On May 17 - 21, one hundred and ten first-year University of Manitoba - Faculty of Medicine medical students will descend upon over 40 rural and northern Manitoba communities. Rural Week 2010 will be the eighth annual Rural Week installment where organizers from Manitoba’s Office of Rural & Northern Health and the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Medicine team up to give medical students a firsthand rural/northern medical experience.
Since the inception of Rural Week, fifty-five communities in rural & northern Manitoba as well as the remote communities of Rankin Inlet & Sanikiluaq, Nunavut have hosted first year medical students. Collectively, these communities have hosted a total of 753 students. Thirteen of these communities have participated every year the Rural Week program has operated.
During the week, students are given real-life exposure to the rewards and challenges of practicing medicine in rural and northern Manitoba, training experiences which are different than those which they more typically encounter in an urban setting.
Visit Coordinators and Preceptors in each community work together to arrange student schedules which offer a wide range of clinical exposure as well as allow for time to enjoy life outside of the city and to discover some of the many benefits of a rural/northern lifestyle. Rural Week presents communities with the opportunity to showcase themselves and promote the opportunities, challenges and benefits of rural and northern medicine.
Rural Week is a component of a broader strategy to expose medical students and residents to the rewards of rural/northern practice and rural/northern lifestyles. Other components include rural/northern exposure at various stages of medical training, rural/northern family medicine residency and financial incentives to encourage rural/northern practice. Family medicine graduates from the last two years were participants in the first two years of the Rural Week program. A number of these recent graduates are currently practicing medicine in rural/northern Manitoba and had the benefit of the Rural Week experience. These include: Dr. Jennifer St. Goddard (Portage), Dr. Elaine Csupak (Selkirk); Dr. Holly Hamilton (Notre Dame), Dr. Heather Menzies (The Pas), Dr. Joe Lines (Winkler), Dr. Heather Lehman (Winkler), Dr. Melissa Caswill (Winkler) and Dr. Sara Scott (Dauphin).
Rural Week 2010 will see students travel to the following rural & northern communities in groups of two to five students. Rural Week sites for 2010 are: Altona, Arborg, Ashern, Beausejour, Brandon, Carman, Dauphin, Eriksdale, Flin Flon, Garden Hill, Gillam, Gimli, Gladstone, Hamiota, Minnedosa, Morden, Morris, Neepawa, Niverville, Notre Dame de
Lourdes, Pinawa, Pine Falls, Poplar River, Portage la Prairie, Rankin Inlet, Red Sucker Lake/Wasagamach, Rivers, Russell, Sanikiluaq, Selkirk, St. Pierre, Ste. Anne, Ste. Rose du lac, Steinbach, Stonewall, Swan Lake/Somerset, Swan River, The Pas, Thompson, Winkler.
On Friday May 21 at 7 pm, students will reassemble at a central site to discuss their varied experiences during the week.
This valuable learning experience is possible through the commitment of community volunteers and the physicians who have agreed to act as preceptors/teachers to the students.
Press Release Document
For more information contact:
Dr. Don Klassen Wayne Heide
Medical Director Administrative Director
Office of Rural & Northern Health Office of Rural & Northern Health
Telephone: (204) 331-4703 Telephone: (204) 622-6210
E-mail: drdon@cwwiebemedical.ca E-mail: wheide@ornh.mb.ca
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
MANITOBA REPORTS LARGEST ONE-YEAR INCREASE IN NURSES ON RECORD
April 15, 2010
Nearly 500 More Nurses Working in Manitoba This Year after Record Number of Doctors Added Last Year: Oswald
http://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?archive=month&item=8240
According to new data from Manitoba’s nursing colleges, 498 more nurses are practising in Manitoba today compared to this time last year, representing the province’s largest-recorded annual increase, Health Minister Theresa Oswald announced today.
“Since our government launched our nursing strategy 10 years ago, we have invested aggressively in education, recruitment and retention of nurses,” said Oswald. “Today we are seeing the results of this strategy with a record-setting increase in the number of nurses working for Manitobans.”
The number of practising Manitoba nurses has climbed every year since 2000, to 16,624 in 2009 from 14,092 in 2000, a net increase of 2,532.
Manitoba continues to invest in nurse training, recruitment and retention initiatives consisting of targeted programs that help attract and keep nurses in northern and rural communities including:
· a relocation assistance program that has benefited 1,286 nurses by providing up to $8,000 to cover the costs of moving to this province, with 421 nurses choosing to work in rural Manitoba;
· a grant program for new nurse graduates who choose to work in rural Manitoba;
· an ongoing recruitment campaign to attract nurses from other provinces and other countries including more than 100 new nurses from the Philippines; and
· nearly doubling the number of training seats for nurses at post-secondary institutions across Manitoba since 1999.
Updated nursing workforce data, including a breakdown of active practising Manitoba nurses, training data, information on recruitment initiatives and an update on total funded, filled and vacant positions, is available at www.manitoba.ca/health/nurses.
“Managing health care during difficult economic times is about choices,” said Oswald. “Our government’s choice at this time is to continue to invest rather than cut front-line services as has been done in the past when times were tough.”
Data from the colleges’ annual reports indicate the province gained 467 registered nurses, 23 licensed practical nurses and 16 nurse practitioners in the past year.
The new numbers represent a net gain of 943 nurses in three years, already surpassing the government’s 2007 commitment of adding 700 nurses over four years, said Oswald.
Nearly 500 More Nurses Working in Manitoba This Year after Record Number of Doctors Added Last Year: Oswald
http://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?archive=month&item=8240
According to new data from Manitoba’s nursing colleges, 498 more nurses are practising in Manitoba today compared to this time last year, representing the province’s largest-recorded annual increase, Health Minister Theresa Oswald announced today.
“Since our government launched our nursing strategy 10 years ago, we have invested aggressively in education, recruitment and retention of nurses,” said Oswald. “Today we are seeing the results of this strategy with a record-setting increase in the number of nurses working for Manitobans.”
The number of practising Manitoba nurses has climbed every year since 2000, to 16,624 in 2009 from 14,092 in 2000, a net increase of 2,532.
Manitoba continues to invest in nurse training, recruitment and retention initiatives consisting of targeted programs that help attract and keep nurses in northern and rural communities including:
· a relocation assistance program that has benefited 1,286 nurses by providing up to $8,000 to cover the costs of moving to this province, with 421 nurses choosing to work in rural Manitoba;
· a grant program for new nurse graduates who choose to work in rural Manitoba;
· an ongoing recruitment campaign to attract nurses from other provinces and other countries including more than 100 new nurses from the Philippines; and
· nearly doubling the number of training seats for nurses at post-secondary institutions across Manitoba since 1999.
Updated nursing workforce data, including a breakdown of active practising Manitoba nurses, training data, information on recruitment initiatives and an update on total funded, filled and vacant positions, is available at www.manitoba.ca/health/nurses.
“Managing health care during difficult economic times is about choices,” said Oswald. “Our government’s choice at this time is to continue to invest rather than cut front-line services as has been done in the past when times were tough.”
Data from the colleges’ annual reports indicate the province gained 467 registered nurses, 23 licensed practical nurses and 16 nurse practitioners in the past year.
The new numbers represent a net gain of 943 nurses in three years, already surpassing the government’s 2007 commitment of adding 700 nurses over four years, said Oswald.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)