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Jamer Newbie

Jamer

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I'm already in med but I'll certainly be writing him a letter, often politicians think in terms of short term financial economic strategy without realizing the long term repercussions of treating the long term ailments people will develop due to our doctor shortage.

 

If other students were interested I'd be willing to request a group meeting to discuss our concerns.

 

On an aside, one of my ex-girlfriends wrote Ed Stelmach a long, very well written e-mail 2 years ago and never got a response, paradoxically Noam Chomsky, world renowned linguist and social scientist at MIT responded in 45 minutes; too bad he isn't the premier!

 

That's because Chomsky is the **** and Stelmach is a doofus

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DMD Newbie

DMD

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given it is less than a month and half till May 14th, hopefully the government can get its act together. The Edmonton Journal article does bring a glimpse of hope; nevertheless, I guess we will just have to prepare for the worst.

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future_doc Newbie

future_doc

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If everybody, including guests to this forum, send off emails to the power brokers and those who can pblicly influence them AND it each can have another 6 people write as well, then there would be a pretty powerful lobby group that would need to be dealt with. Timing is everything, this is the time!

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collins Newbie

collins

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Through educating my friends and family about these prospective cuts, and their future ramifications, over 20 letters and emails have been sent!

 

I think if everyone raises similar awareness about this issue with people they know, we just might get the cuts scaled back.

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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might not hurt to write the president of each school as well. I'm not talking Dean of medicine but the top people in administration. This isn't just about the government's funding, its also about the university playing hardball, using medicine as a big time playing card. Unfortunately the students are stuck inbetween. But don't think the government will just fork over the money - there's going to be give and take on both sides and the university needs "encouragement" too. I mean, i have heard about seat cuts, people losing their jobs and all, but i haven't heard about the Presidents' salaries being frozen - i know 700k isn't alot to live on, but hey, maybe they could manage without a raise or a slight pay cut. Even Wall Street took a pay cut...albeit temporarily. The money can be found elsewhere - whether the people invovled want to work at it, or just play a game, remains to be seen.

 

I've had good responses off the letters I wrote so you know (including lengthy phone discussions with politicians) - i very much encourage you to write yours.

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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willing to bet anyone here that none of these reductions will take place. a gentlemans wager anyone?

 

you're on. my hope is the schools don't lose 40 seats per. I was more optimistic (really i was) until I read the goal was 295 graduating doctors annually.

 

so it's a bet!

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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a six pack of beer payable on may 14th? seems like an appropriate choice whether for celebration or commiseration.

 

Done. a 6 pack is definitely good for celebration, if its commiseration I'll need to supplement the 6 pack with a few dozen shots of something toxic.

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Morphie Newbie

Morphie

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I don't think any seats will be cut. Seats are mandated by the government and not the schools. The government holds all the cards and I'm pretty sure they'll just force the schools to suck it up. which I guess sucks for quality of education. And I'm pretty sure the schools sent those emails to the current students to put pressure on the government knowing that the info would trickle down to us

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collins Newbie

collins

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I don't think any seats will be cut. Seats are mandated by the government and not the schools. The government holds all the cards and I'm pretty sure they'll just force the schools to suck it up. which I guess sucks for quality of education. And I'm pretty sure the schools sent those emails to the current students to put pressure on the government knowing that the info would trickle down to us

 

I am curious as to whether medical school class sizes have ever been reduced before (in Alberta), does anyone know?

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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I am curious as to whether medical school class sizes have ever been reduced before (in Alberta), does anyone know?

 

i thought there had been ..perhaps in the 80s? I know health care in general took a beating back then but i don't remember any recent cuts.

 

PS (this is from reading, i am not that old to remember these things)

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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I don't think any seats will be cut. Seats are mandated by the government and not the schools. The government holds all the cards and I'm pretty sure they'll just force the schools to suck it up. which I guess sucks for quality of education. And I'm pretty sure the schools sent those emails to the current students to put pressure on the government knowing that the info would trickle down to us

 

I don't care how it gets done, but found it weird the govt rejected market modifiers - mind you, the market modifier thing is something i know little about but figured if the school could generate more revenue, it would reduce the burden on the govt if they wanted to help out.

 

Would be great if both sides just hammered out a deal. Where the hell are the arbitrators!@?

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knucklehead Newbie

knucklehead

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Holycrappers 28 pages of discussion, but I on the side that cuts are unlikely. As any kind of bargaining between school and government, each side wants leverage. Unfortunately the fate of premeds have became that leverage point for the universities.

 

University wants to run the school without a huge deficit-->more money from government-->use us as leverage

 

Government wants a good public perception-->no cuts to number of seats-->force university to keep the seat open

 

Ultimately I think some compromise will be made between the universities and the government now this issue is becoming more public to keep the number of seats the same. Although the fact that both Deans have sent out e-mails regarding the decrease in number of seats makes me a bit less confident in my original prediction. I assume between now and May 14th, the university and the government will be having some kind of dialogue to figure out the situation. This is just my two cents. Although I do confess I am not completely up to date on all the news and am gathering my thoughts based on what I have read in these forums.

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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Holycrappers 28 pages of discussion, but I on the side that cuts are unlikely. As any kind of bargaining between school and government, each side wants leverage. Unfortunately the fate of premeds have became that leverage point for the universities.

 

University wants to run the school without a huge deficit-->more money from government-->use us as leverage

 

Government wants a good public perception-->no cuts to number of seats-->force university to keep the seat open

 

Ultimately I think some compromise will be made between the universities and the government now this issue is becoming more public to keep the number of seats the same. Although the fact that both Deans have sent out e-mails regarding the decrease in number of seats makes me a bit less confident in my original prediction. I assume between now and May 14th, the university and the government will be having some kind of dialogue to figure out the situation. This is just my two cents. Although I do confess I am not completely up to date on all the news and am gathering my thoughts based on what I have read in these forums.

 

Totally agree on the leverage being premeds and even current meds.

 

A compromise though would be something between 140 and 180 seats. Still a loss from the status quo.

 

But this becoming more public is a huge benefit for premeds - no one wants to get embarassed in the publics eyes. Let's hope the two sides can put their egos aside, allow each other to save face, and keep the seats at 180.

 

sv3

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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just to clarify sv3, we're talking good stuff here. perhaps something brewed in alberta to suit the occasion. wild rose and alley kat make some of my favourites. should i lose, what should i think of picking up for you?

 

If i win, i'll be so smashed anything decent will do bud. Seriously....after a certain point i have no clue what i'm drinking but I'm strangely comfortable with that.........

 

I'll definitely buy you the good stuff if you win man - that is a promise.

 

sv3

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UTPEOPLE Newbie

UTPEOPLE

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But Jochi is not in the class of 2014 - hence easier to talk smack about them.

 

also, what i find extremely stupid about these comments supporting a smaller class size is that if you had to choose between dealing with the hassles of a larger size, or not getting into medschool, I got a feeling everyone would choose the former. If not, they are lying through their teeth. So no matter how many negatives you bring up about being in medical school, it beats not being in medical school. Thats the bottom line that you current med students seem to be very quick to forget. So making your posts on a thread like this one is a pretty idiotic idea.

 

For the moment, what if the quality of canadian medical education dropped enough due to excessive class size that the government deems it necessary to preferentially hire foreign trained physicians? I mean most of the people currently scrambling to get into a canadian med school likely qualify for Caribbean ones, yet people dont scramble for those because 1. the education there is likely inferior to Canadian schools and 2. will impair the chances of graduates matching to a residency. I wouldnt mind smaller classes if it turns out crop after crop of amazing physicians to take care of Canada's sick, which in the end is the purpose of the profession in the first place

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sv3 Newbie

sv3

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For the moment, what if the quality of canadian medical education dropped enough due to excessive class size that the government deems it necessary to preferentially hire foreign trained physicians? I mean most of the people currently scrambling to get into a canadian med school likely qualify for Caribbean ones, yet people dont scramble for those because 1. the education there is likely inferior to Canadian schools and 2. will impair the chances of graduates matching to a residency. I wouldnt mind smaller classes if it turns out crop after crop of amazing physicians to take care of Canada's sick, which in the end is the purpose of the profession in the first place

 

i think this issue is complex enough with a hypothetical thrown in there. Plus, its quite the stretch that the govt would prefer foreign trained grads. Either way, the current situation is enough for my mind.

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