Trail Integrated Community Clerkship program expands

The Southern Medical Program’s Integrated Community Clerkship (ICC) program in Trail continues to grow with UBC increasing the number of places available for third-year medical students where they can complete a full-year of clinical training at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital and the Trail community.

The ICC program, started in 2011 as part of UBC’s distributed medical education model, is designed to increase the number of medical students completing their clinical training in smaller, rural communities across the province. This year, instead of two students, which has been the case for the past three years, four third-year medical students will be at Trail for the academic year.

“We are thrilled to offer more opportunities for students to learn medicine with our program and encourage them to immerse themselves in what Trail and the Kootenays has to offer,” says Dr. Cheryl Hume, ICC Site Director for Trail.

Nicole Gill, a Rossland native, is one of four new students entering the Trail ICC program. Gill who completed her undergraduate degree at UBC Okanagan and is currently enrolled with the SMP is excited for the opportunity to return to her hometown to begin her clinical training.

“I hope to one day practice as a family physician in rural BC,” says Gill. “Although I have a relatively thorough understanding of the rural lifestyle, I am interested in gaining insight into what it is like to practice medicine in a small community.”

The Trail ICC program continues to receive strong support from the medical community, Interior Health, as well as the citizens of Trail, Rossland, Fruitvale, and surrounding areas who allow the students to take part in their health care.

Next summer, the UBC Department of Family Practice is expected to launch a new, two-year family medicine residency program.

New director, space, and students for Vernon ICC program

Meanwhile, SMP’s ICC program in Vernon is set to welcome its fourth cohort of third-year medical students this September. And there are new faces and new spaces.

Dr. Carmen Larsen, Family Physician and Clinical Instructor with the UBC Department of Family Practice, recently joined the SMP as the new Site Director for the Vernon ICC. Part of her role will be to lead the program’s operations and future development in Vernon.

“I am looking forward to building on the program’s successes at Vernon Jubilee Hospital and in our community clinics,” says Larsen. “The medical community, Interior Health, and the citizens of Vernon continue to be key partners in our ability to offer this program to our students now and in the future.”

Each year, two third-year medical students, who have a keen interest in practicing medicine in small, rural communities complete their academic year at the Vernon ICC program. And later this fall, students will have a new space to call home in the Polson Tower at Vernon Jubilee Hospital. Construction is underway in the previously shelled-in fifth floor to create a new administrative and student space for the ICC program. The space will include centralized education areas, a clinical skills room, two videoconferences rooms, as well as an on-call sleep area, lounge, and lockers for medical students. It will also provide a venue for professional development programs for family physicians and specialists in Vernon and surrounding communities.

Summer Student Research: The Efficacy of Methadone in Managing Cancer Pain

Researchers at the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for the Southern Interior are providing clinical research experience for SMP students during the summer break.

Second-year medical student Matt Mittelstadt has teamed up with Dr. Gillian Fyles, medical leader of the Pain and Symptom Management/Palliative Care Program at the BC Cancer Agency’s Sindi Ahluwalia Hawkins Centre in Kelowna. Fyles is also research leader at the Oncology Palliative Care for the BC Cancer Agency. Together, Mittelstadt and Fyles are examining the efficacy and safety of methadone treatment in managing pain for ambulatory cancer patients.

“Methadone is most commonly known in the public sphere as a medication used in harm reduction to treat patients with drug addiction,” says Mittelstadt. “However, as an opioid, it has also shown to be an effective tool in managing cancer pain.”

Mittelstadt is currently compiling data, dating back to 1999, on more than 700 cancer patients who were prescribed methadone by the BC Cancer Agency. His research focuses on each patient’s treatment plan leading up to and during the use of methadone; the cancer treatments received such as chemotherapy; and the associated side effects. The research will also address if any drug combinations were utilized in conjunction with methadone.

“Matt’s research is helping us collect data specifically on the responses to methadone in reducing the pain and the side effects experienced,” says Fyles. “This information will assist us in caring for our patients better.”

Mittelstadt’s research project is made available in part by a donation from The Colin & Lois Pritchard Foundation. A total of nine SMP students are involved in summer research projects ranging from local clinical-based research within the Okanagan to global health research abroad. Funding is also provided by the UBC Faculty of Medicine, SMP, and Interior Health.

New faculty

Carmen Larsen, Site Director, Integrated Community Clerkship, Vernon

Dr. Carmen Larsen is a family physician in Vernon and Clinical Instructor with the UBC Department of Family Practice. Dr. Larsen completed her medical degree at Dalhousie University and Family Medicine residency at the University of Alberta. She also holds a Master of Education in Educational Psychology and Special Education from UBC. For the past five years, Larsen has worked in urgent care, corrections, and completed numerous locums in family practice clinics in and around Edmonton. She relocated to Vernon in 2013 to continue her practice which includes locums and on-call surgical assists at Vernon Jubilee Hospital.

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BC Health Minster Terry Lake and Dr. Craig Montalbetti (centre) are joined by the six family medicine residents who have begun their training with the new UBC Family Medicine residency training site in Kamloops.

A high-resolution version of photo can be downloaded at:

http://universityrelations.ok.ubc.ca/News2014/Whats_new/Terry_Lake.jpg

Dr. Cheryl Holmes is the recent recipient of the prestigious University of Illinois at Chicago, Masters of Health Professions Education 2014 “Best Thesis” Award. Her thesis entitled Harnessing the Hidden Curriculum in Clinical Clerkship:  A Four-Step Reflective Competency Approach was informed and inspired by her role as Site Director for Kelowna with the Southern Medical Program (SMP).

Dr. Holmes was one of the first faculty appointments to help lead the charge in developing the SMP’s third-year clerkship program at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH). Since joining the program in 2008, she has overseen the evolution of the clerkship program for its early rotation pilots to a now steady state of 24 students.

Dr. Holmes is a Clinical Associate Professor with the UBC Department of Medicine and has practiced in the Intensive Care Unit at KGH for the past 13 years. She is highly regarded for her teaching skills both at the beside and for leading a critical care outreach session utilizing patient simulation held during the SMP third year clerkship retreat.

Summer Student Research Project

Researchers at the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for the Southern Interior are providing clinical research experience for Southern Medical Program (SMP) students during the summer break.

Second year medical student Matt Mittelstadt has teamed up with Dr. Gillian Fyles, Medical Leader of the Pain and Symptom Management/Palliative Care Program (PSMPC) at the BC Cancer Agency Sindi Ahluwalia Hawkins Centre for the Southern Interior in Kelowna and Research Leader, Oncology Palliative Care for the BC Cancer Agency for a two-month research project. Together, they are examining the efficacy and safety of methadone treatment in managing pain for ambulatory cancer patients.

“Methadone is most commonly known in the public sphere as a medication used in harm reduction to treat patients with drug addiction,” says Mittelstadt. “However, as an opioid, it has also shown to be an effective tool in managing cancer pain.”

The prescribing of methadone is closely monitored by medical colleges across Canada. BC physicians must apply to the BC Methadone Program, managed by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC, to obtain a special license to have the ability to prescribe methadone to their patients.

In managing pain for cancer patients, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Patients can experience pain from both their cancer as well as the medical interventions utilized in efforts to eradicate the disease. Drugs such as morphine, fentanyl, hydromorphone, codeine, oxycodone, and other non-opioids are commonly used, each with their own side effects. Considerable variability with each patient in regard to the type of cancer and treatments utilized will dictate the types of medication administered to minimize cancer pain while lessening the associated side effects including nausea, dizziness, and constipation among others.

Mittelstadt is currently compiling data, dating back to 1999, on over 700 cancer patients prescribed methadone by the BC Cancer Agency. His research focuses on each patient’s treatment plan leading up to and during the use of methadone, the cancer treatments received such as chemotherapy, and the associated side effects. The research will also address if any drug combinations were utilized in conjunction with methadone.

“Matt’s research is helping us collect data specifically on the responses to methadone in reducing the pain and the side effects experienced,” says Dr. Fyles. “This information will assist us in caring for our patients better.”

The research project is providing Mittelstadt with great insight into the types of medications applied in treating cancer pain and the rationale for their uses. He is also provided time to work with Dr. Fyles and her colleagues in the Pain and Symptom Management Palliative Care Clinic gaining a glimpse into possible future career paths.

“Before entering third year later this summer, I wanted to get my feet wet in research and explore all of the different avenues that I can learn and grow,” adds Mittelstadt. “This research project has been incredibly valuable and a wonderful experience.”

Mittelstadt’s research project at the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for the Southern Interior is made available in part by a donation from The Colin & Lois Pritchard Foundation. A total of nine SMP students are involved in summer research projects ranging from local clinical-based research within the Okanagan to global health research abroad. Funding is also provided by the UBC Faculty of Medicine, SMP, and Interior Health.

Join the SMP Students for the 3rd annual Southern Medical Program Student Golf Tournament at Sunset Ranch – Sunday, September 21, 2014.

Message from Alistair Hart and Drew Phillips, Class of SMP 2017:

We would like to formally invite you to the 3rd annual Southern Medical Program Student Golf Tournament. After another great tournament last year, we hope to grow the numbers of golfers to 80 for this year’s event.

This year’s tournament will be once again held at the Sunset Ranch Golf and Country Club (http://sunsetranchbc.com/). It will be a fun event for all skill levels with a golf scramble format. It’s an amazing opportunity for everyone to connect and have fun including students, faculty, staff, the medical community and their families.

Golf includes warm-up balls at the range, a shared golf cart and 18 holes of golf. Golf will start at 12:30 pm sharp.

Golf will be followed by a premium buffet and awards dinner. There will also be a silent auction with the proceeds helping to create a bursary award for SMP students. A special thanks to our tournament sponsors Scotiabank and Meyers Norris Penny.

New this year, we have included some early bird pricing:

Register by August 8th (Golf & Dinner) : Students – $50; Faculty/Staff – $130

After August 8th (Golf & Dinner) : Students – $70; Faculty/Staff – $150

No Early Bird (Dinner only): Students/Faculty/Staff – $30.

Click here to register. Once you have registered through Eventbrite, one of our SMP Student Organizers will contact you at the phone number(s) provided to obtain your credit card information to process your registration fee. More details on Eventbrite registration page.

For more information, contact Drew Phillips at drew.phillips@alumni.ubc.ca.

We hope you can join us for a great day of golf, laughs, and conversation. See you on the links!

Minster Terry Lake and Dr. Craig Montalbetti (centre) are joined by the six family medicine residents who have begun their training with the new UBC Family Medicine residency training site in Kamloops.

This summer, it’s all about new beginnings for Drs. Paul Dickinson and Harpreet Ghuman.

As recent graduates of UBC’s Northern Medical Program, Dickinson and Ghuman are now embarking on the next stage of their medical careers, both moving to B.C.’s Interior to join four other residents in becoming the first cohort of UBC’s newly launched family medicine residency training site in Kamloops.

“I am really excited to be part of this new site,” says Dickinson, who is busy settling into the community of Kamloops with his wife and nine-and-a-half month old son.

“As a new father, you’re pretty much on call every night,” he jokes.

But long hours have never been a deterrent for Dickinson, who first became attracted to a career in medicine while working as a summer reporter for a local newspaper — an experience that left him moved by the people he met and the stories they told, but somewhat unsettled by his inability to help community members in need.

“The thing that really attracted me to medicine is that you not only get to hear these stories about people, but you actually get to help them,” reflects Dickinson on his decision to pursue medical school.

As a native of Lillooet, B.C., and with an interest in rural medicine, Dickinson is particularly excited about the smaller learning environment and family residency training opportunities that a city, like Kamloops, affords.

“Smaller-town doctors are often asked to have a broader scope of practice, and that’s a challenge that I find very exciting and that I’d like to take on,” says Dickinson.

UBC family practice resident, Dr. Harpreet Ghuman measures the blood pressure of a patient in Kamloops.

Fellow resident, Ghuman, who grew up in Surrey, is also keen to train in a smaller community, where, she says, she’ll have an opportunity to learn from physicians who are still heavily involved in full-service family medicine.

Over the course of the two-year residency program, Dickinson and Ghuman, together with the other family practice residents — Drs. Quinn Hamilton, Robert McKeough, Elizabeth Montgomery, and Brittany Weaver — will take on a range of traditional rotations, such as psychiatry, surgery and pediatrics, in addition to a number of unique family practice rotations in residential, palliative and hospital care.

“We’ve really engaged our whole community,” says Dr. Selena Lawrie, the site director responsible for overseeing the education experience of the new family residents in Kamloops. With nineteen family practice preceptors and multiple specialist preceptors, there’s no doubt these new residents will be exposed to diverse clinical settings and unique patient experiences.

Residency program expansion

The new family medicine residency site in Kamloops is not the only community-based site to open its doors this summer. In July, a new five-year emergency medicine residency site in Kelowna accepted its first two residents.

Meanwhile, on the North Shore, a new family medicine residency site accepted eight more residents, all of who will be embarking on clinical placements in communities stretching from Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton through to the Sunshine Coast and Powell River as part of their two-year training.

The expansion and distribution of postgraduate training sites, such as these, is aligned with the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s overall vision to help transform the landscape of medical education in B.C. by not only increasing the number of doctors in training, but placing them in communities where they are needed most.

2014 marks the tenth anniversary of the UBC MD distributed program. Expansion of UBC’s medical school to the B.C. Interior has helped increase the annual enrolment of new medical undergraduates provincially to 288 — more than double from 10 years ago. In conjunction, UBC’s postgraduate training programs have steadily grown, with over 1,400 medical residents presently engaged in 67 different postgraduate programs offered at more than 100 clinical training sites in every area of the province. This year, nearly half the residencies — a record number — are designated for family medicine, where the need is greatest.

Meeting healthcare needs in the Interior

Dr. Roger Wong, associate dean of postgraduate medical education, sees the launch of these new residency sites in the Interior as a step in the right direction.

“We know that community needs in these areas are yet to be met,” says Wong, “We are here to step up to the plate to meet their needs.”

Kelowna emergency medicine residents, Drs. Jared Baylis and Daniel Ting will embark on a range of rotations in emergency medicine during their five-year residency.

But it’s not just the administration stepping up to the plate, site directors, preceptors and residents, including Kelowna’s emergency medicine resident, Dr. Daniel Ting, are too.

“I have very high expectations for my residency here in Kelowna,” says Calgary-born and raised emergency medicine resident Dr. Daniel Ting. “I think it’s really exciting to be a pioneer in a program and I think that affords the opportunity to mold the program over the next few years.”

“Kelowna has the opportunity to become one of the premier emergency medicine training sites in the country — all the ground work is there: we have amazing facilities, great teachers, who are really excited about the program, and, being a part of the UBC umbrella, we have access to cutting-edge research,” he adds.

As the site director for the new emergency medicine residency program in Kelowna, Dr. Kevin Clark has witnessed, first-hand, the need for new emergency physicians in the Interior. It’s his hope that these local residency opportunities will encourage more physicians to stay and practice in the Okanagan in the years to come – a sentiment strongly echoed by Lawrie, the Kamloops’ family residency program site director.

“It’s important to be training doctors throughout the province of B.C.,” says Lawrie, pointing to fact that such programs not only help meet the needs of under-resourced communities, but provide an ideal training ground for young doctors.

For Ghuman, the prospect of completing her family medicine residency in Kamloops holds very real benefits.

“In smaller communities there’s such a good relationship between specialists and family physicians. Everyone plays to their strengths to provide better patient care and that’s why I went into medicine in the first place,” she says.

Having purchased a duplex in Kamloops with her partner only weeks before her residency training began, it is clear Ghuman sees the city as an attractive option for laying down roots.

“I just jumped in,” she says. “I really love the feel of Kamloops and I can definitely see myself being here long-term.”

And, though it may only be the beginning for Ghuman and Dickinson, as well as the other residents starting training this summer, there’s no doubt that the launch of these new sites will be felt by physician and patient communities of Kamloops and Kelowna.

Dr. Stephan Mostowy (middle) presented with the Year 3 KGH Surgery Teaching Award by Dr. Gary Goplen and Dr. Cheryl Holmes.

Dr. Stephan Mostowy is the second recipient of the Year 3 Surgery Teaching Award for his work with third-year medical students at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH). The annual award administered by the KGH Department of Surgery recognizes excellence in clinical teaching within the department.

Dr. Mostowy was nominated by students of MD Class of 2014 completing their third-year clerkship rotation in Kelowna. His teaching efforts were celebrated at a recent awards presentation along with several of his fellow nominees including Dr. Gary Goplen, Dr. Andreas Kluftinger, Dr. Mike McLeod, Dr. Bruce Povah, and Dr. Ed Solano.

Comments from a couple of the students about Dr. Mostowy:

 “The individual I spent the most time with and who I feel made the greatest effort to teach above and beyond what was required was Dr. Mostowy.”

 “His constant enthusiasm and encouragement made learning both fun and effective.”

Dr. Cheryl Holmes, Site Education Leader for Kelowna, led the award presentation and acknowledged all the members of the KGH Department of Surgery for their teaching contributions. “You are having a profound effect on our students’ careers,” says Dr. Holmes.  “Keep the bar high and remember you were there once too.”

The Department of Faculty Development at the UBC Southern Medical Program is now accepting registrants for the 2014/15 Master Teacher Certificate Program.

The Master Teacher Certificate Program is designed to support medical educators wishing to enhance their teaching and mentoring skills. The program consists of a monthly lecture series, small group discussions, a longitudinal project, and a peer teaching assessment.  In addition, this year’s class will help design the curriculum for the 2015/16 cohort of Master Teachers as an exercise in curriculum design. The program starts this September and runs till next June.

The monthly lecture series features speakers with a wealth of teaching experience and carefully chosen to demonstrate masterful teaching techniques in their presentations.  Topics for the lecture series have been selected after a detailed needs assessment and will build on foundational teaching skills taught in the ABC Primer Series offered through the UBC Faculty of Medicine Faculty Development Program.

The lecture series is open to all Interior Health staff, while all other program components are designed for registrants only. Both the lectures and small group sessions are videoconferenced from the Clinical Academic Campus at Kelowna General to Vernon Jubilee, Royal Inland, and Kootenay Boundary Regional. Maintenance of Proficiency (MainPro) and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) credits are awarded for participation.

Upon successful completion of the program, registrants will receive a Master Teacher Certificate at a social function hosted by the Regional Associate Dean, Interior.

To register, contact Jacqui Oshaski at 250.980.1310 or jacqui.oshaski@interiorhealth.ca.

The proposed lecture series:

(1)  The Hypothesis Driven Physical Exam

Georges Bordage, MD, PhD

September 18, 2014

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

Small Group Session 6:00-7:00 pm

(2)  Teaching Pearls from the Dean

Allan Jones, MD

October 23, 2014

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

Small Group Session 6:00-7:00 pm

(3) Is Your Feedback Helping? 

Leslie Sadownik, MD

November 20, 2014

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

Small Group Session 6:00-7:00 pm

(4) TBA

January 22, 2014

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

Small Group Session 6:00-7:00 pm

(5) Optimizing Bedside Teaching

John Ward, MD

February 19, 2015

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

Small Group Session 6:00-7:00 pm

(6) The Challenging Learner

Cheryl Holmes, MD, Mike Purdon, MD

March 19, 2015

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

Small Group Session 6:00-7:00 pm

(7) Optimal Use of Electronic Resources in Teaching

TBA

April 23, 2015

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

Small Group Session 6:00 -7:00pm

(8) Powerpoint: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

John Falconer, MD

May 21, 2015

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

Small Group Session 6:00-7:00 pm

(9) Optimizing Teaching for Small Groups

Wrap up, longitudinal project report, award of certificates

June 18, 2015

Lecture 5:00-6:00 pm

To learn more, visit the Master Teacher Certificate Program page.

Photo Contest for SMP Faculty, Staff, & Students

Since the official launch of the Southern Medical Program (SMP) in September 2011, our program has experienced exponential growth.

• More than 800 health professionals across the Interior involved with teaching UBC medical students and residents.
• 128 students now enrolled with the SMP with our inaugural class graduating next spring.
• Over 50 education leads and admin staff helping deliver our program across our distributed sites.

With so many people and lots of kilometres in between, it’s tough to share all of the remarkable opportunities to live, work, train, and study in one of the most desirable regions in the world.

To showcase what we are all about, the SMP is hosting a photo contest for SMP faculty, staff, and students.

Our contest theme is “MedEd in the BC Interior.” A $25 iTunes gift card to be awarded in each of four categories:

(1)    Scenic
(2)    Best Commute
(3)    Student Life
(4)    Faculty/Staff Life

Contest Deadline: Email submissions to warren.brock@ubc.ca by 12:00 pm (PST) on Friday, September 19^th, 2014.

For each submission, tell us a little about the photo and how it highlights where you live, work, train, or study. Kindly request permission from any persons to be included in your photo submissions, however, please do not include any patients. Also, use the highest resolution possible on your camera for optimal image quality.  Read through the contest Terms & Conditions for more information.

Photos will be shared through the Southern Medical Program’s website (www.smp.med.ubc.ca), printed or electronic publications, and social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Feel free to post your entries to Twitter (@UBCSMP) or Instagram with the hashtags #smpmeded and #ubc.

Winning entries will also be printed and framed for display in SMP administrative offices.

For more info, contact Warren Brock at warren.brock@ubc.ca or 250.807.8601.

Grab your camera and start snapping. Have a great summer!

(L-R) Antonia Sappong and Julia Hassler.

Second-year Southern Medical Program (SMP) students Julia Hassler and Antonia Sappong are the inaugural recipients of the Reichwald Family Foundation Southern Medical Program Award.

The new award was established by Klaus and Lydia Reichwald and their family in recognition of exceptional academic standing, strong leadership and volunteerism both within the community and as part of their studies, and a financial need. The average medical student graduates with over $100,000 in debt. The annual award provides $10,000 each for two outstanding second-year students enrolled with the SMP.

Julia Hassler

Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Julia Hassler has amassed considerable life and work experience in smaller rural communities from the Prairies to the West Coast. She completed a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Victoria prior to entering medical school. During her studies with the SMP, Julia has been actively involved in the community with the Special Olympics and CIBC’s Run for the Cure. She is also the Wellness Initiative Team Member for her class organizing numerous health and wellness activities for her classmates.

Antonia Sappong

Antonia Sappong is a Toronto-native with a passion for community projects that support public health. She graduated with a BSc in Immunology and Neuroscience from Dalhousie University. As a SMP student, she serves as a member of the SMP Research and Public Health Committee supporting fellow students in research and public health initiatives. She is also co-chair of the Family Medicine Interest Group and editor of the UBC Medical Journal. This past summer, Antonia completed an Aboriginal Health elective in the Lil’Wat Nation of Mt. Currie.

“Scholarships play a significant role in recognizing educational excellence in addition to helping students finance their education,” says Dr. Allan Jones, Regional Associate Dean, Interior. “We are incredibly proud of Julia and Antonia for their accomplishments and grateful to the Reichwald family  for creating this prestigious award for our students.”

By Patty Wellborn
Photo Credit: Craig Pulsifer

While the learning curve for any profession may be considered steep, students in the UBC Faculty of Medicine’s MD Undergraduate Program have a particularly challenging incline.

Third-year medical student Dianne Valenzuela, however, is thriving under the pressure.

The 26-year-old Valenzuela is currently completing her clinical rotations at Kelowna General Hospital. She and her classmates are part of the inaugural class of the Southern Medical Program (SMP) based at the Okanagan campus, now in just its third year of operation.

After completing a bachelor of arts degree at the Vancouver campus, Valenzuela wasn’t sure exactly what to do after graduation. But she liked the idea of the demands presented by a medical career.

“I never thought I was going to grow up and become a doctor,” she says. “I thought I might become a teacher. But I liked learning and challenging myself, and thought of health as vital for a person to enjoy life to its fullest. So I ended up applying to the Faculty of Medicine.”

In September 2011, Valenzuela entered the Faculty of Medicine, which now admits 288 medical undergraduates annually distributed across four regional medical programs in Vancouver, Kelowna, Victoria, and Prince George. The Vancouver program accommodates 192 students while each regional program hosts smaller cohorts of 32 students respectively.

Although she initially leaned towards completing her medical studies in Vancouver, her regional home, Valenzuela has settled nicely into the smaller community of Kelowna and the bustling routine that accompanies medical school. Last September she started, along with 23 other students, her third year of medical school at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH).

In partnership with Interior Health, the SMP delivers clinical training at KGH, Vernon Jubilee Hospital, Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital in Trail, and numerous other hospitals and clinics. The program has benefited from a continued influx of health professionals joining the program to teach, now surpassing 840 across the region.

“I’m so happy that I am training in Kelowna,” Valenzuela says. “It is a great city and the doctors who are teaching us are highly enthusiastic about the program. All of our facilities on campus and in the hospital are brand new and lend themselves well for learning. ”

She says the SMP provides great learning opportunities and lots of chances for one-on-one interaction with her instructors (known in the medical program as preceptors).

“Almost everybody knows you by name because it is a smaller program. We do our clinical rotation in third year at one hospital and you get to know your preceptors very well. I don’t feel like a number.”

“The doctors are approachable, and they’re eager to help us in deciding which specialty we want to be in by talking about their own experiences back when they were in medical school.”

Valenzuela recalls being the first-assist on an operation during her surgical rotation. She was able to retract exposed tissues, stitch the skin, and even suture a small bleeding vessel.

“I felt I have truly had a direct impact on that patient’s life,” she says, beaming. “That was a striking moment for me, and I will remember it for the rest of my career.”

During third year, SMP students rotate through 11 disciplines of medicine including pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, orthopedics, ophthalmology, dermatology, anesthesiology, and rural family medicine.

One specialty in particular really resonated with Valenzuela.

In their fourth year, SMP students rotate through different hospitals around B.C. and other provinces, even other countries. That comes with untold student experiences, but Valenzuela plans to spend some of that time doing electives in pediatrics.

“Pediatrics is such an interesting specialty because you get to focus on the entire wellbeing of the child and his or her family,” she says.

While pediatrics has many challenges, she says the simple fact that the patients are so young and at a pivotal stage in their lives drives her to go above the call of duty. And indeed, there are few things as remarkable as holding a brand new baby.

“Children are very genuine. You can be exhausted from the demands of your day but seeing these little patients can be so refreshing.”

While Valenzuela isn’t sure what type of medicine she will eventually practice, Pediatrician and Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Katharine Smart was happy to share her own love of her specialty with the third-year students.

“My favourite part of my job as a clinical teacher is sharing my passion for pediatrics, and the ultimate payoff is watching students like Dianne make connections with children and families and develop their confidence as clinicians,” says Dr. Smart.

“Dianne has a quiet confidence and a gentle nature that makes it easy for her to gain the trust of the patients she serves. That rapport is the underpinning of the doctor-patient relationship and will serve Dianne well throughout her career.”

After Valenzuela earns her MD degree, she will spend several more years completing a residency program in a specialty of her choosing. But graduation is her next biggest challenge, and as she continues her rotations in Kelowna and the rest of the province, the young doctor-in-training acknowledges that a passion for medicine has been ignited.

“Being in medicine is such a privilege,” she says. “The patients you encounter are at a vulnerable time in their lives and yet there is a certain level of trust that they give you. So I think it is my role as a medical student to do the best I can to learn well and eventually be of service to them as their future physician.”

For more on UBC student Dianne Valenzuela’s story, visit ourstories.ok.ubc.ca.