Training more doctors
http://www.100md.com
《加拿大医疗协会学报》
Every time I tell someone that I am doing my residency training in the United States, I get the same reaction: "Why are you in the United States? Are you going to come back to Canada? We need more doctors." Moving to the United States was a last resort for me.
When I graduated from McGill University's medical school in 2004, I failed to match to my chosen subspecialty. I obtained a training position in another field. Several months into my PGY-1 year I knew I would not be happy working in that field. Because I was no longer eligible to participate in the first round of the CaRMS match, I contacted most of the Canadian training programs in my preferred field to ask about the possibility of applying. Answers such as "We don't take out-of-province applicants outside the match" or "We don't have funding for another position" filled my email in-box. I entered the US match and obtained a training spot in my preferred field. Although I love what I am now doing, I still want to train in Canada. However, this year I am getting the same responses to my inquiries about PGY-2 positions in Canada.
Simply increasing the number of spots for medical students will not solve the problem of the lack of doctors in Canada. More residency training spots are also needed. In a recent CMAJ news article,1 Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh was quoted as saying that the barriers that prevent international medical graduates from working in Canada need to be lowered. Why don't we start with the barriers preventing Canadian graduates from coming home?
REFERENCE
Eggertson L, Sibbald B. Med schools need to train more doctors: Dosanjh. CMAJ 2005;173(8):857.(Alana Beres)
When I graduated from McGill University's medical school in 2004, I failed to match to my chosen subspecialty. I obtained a training position in another field. Several months into my PGY-1 year I knew I would not be happy working in that field. Because I was no longer eligible to participate in the first round of the CaRMS match, I contacted most of the Canadian training programs in my preferred field to ask about the possibility of applying. Answers such as "We don't take out-of-province applicants outside the match" or "We don't have funding for another position" filled my email in-box. I entered the US match and obtained a training spot in my preferred field. Although I love what I am now doing, I still want to train in Canada. However, this year I am getting the same responses to my inquiries about PGY-2 positions in Canada.
Simply increasing the number of spots for medical students will not solve the problem of the lack of doctors in Canada. More residency training spots are also needed. In a recent CMAJ news article,1 Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh was quoted as saying that the barriers that prevent international medical graduates from working in Canada need to be lowered. Why don't we start with the barriers preventing Canadian graduates from coming home?
REFERENCE
Eggertson L, Sibbald B. Med schools need to train more doctors: Dosanjh. CMAJ 2005;173(8):857.(Alana Beres)