First Nations support medical students and new medical school pilot project
Deer Lake First Nation opened their offices and local health centre for two weeks to two medical students who accepted the challenge of piloting the new Northern Ontario School of Medicine's aboriginal community placement learning module. This pilot initiative provided NOSM with the opportunity to test their curriculum, their on-line delivery platform and the coordination of community placements for first year students. The Deer Lake coordinator for this pilot was Eliza Jane Meekis. During the placement Orpah McKenize, NOSM Aboriginal Liaison Director, was able to visit Deer Lake along with one of the professors delivering the curriculum content to understand the importance of this experiencial learning opportunity for both the students and the community.
Click here to read the NOSM press release about this pilot project.
Click here to watch the Thunder Bay television story (hold the CTRL button down when you click on this link if you pop ups blocked on your computer)
Click here to read the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal article about this initiative. - Med school tests system - By Chen Chekki - July 03, 2005
The new Northern Ontario School of Medicine, scheduled to open at the end of August, is already starting to teach students, sort of.
And some of them have a few bad things to say about the medical program — but that was the whole point.
The school, set up by Lakehead University and Laurentian University in Sudbury, recently finished testing the part of the program that puts its students into aboriginal communities.
It plans to put its students in the month-long placements to emphasize Northern Ontario’s diverse cultures. A total of 28 aboriginal areas will host students during their four-year MD program.
So to prepare, the school sent 15 students who are not part of the new medical program to the placement for two weeks in June to see how well it works and gather student feedback to improve it.
School officials believe that if a test of a placement program doesn’t work, then it won’t work, period.
A medical student from Manitoba joined 11 other medical students from southern Ontario and four nursing students from LU in testing the placement in eight aboriginal communities. Some of the places are accessible only by air.
Each were sent to a specific community such as Deer Lake, Pic River, Moose Factory or Muskrat Dam and were asked to communicate with test students in the other places through online discussion boards.
They were also asked to tap into online lectures using laptop computers.
Luke Jagiello, a medical student from the University of Western Ontario, said his experience testing the placement program in Deer Lake brought him farther north than he has ever been.
He said the placements need better advance planning with participating communities. A nursing station he was required to attend during the program was not expecting his arrival.
Also, the workload at the beginning was overloaded and student computers had problems connecting online, Jagiello said.
Many of the problems with the placement were fixed quickly, Jagiello said. The 25-year-old said the program was a good idea.
“I think it will be very beneficial for the students next year,” Jagiello said.
It could also help encourage young aboriginals to pursue careers in medicine, said Margaret Kenequanash, spokeswoman for Shibogama First Nation tribal council in Sioux Lookout, which helped get Kingfisher Lake
involved as a site to test the placement program.
“It’s like a mentorship on both parts,” she said. Her group hopes to get three First Nations involved in the school’s actual placement program.
MEDIA RELEASE
LAURENTIAN UNIVERSITY, LAKEHEAD UNIVERSITY
Northern Ontario School of Medicine
Thursday June 30, 2005
Students experience the North through School of Medicine pilot project
The students participated in a unique pilot project at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) where they helped to test the community placement portion of the NOSM curriculum by spending time in Northern First Nation communities. The four week pilot, which ended today, included one week of orientation, two weeks in community, and a final week of debrief.
Karen Ho, a Western University medical student, was one of the participating students. “The experience was awesome. I learned an incredible amount of information that just can’t be found in a textbook,” noted Ms. Ho.
Dr. Dan Hunt, NOSM Vice Dean, says that this is exactly the kind of response he had hoped for. “The purpose of this pilot was to ensure that NOSM students will walk away from community placements with not only a better sense of Northern health needs, but also a deeper understanding of the cultural diversity of the North,” notes Dr. Hunt. Dr. Hunt firmly believes that the more NOSM students are exposed to the vibrancy of Northern communities, the more likely they will choose to live and work here as practicing physicians when they graduate, “Medical knowledge and skills are not enough to thoroughly enjoy practicing in a remote or rural community. Individuals need to experience Northern life first-hand and appreciate the uniqueness that comes with each community”, says Dr. Hunt.
Frank Beardy Chief of Muskrat Dam agrees. His community (population approx. 350) was one of seven that welcomed two students for a two week period. “The students met with our elders and healers, interacted with members of our community, and now have a better understanding of both our culture and our health needs,” said Chief Beardy. Like Dr. Hunt, Chief Beardy believes that the future of health care in Northern Ontario resides in the deeper understanding of the uniqueness of remote and rural communities.
Prior to the pilot, many students had little knowledge of what life was like in a rural or remote Aboriginal community. Some had preconceived notions that were shattered by their experience. “I have learned a lot about a community’s way of life,” notes pilot student Meileen Joynt who spent her two weeks in Moose Factory. ”I gained insight into the residents’ diets, lifestyles, housing, and views of the world outside of this small community,” she explains. “Taking part in a community bar-b-que, a Sunday school picnic and a bridal shower taught me how to deal with language barriers and the importance of respecting different cultural beliefs of patients.”
Following the community placements, students and organizers met for a one week debrief. The feedback received will help to optimize the placement experience for the future NOSM students. The pilot demonstrated that:
- Technology, which is paramount to the success of distributed learning, is not a barrier.
- Most students indicate an interest in participating in a high number of clinical opportunities.
- The School is on the right track to further engage health care practitioners and other communities in the community placement portion of its curriculum.
Students undertook placements in Deer Lake, Kenora, Kingfisher Lake, Moose Factory, Muskrat Dam, Pic River and Wikwemikong. Each community provided outstanding support to the students and the School by facilitating the successful completion of the pilot.
In total, twenty-eight rural and remote Aboriginal communities will host medical students during the School’s 4-year MD program. Rural and remote Aboriginal communities wishing to participate as a placement community for NOSM students are encouraged to contact Martha Musicco at (705) 662- 7227.
Partial funding and ground support for this pilot project was generously provided by Health Canada.