MORE STUDENT DOCTORS

§ The number of first-year medical student spaces in B.C. has doubled since 2001, growing almost four times faster than the Canadian average when measured per 100,000 population.

§ There were no increases in spaces for student doctors in B.C. in the previous two decades, while B.C.’s population grew by 50 per cent.

§ In response to the need for more doctors, especially in rural and underserved areas, B.C. launched Canada’s first fully distributed expansion of MD undergraduate education in 2004.

§ The first expanded and distributed class will graduate in May 2008; the total number of graduates in B.C. will have doubled by May 2011.

§ The Province also began increasing postgraduate residency positions in 2003 to accommodate the greater number of graduates from the undergraduate program.

§ Today UBC’s faculty of medicine offers 224 residencies for Canadian medical graduates to train in 62 accredited postgraduate medicine specialties and subspecialties (e.g., cardiology, family practice, surgery) at a variety of clinical academic campuses.

§ All clinical and academic campuses are connected to each other by audiovisual and information technology systems that allow distributed, interactive education to be delivered in real time between all the sites.

§ Distribution provides communities with access to a major medical centre committed to training the next generation of doctors as well as more ability to attract and retain new doctors, improving the long-term health of each community.

§ To date, the Province has invested more than $290 million in expanding medical training:

§ $134 million for new buildings at the University of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Victoria, as well as more than $117 million in operating and startup costs for the medical training expansion.

§ $27.6 million for new or renovated teaching space in clinical academic campuses and related facilities, and $14.9 million for audiovisual information technology infrastructure.

MORE STUDENT NURSES

§ B.C.’s nursing student spaces have increased by 3,347 since 2001, or 82 per cent.

§ Only 85 spaces were added in the nine years between 1991-92 and 1999-2000 – a total increase of 2.4 per cent at a time when the province’s population grew by 21 per cent.

§ The number of new nurses who graduated in 2005-06 has nearly doubled since 2001 (1,469 vs. 761).

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Media contact:	Corinna Filion Communications Manager Ministry of Advanced Education 250 952-6400 250 812-7977 (cell)

For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca.