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Doctor Recruitment, Making a Good Plan....Better

By 250 News

The Northern Medical Program at UNBC already knows that if you train students from the north in the north, they will likely stay in the north. So it would make sense that if you train a student from a rural community in a rural community, they will want to stay in that community.

Recognizing the issues of recruitment are not unique to Prince George, Dr David Snadden, the Associate Vice President of Medicine at UNBC says “As much as Prince George needs doctors, the province needs doctors beyond Prince George” and that is why the program is looking at setting up training in communities in the north east ( Ft. St John, Dawson Creek ) and the northwest, (Terrace, Prince Rupert and Kitimat).

Dr. Snadden is just back from visiting physicians in Terrace, “I really wanted to get a feeling for their enthusiasm to have some students have their core clinical training outside of P.G.” says Snadden. He says the level of enthusiasm is high.

Although Snadden would like to see a pilot project with a couple of 3rd year students in place next summer, a lot of groundwork would have to be done first, with funding and all the necessary approvals in place from health care and educational facilities.

Dr. Snadden envisions a program that would see a third year student placed in a rural community where they would be mentored by a family physician, have access to the local hospital and gain knowledge from the visiting specialists.

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