The Rationale, Outcomes, and Objectives of Remote and Rural Community Placements Conducted as Part of Early Medical Training at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine PDF Download

Author: Brian M. Ross
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Indians of North America
Languages : en
Pages : 124

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Book Description
"The health of any population is, in part, determined by access to healthcare resources including the availability of physicians. Such access is not equitably distributed being more concentrated in urban centres leading to worse health outcomes for rural citizens. Increasing the supply of rural physicians is therefore of importance to providing healthcare which meets the needs of the local population. The provisions of suitable medical education programs is an important component of meeting rural community healthcare needs; programs which explicitly do so are termed 'socially accountable'. One mechanism by which a socially accountable program can be implemented is the training of physician in their future practice context, which for rural health means training in rural communities. This comprises a form of community- and/or place-based education with the desired outcome being that the learner develops the knowledge and skills to work in such contexts as well as the desire to do so. The existing literature regarding community placements rather lacks information and analysis of the role played by the actual place the placement takes place it even though recruitment and retention of physicians is known to be influenced by community satisfaction, knowledge and integration. This portfolio aims to begin to remedy this deficiency in the literature by focusing on a type of community placement which forms part of the MD program of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM). At NOSM learners take part in a variety of community-based experiences, two of which are the 'remote and rural community placements' in year 2, the objective of which is to teach students what it is like to work and live in rural communities. A review of the founding documents of the MD program along with interviews of those in leadership roles during the formative and start-up phases of the program indicated that the placements had three main roles (i) as a means of engaging communities as part of social accountability, (ii) to be part of a holistic program of community-based learning, and (iii) to learn the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to work and live in a rural community as a physician. A consideration of the existing curriculum of the placements revealed, however, that while there was a considerable focus on the regular academic sessions of the program and on learning specific clinical skills by means of time spent with community physicians, the key place-related learning about rural living and working lacked Syllabus outcomes, learning objectives and learning activities. Such a deficiency is concluded to mean that much of the educational intent of the placements has not been made explicit. This includes allowing learners to experience and reflect on this way place and community influences medical practice and how they can successfully live and work as rural physicians, outcomes which are argued to be key to fulfulling the school's mission of a 'healthier North'. With this in mind new outcomes, objectives and educational activities for the placements are described including the inclusion of community exploration, advocacy and/or service learning opportunities, a requirement to reflect on rural medical practice, and a focus on team-based interprofessional learning during clinical and academic sessions."-- from abstract.