Vote for the BC NDP to get a new medical school!!!

[VancouverToToronto 0]

One of their promises is a new medical school in BC!!!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-ndp-election-platform-2020-1.5752102

[offmychestplease 180]

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[garceyues 26]

3 hours ago, offmychestplease said:

There are already issues with CMG's matching...we don't need 100-200+ more people in the match...unless of course there is an equivalent extra spots for CaRMS but instead there are less residency spots each year it seems..

  Agreed. This promise obviously sounds appealing, but anyone somewhat knowledgable on the topic would be aware of the problems inherent wiith creating a new medical school. Without at least an equivalent increase in residency spots, this seems like a totally useless initiative imo. I don't mean to offend anyone excited by this promise- I am merely stating that things aren't that simple

[MedicineLCS 353]

The actual policy statement is interesting:

Quote

But more is needed and, moving forward, we are committing to:

• Launching BC’s second medical school to expand our health care workforce: This means more doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and other health professionals trained, graduating and working right here in BC
• A comprehensive health care human resources strategy including credential recognition: From doctors and nurses to long-term care aides, we will make sure BC is well-prepared to deal with future demand and pressures. In addition to expanding training in all fields of health care, we’ll be improving the province’s credential recognition process and licensing so that people trained in other countries can provide their skills and knowledge here in BC

Nurses don't go to medical school, neither do "other health professionals". This idea seems less like a concrete promise and more like someone was tasked with writing a blurb on how to "increase numbers of clinicians" in BC without understanding the details or nuances of it. I would imagine starting a new school would be prohibitively expensive as you need to pay for infrastructure, both physical and in staff roles, already present at UBC. 

If they did actually follow through on their pie in the sky idea, unlikely as it is, and "forgot" to add residency seats I'd imagine the major result is more 4 year school students writing the P/F USMLE Step 1 and beyond to allow going to the States, which I think we can all agree would be an excellent consequence of a push to increase the number of Canadian physicians… 

[premed72 80]

Isn't the limiting factor residency position funding, and not number of medical graduates LOL 

[offmychestplease 180]

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