Guest ethan Posted December 14, 2002 Report Share Posted December 14, 2002 the u of s medical college was recently in the news regarding accreditation problems. the report wasn't specific as to whether it was the college's accreditation in general that was in jeopardy or specific residency programs (i know in the past certain residency programs have been in danger of losing accreditation). the report only stated that the college's accredited status could be in lost unless changes are implemented. so far i've yet to find further information on this subject. do any current u of s meds, or anyone in general for that matter, know more about the situation at usask? ethan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kosmo14 Posted December 15, 2002 Report Share Posted December 15, 2002 All I know is what I have been told from other meds. and some of our profs. Essentially the medical college has been put on probation, and must fix about 10 issues listed in some report. A couple of our biggest issues were: lack of resources in the Health Science library (something I can absolutely agree with-our library is terrible), and the lack of sufficient profs., particularily in teaching clinical skills. The college has been given two years to rectify these situations, or it may lose its accreditation. I don't know if it would affect the residency programs, but would certainly put a damper on medical education in Sask. My personal opinion: The college is using this as a tool to secure more funds for the college, and really is at no risk of losing its accreditation. It seems to me that the only time the Government of Sask. reacts to anything is when they are at risk of losing something, or the media jumps on the issue. In this case both has happened and therefore should mean pretty good things for the college. One of my profs. said that this report could be one of the best things to happen to the college. Of course this is only my opinion, and my knowledge on the subject is limited to chit chat with other students and some profs. As far as the education I am recieving right now, I think it is no different than most other medical schools in Canada. That is there are terrible profs/subjects, and there are superbly taught courses that are enjoyable (so far the good outweighs the bad). Our clinical experience to date has be absolutely great. We have had spectacular tutors, and have learned a lot in our clinical courses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ethan Posted December 15, 2002 Report Share Posted December 15, 2002 thanks for the feedback. i agree with your comments about the college's potential use of this report as a bargaining tool. i don't think the govt or the university would ever allow a loss of accreditation to occur as this would have a profound negative impact on the university as well as the medical system in saskatchewan. we can only hope that any money the college gets is spent wisely (as you mentioned the health sciences library is terribly inadequate; thank goodness for interlibrary loans). on a related note, have the meds had much contact with or input to albritton? from what i understood he was brought in to make some significant changes within the college, but i've heard nothing since except that he doesn't seem to show up for certain commitee meetings. - ethan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kosmo14 Posted December 15, 2002 Report Share Posted December 15, 2002 Dr. Albritton has been great to the medical students from what I am aware of. He has held two meetings this term with the medical students. At each of these meetings he has explained what his plans are for the college, and has opened up the floor to any questions (they ranged from parking for JURSI's (clerks) to curriculum q's). On another note he has to date been extremely supportive of the SMS (student medical society) and thier actions. He meets on a monthly basis with both the President and Internal Vice President of the SMS. He has a tough job ahead of him, and it appears he has plans for some fairly dramatic changes within the college (ie: course integration-something most medical schools in canada appear to have, he has changed and is continuing to change around the administration in the college of med, and he wants to internationalize the college whatever that means). I think that by picking a dean from outside of the college was a wise choice, and it should mean pretty good things for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ioncannon97 Posted December 16, 2002 Report Share Posted December 16, 2002 I don't really have any information on the accreditation issue but I don't agree with the hypothesis of this being a bargaining tactic. First of all, the college wouldn't want to create such bad press and hurt its reputation just so that it MIGHT get some more funds from the gov't. Second, the accreditation is controlled by external process. Thus, the college can't really be using this as a tool when it has nothing to do with writing the report or the decision to be put on probation. I do agree, however, that the gov't would be more likely to provide funds now rather than before. But that would not be because the college willed it so; it just happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kosmo14 Posted December 16, 2002 Report Share Posted December 16, 2002 Ahh but the college does have some control over what the media hears about, and what it doesn't. I find it highly unlikely that the Star Phoenix cares enough about the college of medicine or have the time to go looking for a story like that. I am sure that this paper was purposefully given to the media. I could be wrong but it doesn't appear to be a shock to anyone in the College that the media found out about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ioncannon97 Posted December 16, 2002 Report Share Posted December 16, 2002 A hypothetical question for you, Kosmo14: If the college were to not recieve accreditation in the allotted 2 years, what would happen to medical students like yourself? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kosmo14 Posted December 16, 2002 Report Share Posted December 16, 2002 Not too sure about that. I really hope it doesn't come to that. I remember a couple of years ago when the College had its accreditation up for review there were people saying that it wasn't going to make it. Some of the alternatives mentioned at that time for the remainder of med students was that they would be shipped off to other med schools to complete it. I think my class is pretty safe because we will be just entering clerkship (JURSI in Sask.) when this all unfolds, and I am sure that can be done anywhere in Canada if the province of SK. pays enough to other schools for that. If they don't, man they would be in for one heck of a lawsuit (both the province and the university). I have been thinking more about this in the last hour or so, and it does seem a bit odd that the U of S risk the colleges reputation (whatever they may have left) by going to the media, but I have seen stupider things done, and I would be giving far to much credit to the Star Phoenix if I said they could find a story like that by themselves. I would be interested to see what the admissions office would have to say if a potential applicant posed a question about getting in and then the college losing accreditation. Hmmm, maybe any potential applicants to the U of S out there could do that and let us know what thier answer is. As for myself, I will have to wait until January to find out what the college will tell us about this, because I finished my last final on Friday and I have 3 weeks off, and I am going to enjoy this nice break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ioncannon97 Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 I e-mailed the med school and was forwarded to a professor who I suppose is the internal expert on the issue. She said that the report basically confirms what many have been saying for a long time : the college needs more resources. She also said that she was confident the resources will become ready because of this report and that experiences for applicants like myself would be better off because of it. She also explained that in the "extremely unlikely" scenario that accreditation were lost, it would be step-wise and all students would finish. They expect to regain accreditation by the end of the 2003-2004 academic year. All applicants will apparently recieve more formal communication on this issue early next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ioncannon97 Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 By "regain accreditation" above, I mean being removed from probationary status. It is still an accredited school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kosmo14 Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 Thanks for the info. ioncannon97, glad to hear that info. I imagine they will discuss this with us in January, and I will keep everyone posted. Have a great holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kellyl20 Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 did I read something similar that had happened to the USask Vet. medicine program in the last year or two? Can't remember whether it lost its accreditation or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kosmo14 Posted December 18, 2002 Report Share Posted December 18, 2002 I do remember something similar, but they just recieved a huge whack of cash from the government last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted March 4, 2003 Report Share Posted March 4, 2003 CMAJ article that just came out on this: :eek www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/f...5/597?etoc Anyone know more about how this will end up.. still taking applications next cycle or no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PARTY cal Posted March 4, 2003 Report Share Posted March 4, 2003 Well I am still really excited about interviewing at UofS. However, this issue does scare me a bit. It does not seem like these 'problems' with the medical school will be 'fixed' by September 2003. Insuffcient resourses in the library and lack of teaching staff are very serious issues in my opinion. Can any of the current UofS med students please comment on this. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sassy101 Posted March 5, 2003 Report Share Posted March 5, 2003 I must admit that I am a bit scared as well. The article in CMJA above says that all first and second year students will graduate.....what about those who will gain admission this year 2003?? A part of me thinks that perhaps training in Sask would be a beneficial although a challenging experience. Beneficial because as the article above states, Sask physicians are " patient seeing machines ". I guess training in Sask would make for a strong clinician ( lots of experience ). I think becoming a competant physician will only come from experience. However, I must admit I do wonder about the future of the college...should I remain living in AB to get residency status and go here?:\ I have talked to a number of doctors in AB and they all have said U Sask trained physicians are the best. A number of them have told me to go to U of S before any other school. I don't know what to think. P.S= med students, please do not think that I am insulting U of S..it does have a lot to offer..it is just unfortunate that there are money probs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PARTY cal Posted March 5, 2003 Report Share Posted March 5, 2003 Hi Sassy101, Well, I guess we are feeling the same way. I have also heard the SasK trained physicians are the best. I am still very excited to interview at UofS - I think it will be a great place to obtain my medical degree despite some if the financial downfalls. Best of luck to you on your interview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kosmo14 Posted March 5, 2003 Report Share Posted March 5, 2003 I guess once again I will reiterate what I said earlier. I have no doubt in my mind that this will be resolved much sooner than many anticipate. We have had meetings with the dean, and the powers to be. There is absolutely no indication that the money won't be available. The government has been supportive ever since this has come to light. I cannot divulge all that is being done at this point, but change is sweeping through the college, positive change. I don't mean any disrespect to Dr. Peirson but I must say that there are always going to be some people that for whatever reasons are going to complain about thier working conditions, and don't believe that enough is going to be done to change it. Remember that the critic being quoted in this article is NOT the Dean of Medicine, he is NOT the University President, he is NOT the provincial health minister, and he is not on the accreditation commitee so therefore he cannot fully and fairly evaluate what is being done and what is enough. Interview weekend is happening in 1.5 weeks and they are going to have a class of 2007. If there was any reason for the University and the College of Medicine to believe they would lose thier accreditation they would never risk bringing a new batch of students. Just think of the problems that would cause them, and the money the government would be wasting by training a class of 60 for a year or two. When you ask a government for money the usual intial reaction you will get is "We don't have enough money for that", in this case one of our students asked Jim Melenchuk at a open forum on education at the U of S what he will do to resolve this. He said in no uncertain terms that the government will provide the funds to help the college to get off of probation. Good Luck at your interviews on the 15/16. I hope this will put some of your minds at ease. On another topic it appears we once again have shown that we are strong. This years CARMS match was rough for many schools with a lot of people going unmatched. We only had 3 or 4 (not positive on one person) in the first round, and there was a large number of people that matched into extremely competitive fields. Most schools ran at around unmatched, while UofS was between 5 and 6.7%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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