SASKATOON – Students are speaking out about the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) College of Medicine being placed on “accreditation with probation.”
“My personal biggest fear is having a patient come up to me and say I don’t want you to treat me because you graduated from the U of S,” said John Schulte, a second year medical student.
Around 350 students are enrolled in the college of medicine. The college remains fully accredited while on probation.
“We are still receiving a very high standard of education and that we don’t want the public opinion to be that of concern, that students coming out of the U of S will not be competent physicians because that is not the case,” said Kylie Riou, a third year U of S medical student.
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The Accreditation of Canadian Medical School and the Liaison Committee on Medical Education reported the college as being non-compliant with six of 139 standards that North American schools must adhere too.
This is the second time the college has been placed on probation. The first time was in 2002, which lasted about six years.
It’s the only medical school in Canada to be on probation twice.
“We need to work through this period, we’ve got other things to do besides, the accreditation standards are the lowest common denominator,” said Dr. Louis Qualtiere, acting dean of the college.
“We need to build up a more robust teaching program in terms of how we’re doing, we’re putting a new curriculum that’s starting next fall.”
Statuses can’t be changed for at least the next two years.
The college continues to work on an action plan.
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