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| Original News Release |
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| Original News Release |
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· Between 1980 and 2001, no growth took place in the province’s 120 medical education spaces. During this same time there was a 50 per cent growth in provincial population, which made it difficult for B.C. residents to access the services of doctors in rural regions.
· In March 2002, government announced that the University of British Columbia’s medical school would be expanded to produce more B.C.-trained doctors to help reduce regional shortages. In a unique collaboration, UBC worked with the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Victoria to form a distributed learning model that allows integrated education to take place in three different geographic regions.
· Expanded medical education involves Vancouver/Fraser-based, Victoria-based and Prince George-based programs that will almost double the number of UBC’s first-year medical school spaces from the current 128 spaces to 224 by 2005-06.
· In September, 200 medical students started their first semester at UBC’s Vancouver campus.
· In January 2005, 24 students will move from UBC to the Island medical program at UVic, and another 24 to the northern medical program at UNBC.
· By 2008-09, the northern medical program and Island medical program will have 96 spaces each, and the Vancouver Fraser medical program will have 704 spaces, which combined will be able to produce 224 graduates annually.
ISLAND MEDICAL PROGRAM
· Island medical program students will have the benefit of UVic’s expertise in health-related research, including its centre on aging. Much of the centre’s research focuses on the health-related challenges facing a society with an aging population.
· Within days of arriving at UVic in January, students will be working with doctors in the community as part of their weekly clinical skills and family medicine experience that continues through first and second year.
· At the end of second year, students will spend four to eight weeks in rural communities either on Vancouver Island or elsewhere in the province.
· In third and fourth year, students will do clinical rotations in the major medical disciplines, such as obstetrics, surgery and emergency care. Most of this training will take place on Vancouver Island, although students will be able to do electives elsewhere in B.C. or out of province. NEW MEDICAL EDUCATION FACILITIES
Medical Sciences Building – University of Victoria
· The $12 million Medical Sciences Building will house medical teaching and research. Two lecture theatres, laboratories and anatomy lab facilities are equipped for distributed learning, in which lectures can be broadcast from remote sites to UVic, or from UVic to other locations.
· Other facilities include a computer lab, eight problem-based learning rooms, a clinical skills teaching room and program administration offices.
· Students will have 24-hour access to the building and some of the labs using coded security cards.
· The Medical Sciences Building is the first facility at UVic expected to qualify for gold LEED certification (the top achievement in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). The university’s school of environmental studies included the building in its curriculum.
· An innovative water recycling program will save the Capital Regional District more than two million litres of potable water each year. All cabinetry for the lab benches was either salvaged or surplus from other projects. Many materials used were recycled, including reinforcing steel, wood for concrete formwork, and batt insulation.
Life Sciences Centre – University of British Columbia
· The Life Sciences Centre in Vancouver, at 51,000 square metres, is the hub of the distributed medical education program. About 40,000 square metres are dedicated to the faculty of medicine; the remainder accommodates teaching and research space for the study of life sciences.
· The centre contains two lecture theatres large enough for 350 students each; 37 small, problem-based learning rooms; and flexible and high-use teaching labs. Lecture theatres and classrooms are equipped with sophisticated and flexible audiovisual and e-learning capabilities.
Northern Health Sciences Centre – University of Northern British Columbia.
· The Northern Health Sciences Centre at UNBC will house the northern medical program. The building is 4,000 square metres and features lab space, eight classrooms for group problem-based learning, and two lecture theatres with state-of-the-art videoconferencing capability. -30-
For information on AchieveBC, visit http://www.achievebc.ca online.
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