St. Joseph’s Hospital in Estevan has been selected as a pilot project site for third year medical students from the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine.
Hospital CEO Greg Hoffort and local physician Dr. Edward Tsoi made the announcement Monday morning in a meeting with the Mercury. Tsoi, a clinic associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan who has been practising in Estevan for 30 years, will serve as the site director.
The program, known as the longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC), will move students from traditional learning sites in Regina and Saskatoon to rural Saskatchewan for the third year of training. It has been implemented elsewhere in Canada and the U.S.
Starting on Aug. 1, two third-year medical students will take up residency in Estevan for most of their third year of medical school under the mentorship of local physicians.
The two students have been selected, but haven’t had their site visits.
“They will become residents of the community,” said Hoffort. “They will rent an apartment and be citizens of Estevan for the year, and that’s an exciting piece of the puzzle as well. They’re going to get accustomed to Estevan, and hopefully find a way to make Estevan a part of their future.”
The LIC is therefore a component of physician recruitment initiatives at the hospital moving forward.
“We’re in a short-term physician shortage, and this is geared more to the long-term strategy where it’s shown in other provinces and other states that students who do their third year in a community will often transition back to that community when they receive their licence to practice medicine,” said Hoffort.
Tsoi added that when medical students stay in a community, they become part of a community.
“They understand the health issues of the local community better, they frequently start some friendships or even family ties in that community,” said Tsoi. “They’re comfortable with the community, so they frequently seek employment or work opportunities in the same community after they graduated and after they finished the residency program.”
In Swift Current, for example, more than 80 per cent of those trained in a medical residency training program will return to that city.
Tsoi and Dr. Edward Krickan will serve as the LIC primary preceptors. All Estevan physicians have shown interest and enthusiasm in this project and are expected to participate as clinical teachers.
Students will see patients while working side-by-side with the preceptors.
“They will be given responsibility, they will be directly supervised, they will do what the preceptors do,” said Tsoi. “In other words, they will be interviewing patients, they will be managing the patients, under the very close supervision of the preceptors.”
Students will also see patients on their own, and will be monitored by a camera to see how they interact.
“They have to function independently,” said Tsoi.
The students will take responsibility for admitting and seeing the patient from the first contact in the office or emergency room, and will follow up with the patient as well. If the patient requires surgery, the student will go into the operating room to assist the surgeon. There will also be a follow-up after the surgery.
The program is expected to provide the students with a comprehensive educational experience with well-rounded training that will allow them to successfully move onto their fourth and final year of medical school.
A traditional third year for a College of Medicine student would involve a block rotation. The student undergoes blocks of training for four to six weeks of disciplines and specialities, like medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and psychology.
“Each block will last anywhere from four to six weeks,” said Tsoi. “That’s called a traditional block of training.”
Hoffort and Tsoi have been in discussion with the College of Medicine representatives for a while and are pleased to receive approval to start the program in Estevan.
“We’ve been seeking educational opportunities for medical students and other students for some time, and knowing that, I think the college approached us early last year to gage our interest in this program, and then they have been meeting steadily with Dr. Tsoi and myself for some time to bring this to fruition,” said Hoffort.
The hospital has hosted medical students in their clinical year for at least 10 years, Tsoi said, and in some years, between 10 and 15 per cent of those students have been in Estevan for a rotation.
“We have a very, very good track record,” said Tsoi. “The college values our mentorship for our students, so when they had this pilot program, they approached us.”
As this is a pilot project, Hoffort hopes success in Estevan will result in other communities being selected for the LIC. He expects the College of Medicine will be watching Estevan very closely.
“We’ve made a big commitment to the college that we will provide a solid educational year for these students,” said Hoffort. “It’s a key year in their training, so we intend to do everything we can from a facility point to make it a success, and similarly the physicians, led by Dr. Tsoi, are very engaged to do what they can to provide an exceptional year of mentorship.”
The addition of the LIC will require the hospital to upgrade video conferencing facilities at the hospital, so that students can attend lectures electronically.
St. Joseph’s Hospital has been pursuing a medical residency for some time. The residency is for students who have completed their four-year medical program, and then have a two-year residency at a chosen site.
It remains a goal of St. Joseph’s, but in the meantime, the hospital will do everything it can to make the LIC a success.
