Government is increasing the number of B.C. - educated
doctors through expansion of UBC’s medical school. Clinical academic campuses
(CACs) are large health facilities that support clinical teaching of undergraduate medical students,
postgraduate residents and faculty members.
- CACs and related
facilities are the result of more than a $40 million investment from the
Ministry of Health.
- Government
funding has ensured the UBC Faculty of Medicine has distributed facilities
to enhance and enlarge their capacity for teaching medical students and
postgraduate residents across the province.
- The
CACs provide communities with access to a major medical centre committed
to training the next generation of doctors as well as opportunity to attract and retain new physicians,
improving the long-term health of each community.
- The
clinical and teaching space at each CAC enables UBC medical students,
postgraduate residents and faculty members to work together to ensure the
development of team-oriented patient care.
- A CAC
includes seminar rooms, video-conference rooms, on call facilities for
students and postgraduate residents, as well as academic staff offices and
a medical library.
- All
CACs are connected to each other by the Medical Provincial Academic and Affiliated Campus Technology Project.
The Project is a province-wide initiative that provides the technology
required to deliver high-quality distributed education in real time
between all of the CACs using audiovisual and information technology
systems.
- For
the first time, third-year medical students (known as clinical clerks) are
receiving hands-on clinical training at CACs in the North (24 students),
Vancouver Island (24 students) and Vancouver/Fraser program (176
students), totalling
224 students.
- The UBC Faculty of Medicine offers 224 entry-positions for Canadian
medical graduates the opportunity to train in 62 accredited postgraduate
medicine (residency) specialty and subspecialty programs (e.g. cardiology, family
practice, obstetrics & gynecology and surgery) at a variety of
clinical academic campus sites.
Distributed Expansion
of UBC’s Faculty of Medicine
Prior to government’s March 2002 announcement to expand the
medical school:
- Undergraduate
medical education was principally delivered in the lower mainland at UBC
Vancouver Point Grey campus (first and second year) and at the large lower
mainland teaching hospitals (third and fourth year) with modest engagement
of smaller hospitals province wide;
- Postgraduate
medical education (residency) was also delivered at these large teaching
hospitals with minimal distribution to outlying hospitals, but with family
medicine training distributed since 1992 to northern and rural areas;
The announcement by the Province in 2002 was the first major
change in more than a decade:
- In
2002, government announced UBC would almost double the medical school by
2005 (undergraduate enrolment).
- In
2004, Canada’s first fully distributed expansion of MD undergraduate education
began in response to the requirement for better distribution of doctors in
B.C.’s rural and underserved areas.
- In
2003, the Ministry of Health began increasing postgraduate residency
positions in B.C.
- The
UBC distributed MD undergraduate program includes: Vancouver Fraser
Medical Program, Island Medical Program and Northern Medical Program. It
is delivered in collaboration with UVic and UNBC and B.C.’s six health
authorities.
- Currently there are 224 first-year UBC
medical students enrolled in the four-year MD undergraduate program.
Funding from government to support the distributed
expansion:
- The
Ministry of Health provided $27.6 million for new or renovated teaching
space in clinical academic campuses and related facilities, and a further
$14.9 million for an audiovisual information technology (AVIT)
infrastructure.
- The
Ministry of Advanced Education provided $134 million in capital funding
for new teaching and research space at university academic campuses;
As of March 2007, the clinical academic campuses are:
·
Northern Health campus - Prince George Regional
Hospital;
·
Vancouver Island Health Authority campuses - Royal
Jubilee Hospital, Victoria General Hospital;
·
Fraser Health Authority campus - Royal Columbian
Hospital;
·
Provincial Health Services Authority campuses - BC
Children’s Hospital, BC Cancer Agency, BC Women’s Hospital & Health Centre;
·
Vancouver Coastal Health Authority campuses -
Providence Health/St. Paul’s Hospital, Vancouver General Hospital and related
facilities.
Throughout the province, there are another 85 affiliated
educational facilities that have a sharply focussed teaching capacity for special electives and targeted
programs.
MD Undergraduate
Program Clerkships:
Undergraduate
medical students are distributed from University Academic Campuses at UBC, UNBC
and UVic to the CACs for year three mandatory purely clinical clerkships and for some year four
clinical education experiences. During basic clerkships, third-year medical students perform histories,
physical examinations, identification and work-up of patient problems.
-30-
