Any Questions About Mcmaster In General Or The Niagara Regional Campus?

[NeuroD]

I can't really answer #1 because I don't know what the research environment is like in Waterloo or Niagara (Hamilton is great though!) but for #2, you cannot switch campuses. All of your tutorial groups, clinical skills, pro-comp groups, clerkship cores, electives, etc. are all dependent on your campus.

 

 

From WRC perspective, we have no wet lab stuff happening. I did most of my research in Hamilton/Toronto.

 

2. You can not switch campuses no matter the reasons.

 

Thanks guys! I guess the research situation at NRC is similar? And how did you manage to research in Hamilton/Toronto while attending WRC? What sort of research was it, and how did all the commuting affect you?

 

Also, could either of you comment briefly the financials? I know tuition is ~27K, I've heard OSAP is ~15K, do most students usually get a bursary/grant? Or does everyone fill the gap with their bank loan?

[Birdy]

 

Also, could either of you comment briefly the financials? I know tuition is ~27K, I've heard OSAP is ~15K, do most students usually get a bursary/grant? Or does everyone fill the gap with their bank loan?

 

Keep in mind that student loan funding is based on weeks of study. We have 52/yr (apparently our 3 weeks vacation gets included) whereas other programs have 40-ish, so you will probably get more annually, depending on your eligibility of course.

 

I spoke with the program about assistance from Mac and was told that most students get at least $3,000 bursary from Mac. I got that and I don't have OSAP so I'm not covered under their regular assistance mandate (I get PEI student assistance, which is much less than OSAP, but am actually eligible next year for OSAP and intend to apply for it.) 

 

Otherwise, yeah, the LOC comes in handy. 

[PriscillaY]

Hi!

 

I was wondering how the opportunities are in Niagra re: quality improvement initiatives. I heard about PRIME in the orientation session (which sounds super intriguing) and I know Brock U has an amazing IHI OS chapter. Personally, in my home province, there's been a big "discord" between what it means to implement QI "practices" and what QI "research" is...so, I was wondering if any students can give me some examples of what QI looks like in the Niagra area, examples if anyone has gotten involved in any QI projects, and the atmosphere/culture surrounding QI in the hospitals.

 

I'll try to answer re: PRIME as best as I can, since I've participated in doing a QI project this year. Paraphrasing an email describing the program we received earlier in the year, it's basically an extracurricular offering for pre-clerkship students (i.e. first years at Mac) that teaches the foundations of quality improvement. This is all in the context of medical education for the purpose of our learning. (QI can be applied to clinical situations, but that is not the focus of PRIME.) We get workshops that teach us about QI, how to write a proposal, perform a needs assessment survey, create a poster, etc. You can also participate in the McMaster Medical Students Research Day if you want to submit a project for it (and most of us do!).

 

It's also a low-stakes opportunity to get your feet wet in research even if you don't come from a research background. It'll allow you to transfer the skills you learn now into clinical QI research projects later in your medical career. PRIME used to be exclusive to NRC but has now expanded to include students from all campuses.

 

So I think at Mac, to put it in the terms you're using - we participate in PRIME, which teaches us QI "practices" or methodologies, and for now we apply them in a QI project involving the medical curriculum. Skills and knowledge acquired from participating in PRIME can be applied to clinical QI "research" in a variety of ways later on. An example is a project we have going on in Niagara that involves incorporating a clinical shadowing experience with nursing staff in the hospital. The practice would be the way this project is implemented - small scale changes to this nursing shadowing program based on feedback - while the research done would be looking into how this might improve IPE learning into the medical curriculum.

 

Does that help? If I'm missing the point of your question, feel free to clarify so I can better understand where you're coming from  And sorry, can't really answer to enrichment year of QI research here, don't know too much about that. Maybe someone else can weigh in on this. Or if you'd like, I'll ask our research coordinator about this and get back to you!

 

P.S. If there are other Mac med students who would like to add anything/correct me, please do!

[ow1234]

Hi Priscilla,

Thanks for your response! Where do the resources for PRIME come from? Are they sourced from a particular institute (i.e. the institute for healthcare improvement)?

Also I'm not sure if you can answer this question but after you've learnt the methodology and such, are there a lot of clinical QI research projects that one could get involved in as well? (I.e. has anyone participated in a project with I-Equip: http://www.niagarahealth.on.ca/en/i-equip?) Are there any grant/studentship competitions for QI projects? 

[12al12]

Hey! Not sure if anyone currently at NRC can answer this… this question is pretty silly but I was wondering if you guys feel disconnected from Mac at all being at a regional campus that is situated in Brock University. I guess my question is - Do you feel like a McMaster student or more like you're a student at Brock?

[bearded frog]

I'm a Hamilton campus student and I don't feel like a "McMaster" student. It might be different if you live in westdale, but in pre-clerkship you don't spend much time outside of MDCL/MUMC. And in clerkship you spend hardly any time on campus. So I wouldn't score McMaster campus belonging high vs NRC, etc. I do think that the regional campuses do probably feel like their own little worlds, we see them lots but I think they have the feeling of being self-sufficient.

[PriscillaY]

Hey! Not sure if anyone currently at NRC can answer this… this question is pretty silly but I was wondering if you guys feel disconnected from Mac at all being at a regional campus that is situated in Brock University. I guess my question is - Do you feel like a McMaster student or more like you're a student at Brock?

Definitely do not feel like a Brock student. We're mostly in one building on their campus and our section is accessible by Mac med students/faculty only. Granted there are intramural sports and you can use the gym here but we don't really interact with Brock students at all. Maybe the nursing students for IPE events. At the same time we're not truly Mac students either, because we've got our own facilities. Like beardedfrog said, the medical program is a little separate, and youmre not on campus much once clerkship starts. We still stay connected to the Hamilton campus though. IG and social events don't exclude us. So a little bit of being our own little world, I guess.