STUDENTS AND RESIDENTS
SMA LAUNCHES NEW
RURAL STUDENT INITIATIVE
CORRP Clinical Skills Program offers students rewarding on-call experience in smaller centres
By Nicole Quintal
T
he opportunities for Saskatchewan medical students
to experience life as a rural physician are growing as
the SMA’s Committee on Rural and Regional Practice
(CORRP) launches its new Clinical Skills Program designed
to help students enhance their in-patient and emergency
coverage skills.
future,” Dr. Geller said.
University of Saskatchewan medical students not currently
assigned to a mandatory rural rotation are eligible to participate in the program, receiving $200 to cover mileage and
incidentals for each experience. Students are also expected
to provide a brief report of their experience with a particular
focus on their perception of the opportunities found in rural
practice – but also the barriers.
Through the new retention program, which initiated in November 2013, medical students of all levels are given the
chance to work alongside a rural or regional family physician for a weekend on-call period.
Dr. Brian Geller, SMA Director of Professional Affairs, said
the program essentially aims to introduce students to rural
medicine in an optimistic way, because one of the principle
determinants of whether a physician decides to pursue rural or regional medicine is having prior exposure to these
settings.
“The Clinical Skills Program is an opportunity to introduce students to rural practice early in their careers and
have a positive experience, and hopefully because of that
they’ll make a decision to move to a smaller centre in the
The Clinical Skills Program joins CORRP’s Roadmap Program as another
means to promote rural and regional practice to medical learners. Dr. Tom
Smith-Windsor (above) of CORRP leads an intubation station on the Phase A
SMSS/Roadmap rural bus tour to Fort Qu’Appelle last August.
SMA NEWS DIGEST | SPRING 2014
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