15 new residency positions over next 4 years

[Mourning Cloak]

Random news:

 

The government has decided to fund 15 new residency positions in family medicine in the North at a cost of about $7,000,000.

 

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?m=/index&nid=530819

[Macster]

I respectfully disagree. Right now the government spends huge coin flying people down from the north whenever they have a problem that could otherwise be dealt with by well-trained rural docs of which there is a serious shortage right now.

 

Plus, the depannage model of care, where Southern docs fly in to the north for short stints as a stopgap measure to provide primary care arguably creates problems of its own. People from Cree and Inuit communities are, on the whole, far less comfortable with someone who comes in for a week at a time than with someone who lives there.

 

What's more is that with these new spots, people who are originally from the north will have opportunities to train in their own communities, making it much more likely for them to stay in the north after residency.

 

I agree that we need more ortho and plastics spots. To train people to fix our baby boomers' broken hips and diabetic ulcers. But it's economics, and so we have to make decisions. In this case, it's primary health care versus ortho wait lists. And people need primary care.

[rogerroger]

Random news:

 

The government has decided to fund 15 new residency positions in family medicine in the North at a cost of about $7,000,000.

 

http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?m=/index&nid=530819

 

As long as there are severe FM shortages 2hrs "north" of Toronto where the population is ~10x as dense it makes zero sense to me for the government to place 15 spots in the North with a negligible increase of spots located in northern-south Ontario.

 

To me the shortages appear systemic and not north specific...

 

Am I missing something here?

[A-Stark]

Is the shortage in "northern-south" Ontario so "severe"? I don't think it's comparable.

[rogerroger]

Is the shortage in "northern-south" Ontario so "severe"? I don't think it's comparable.

 

 

http://www.packetandtimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2452374

 

I call a town 2 hrs drive north of Toronto home. I can certainly attest to the fact that the regional newspapers are filled with similar stories to the one above...

[Monaco]

There aren't a lot of people from northern communities applying to medical school.

 

Even people who grew up in the north very often do not return there to practice. 3-4 years undergrad + 4 years medical school +/- residency away from the north = a long time away. And sometimes people left their childhood community for a reason and may have been the type of person who was eager to "escape". All in all, very difficult to get people to commit long-term to the north.