Boundary Trails Health Centre welcomed a group of future doctors to town last weekend to give them an idea of what rural medicine is all about.
The University of Manitoba’s Rural Interest Group—about 40 students strong, all in their first and second years of medical school——stopped by the regional hospital Saturday.
They spent the morning rotating through several interactive skills stations led by local health care professionals and then enjoyed lunch and a tour of Dead Horse Cider near Winkler.
Second-year medical student Kyla Goulet-Kilgour, who grew up in Winnipeg, says it opened her eyes to what a medical practice beyond the Perimeter Hwy. has to offer.
“We started with a presentation from one of the doctors, just setting the stage for what a rural practice can look like,” she shared. “That was really inspiring. He emphasized the dignity of the person and the importance of providing patient-centred care. That’s always a good reminder for us medical students to be learning.
“What was really cool as well was we toured the Boundary Trails facility, which has a lovely new facility,” Goulet-Kilgour said, referring to the new community services building and in-patient unit that opened at BTHC this spring. “So that was really nice to see.”
The hands-on workshops proved to be a highlight of the day.
“That was probably one of my favourite parts,” Goulet-Kilgour said. “We started off with a session where we learned intubation from one of the doctors who works in the field of anesthesia. Then we had suturing sessions, learning how to do different stitches. And then we had a pediatric session where we when over how to evaluate a newborn baby.”
Other stations touched on procedures related to lung capacity and women’s health.
“We learned how to do things like endometrial biopsies, IUD insertions, Nexplanon insertions, those sort of things,” said Goulet-Kilgour, noting that session was especially interesting to her. “I had a really good conversation with the doctors who were running it, particularly the obstetrician gynecologist, hearing what it’s like to work rurally as an obstetrician … I’ve never really had the chance to talk with a rural obstetrician who’s doing many surgeries a week and dealing with some oftentimes high-risk, high-stakes cases. So it was really cool to talk with her.
“I’ve got to say, the doctors and all the facilitators across the board were super keen to share their knowledge and really excited to have us there learning and to answer any questions that we may have,” Goulet-Kilgour said, sharing it’s definitely given her food for thought as she moves through her training and prepares to begin a career in medicine. “Everyone I interacted with was very welcoming and excited to have med students out and proud of their community, which was really nice to see.”
The day was organized by Southern Health-Santé Sud in partnership with the C.W Wiebe Medical Centre in Winkler and the Menzies Medical Centre in Morden.
Menzies clinic executive director Nicole Walske said events like this are a great way to showcase what an area like Morden-Winkler all has to offer.
“It was a fantastic opportunity to have med students join us for the day and see a little bit about the work that’s available in rural medical practice and see our facilities and meet some of our fantastic physicians and support teams,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to build connection with these students as they begin this journey and give them a place to land when they have questions.
“For some of them, this may be their first rural exposure in medical facilities,” Walske noted.
Programs like the Rural Interest Group (RIG), in addition Rural Week, which also sees first-year medical students spend time in Morden-Winkler health care facilities, are making a difference when it comes to physician recruitment.
“I just signed my very first physician who was one of my RIG attendees,” Walske shared, noting she came on board at Menzies clinic four years ago. “She’s just going into residency and she will be joining us when she’s done residency in two years. She was a RIG trip person, so it’s kind of cool to see that connection come full circle and realize that the work that we do, sometimes years prior, makes a difference—it just takes time.”
Hands-on educational sessions led by current doctors and medical staff show future physicians “they’re allowed to build the practice that works for them” in a rural setting, Walske said. “When they see that, it’s a big part of the appeal.”
