They are the next generation of Canadian doctors and they are the first class to get their training at UBC-Okanagan.
But before the medical students start practicing professionally, they need practice and training.
During the past three months, 32 students have been working with volunteer patients from the community on a weekly basis.
For first year student Jesse Ory, this training is crucial to becoming real-world doctor.
“You learn all this stuff in books and in lectures and you get to come in and actually see why we’re doing it,” said Ory. “This is the reason we’re learning this and going through books and memorizing everything. So it ties everything together and really, it’s nice to get to interact with people.”
“This is where they’re learning to be a physician in my mind,” adds Josh Williams, UBC-O Clinical Skills Co-Director. “You can sit in a lecture hall. You can listen to information. You can go to the library and study stuff and look at stuff online. But it’s not until you’re actually interacting with patients when you’re really learning what it’s like to be a physician.”
Experts say this hands-on training develops a student’s sense of how to interact with patients, specifically when it comes to what to do and what not to do.
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However, the program wouldn’t be possible without the volunteer patients, said Diane Oorebeek, Volunteer Patient Recruiter, since each patient has a unique personality and medical history.
“They are one of the most important things in the program. Without volunteer patients here, we would rely on simulated patients or self exams, which aren’t the same,” Oorebeek said.
There is hope that this program could change perceptions about working in smaller communities, which often face chronic doctor shortages.
“There’s a big correlation about where you train and where you practice at all levels, so by having students train here, and hopefully somebody point down the road, they’ll be able to do their residency in smaller centres as well,” Williams said. “I think we’re doing a lot for recruitment and retention for future physicians in this area.”
For students like Kasia Wieckowski, who do not know what the future holds, practicing in a rural community is something she would consider.
“In rural community you are one of two doctors, instead of one of several hundred. The reliance, the need for you to be on your game is a lot greater,” she adds.
The Okanagan’s first crop of new doctors will graduate in 2015.
If you are interested in volunteering to be a patient, visit the Southern Medical Program website at http://smp.med.ubc.ca/volunteer/vpp.html. The program may go a long way towards shaping the doctors of tomorrow, however officials caution these sessions shouldn’t be a replacement for a regular doctor visit.
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