Pre-med students get exposure to rural health care

Program aims to help students gain medical experience

Melody Morrissette

A program that provides pre-medical students with a one-week experience shadowing rural physicians in Manitoba is gearing up for its fifth year.

The Rural Manitoba Health Mentorship Program was created in 2005 by three aspiring medical students who are now in their fourth year at the University of Manitoba’s School of Medicine.

Wayne Heide, the administrative director of Manitoba’s Office of Rural and Northern Health, the organization that oversees the mentorship program, said the program is a unique venture.

“I think it has been a great program because it is student-driven,” he said, adding that program participants continue on by co-ordinating it the next year.

This year’s student co-ordinators are: Federico Lopez-Fischer, a University of Winnipeg student finishing a three-year degree in biochemistry; Daniel Palitsky, a recent U of W biopsychology graduate; and Emily Blunden, a U of M nursing student. They will soon begin recruiting applicants for this year’s program.

Applicants must have a grade point average of at least 3.6 and have extensive experience working or volunteering in a medical environment.

Palitsky said the program is a great way for pre-med students to get exposure to the medical field.

“It is pretty much the closest you can get to being a medical student without actually being one,” he said.

Lopez-Fischer said the degree of exposure the program offers is incomparable.

“You observe medical procedures ... from blocking off a nosebleed to major surgery,” he said.

Heide said the early exposure to rural medicine may encourage more prospective medical students to consider rural medicine.

“The earlier, the more frequent and the longer students are exposed to rural practice, the more likely they are to choose that [for their career],” he said.

Not only did the mentorship bolster both Lopez-Fischer and Palitsky’s motivations to pursue careers in medicine, it has made them seriously consider practising in a rural environment.

“[The program] showed me that rural medicine can be very exciting and very stimulating,” Lopez-Fischer said. “I don’t know if I would have considered rural medicine before ... but now I will definitely consider it.”

While the program alone won’t solve the severe shortage of physicians in rural Manitoba, it can only help, said Lopez-Fischer.

“Even if one person decides to go into rural medicine because of the program ... we have accomplished something in terms of rural healthcare.”

Published in Volume 64, Number 13 of The Uniter (November 26, 2009)

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