"Would-be MDs seek training abroad"

[Guest Ian Wong]

Here's an article in today's Globe and Mail detailing the limited number of medical school seats in Canada, compared with the large number of applicants. I still don't think the public at large really understands just how many well-qualified premed applicants Canadian med schools end up turning away each year, which is a ridiculous situation.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 4

 

Link to Globe and Mail Article: "Would-be MDs seek training abroad"

 

Would-be MDs seek training abroad

Fierce competition for spots has led more Canadians to medical schools overseas

 

By PATRICK SULLIVAN

Special to The Globe and Mail

Monday, January 27, 2003 – Page B13

 

With enrolment at Canada's 16 medical schools on the rise and with a new school set to open next year, it's a good time for would-be medical students, right?

 

Perhaps, but the cutthroat competition for fewer than 2,000 first-year openings in a country of 30 million people means that demand for a medical career is outstripping the supply by such a huge margin that medical schools as far away as Australia are taking notice.

 

That's why cities such as Adelaide in Australia as well as Dublin are now home to communities of young Canadian expatriates who want to become physicians -- regardless of the cost.

 

And that demand has been a boon for recruiters such as Peter Nealon.

 

Mr. Nealon, director of the Atlantic Bridge Program (www.atlanticbridge.com), knows that for every four people who apply to medical school in Canada, only one will be accepted -- even when the Northern Ontario Medical School opens next year with 55 new places. The University of Western Ontario alone usually attracts 2,000 applicants for about 100 first-year openings.

 

And Mr. Nealon also knows that Ireland's five medical schools can produce 700 new doctors a year, but only about half that number are needed to meet the country's own requirements. The result is a marriage made in heaven.

 

"The Irish schools really like the Canadians because they come very well prepared and you provide lots of solid applicants -- schools like the [university of Toronto] probably have 10 good applicants for every spot," he says.

 

He adds that his California-based program, which acts as the North American "admissions office" for the Irish schools, is currently receiving 150 applications from Canadian students every year -- twice as many as three years ago -- and 40 to 50 of them are being accepted every year. He estimates that more than 200 Canadians are currently studying medicine in Ireland, roughly equal to the combined first-year medical school enrolment at Queen's and Dalhousie universities.

 

Australian medical schools have been watching with interest too. This spring, Flinders University in Adelaide placed an ad in the University of Toronto Magazine that announced that its medical school was saving 30 positions for international students "to join 67 of Australia's best students at the country's leading medical school."

 

Dr. Jillian Teubner, chair of admissions at the school, recently told the Canadian Medical Association Journal that 27 of Flinders' 104 foreign medical students are Canadian, including 12 registered in first year. Many more are registered at the University of Sydney.

 

Ilana Porzecanski, 31, is a poster girl for the type of student recruiters such as Dr. Teubner and Mr. Nealon are seeking. The Victoria native, who did not get accepted at a Canadian medical school, graduated from University College Dublin (UCD) last year and is now in the first year of a three-year internal medicine residency in St. Louis, Mo. Despite emerging from Ireland with a debt in the $175,000 range, she is pleased with her career path. "If I'd stayed in Canada -- well, let's just say it's very hard to get in," says Dr. Porzecanski, the daughter of two physicians. "I have no regrets."

 

Maureen Keenan, 31, of Maple Ridge, B.C., is currently weighing her options as she prepares to graduate from UCD. Ms. Keenan, who worked as a research scientist at Ballard Power Systems Inc. before entering medical school, says Ireland has been an education in itself because it introduced her to a different way of life and a different medical system. "Five years is a long time to spend abroad, but the perspective you gain is invaluable," she adds.

 

However, the high debt load the students graduate with -- annual tuition is $33,000 and the cost of living is much higher than in Canada -- will force a lot of the Canadians to practise in the United States. "Most of us have done this degree on a combination of parental support, bank loans and student loans," Ms. Keenan says.

 

Mr. Nealon says his program tries to make potential students aware of all aspects of study in Ireland, including the total annual education and living costs of about $49,000. Besides Canada, the Irish medical schools recruit heavily in the United States, Malaysia and the Middle East.

 

Many of the Canadians who go abroad still hope to practise here, but they often end up in the United States because residency positions, which provide the postgraduate training needed to practise, are much more abundant than in Canada. As well, Canadians who graduate abroad are allowed to seek a residency only after the needs of all in-Canada graduates have been met.

 

Ms. Keenan says her own future remains a question mark. Her first choice is to return to Canada, but she says the United States offers more options, more certainty and more money. "But I would love to come home. I personally know about 100 Canadians studying here [ireland], and there are more in the U.K.," she says. "If Canada could repatriate them, that would be equivalent to gaining an entire medical school class."

 

Meanwhile, Kenneth Barnes of Brampton, Ont., will graduate from UCD this year, but he expects to pursue his medical career in the United States. "As it stands now," he says, "it is much easier to obtain a visa and go to the U.S. than it is to return to our own country. There are a lot of obstacles to getting back to Canada, such as extra exams, and that is a shame."

[Guest cradlecrotch]

I would like to add that there are numerous Candians (such as myself) attending medical schools in the Caribbean and obtaining a solid education. The benefit of school here is that only the basic sciences are completed on the islands...clinicals are completed in US hospitals alongside American students and residents, giving us valuable N. American experience and contacts inside US hospitals. This turns out to be important come match time. Plus, it sounds cheaper than Ireland by the looks of the above article (the weather is no deterrent either!).

 

The established schools such as St. George's and Ross (where I currently am) have been around for 25 years or so and in that time have developed medical curricula on par with anything in the states or Canada. We follow a US curriculum that is specifically geared towards the USMLE which is another advantage compared with Irish schools.

 

All this will allow me to complete an American residency, write the Canadian Royal College exam and then become licensed in Canada!

[Guest MDCY]

Hey cradlecrotch,

I'm at SGU currently (2nd term) and it seems that you think that it'll be easy to get back into Canada after you're done your residency. I'd like to hear details on how you plan to do so. Thanks.

Cheers,

Churn

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Are the Carribean schools LCME accredited like the US and Canadian schools? If so, grads of those schools that are Canadian Citizens are now eligible for the first round of CaRMS.

 

Something you might want to explore. . .