somewhere else, or those who left for various reasons, does not give us a good overall picture.
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