First and second-year medical students spent the day Saturday at Boundary Trails Health Centre to get a small taste of what it could be like to practice medicine in rural Manitoba.
The annual initiative involves students who are part of the Rural Interest Group at the University of Manitoba, and they rotated through stations that demonstrated a variety of things such as intubation, IUD insertion, suturing, ultrasound, and more.
It is always an important opportunity, said Dr. Leanne Nause, who added that they hope the students even just have fun with the day and make some good memories.
“And hopefully we inspire some to come back or seek another rural area for their medical practice,” said Nause.
“More than 20 years ago, I was in a group like this, and it definitely led me to my career path,” said the Morden-based doctor. “It may not be for all of them, but even if they have fun and know what’s out here and know what they can experience even in learning … residents get really top-notch learning out here.”
The Rural Interest Group is among a number of initiatives that can help lead more medical students to consider working in rural Manitoba. There is also the Rural Week that places students here for a week as well as the Home for the Summer program, which offers seasonal employment to post-secondary medical students providing hands-on experience.
The Rural Interest Group is led by co-president and Mordenite Vienna Peters, who is a second-year medical student.
“We host events throughout the school year for students interested in rural medicine to get a sense of what it would be like to work in rural communities,” she explained.
There were just under 30 students out for the day at BTHC.
“It’s good exposure … you get a sense of what it would be like to work here one day,” Peters said.
“In med one and two, we don’t get tons of exposure to clinical experience,” she noted. “It’s a lot of lecture work, so this is a good way to get out of the classroom and learn the skills ahead of time.
“It’s really nice coming to rural communities and working with the staff from the area because we learn about the needs here, what kind of patient population we would be working with, and that could help us tailor our education as we go through med school to kind of focus on something,” Peters suggested. “You’re getting to work with the doctors who are a big part of the community … and students often don’t really know what kind of practice they could do in areas outside Winnipeg.”
Nause and other local medical practitioners were happy to be part of the day.
“We love this event. It is very exciting to have a bunch of medical students who are usually in their first or second years … and we know they are enthusiastic about coming to get exposure out in a rural area,” she said.
And there are vast options available in a regional centre like Boundary Trails Health Centre, she noted.
“It gives them an idea because maybe some don’t know much about rural life,” she said. “Rural medicine has so many different avenues. You can do radiology, family medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics … there are lots of different opportunities.
“Ever since I have been here, there has always been a need for more doctors,” Nause added. “We want to continue to encourage medical providers to come out to this area so we can meet the growing population needs.”
“The Rural Interest Group is a really great opportunity for us to welcome students who have never seen rural medicine and to give them exposure to what our hospital has, and it is often an eye-opening experience,” said Nicole Walske, executive director of the Menzies Medical Centre in Morden.
She noted one current resident working here today had been part of the group as a student.
“I think it’s a testament to how important it is for them to see that difference,” she said. “I think our primary goal is to give them an opportunity to understand that the learning isn’t just at the university level and that we as a community of physicians here want to support their learning.
“We want to give them an environment that is nurturing and safe … the more they want to be here and like being here, the more potential we will have to keep them here as working physicians.”
Photos by Lorne Stelmach/Voice
