Expansion of UBC’s medical school to the BC Interior could not have been more timely for The Colin & Lois Pritchard Foundation. The foundation was just getting launched and funding priorities established when news of the Southern Medical Program was announced.

Colin Pritchard, retired lawyer and UBC alumnus was eager to support medical education and research opportunities in the region, in particular those connected with his alma mater.  After receiving two life saving operations in recent years, Pritchard and his family recognize the importance of excellent medical care and the role education plays in its delivery.

“Our family believes strongly in supporting education and training for students and health care professionals in the Interior,” say Pritchard. “We are most encouraged that many of these graduating students will return to the region as practicing physicians to serve the health cares needs of our communities.”

Colin & Lois Pritchard and their daughter Alison Moscrop, foundation director have provided a tremendous amount of support for the program and its students:

• Funding the state-of-the-art Pritchard Simulation Centre which provides a highly-advanced learning environment for medical students and residents and  much needed resource for interprofessional training for Interior Health staff;
• Funding high dose brachytherapy research with the BC Cancer Agency of which a significant portion is allocated for student research opportunities;
• Supporting the expansion of TeleHealth throughout the Interior Health region developing new learning avenues for students;
• Creating a bursary fund for students graduating from the region’s high schools and universities which was matched entirely by a private donor.

“We really enjoy and value our relationship with the university and are always looking for new opportunities to support their efforts,” says Moscrop. “We also recognize the talent coming from the local universities and would love to retain some of these smart, capable individuals to stay and practice in the community.”

Through the foundation’s support, the Faculty of Medicine has been able to enhance partnerships and foster new collaborations with the Interior Health Authority, Kelowna General Hospital Foundation, and the BC Cancer Agency.

“We are extremely fortunate to have Colin, Lois, and Alison as members of the Southern Medical Program community,” says Dr. Allan Jones, Regional Associate Dean, Interior. “Their support has truly enriched the learning environment for countless students and professionals and will inevitably help improve the quality of health care in our region.”

The arrival of our second cohort signals another significant milestone for the Southern Medical Program. With 64 students now enrolled in the program, we have reached our targeted capacity for first and second year medical students. An immense amount of time and resources has been invested into ensuring our students receive a phenomenal educational experience that is delivered in a supportive learning environment. The feedback received from our newest cohort has been incredibly positive and reinforces the hard work that continues to be done by our faculty, staff, and program partners.

Our clinical faculty continues to grow in leaps and bounds, now reaching more than 700 physicians within the BC Interior.  Students from across UBC’s distributed MD Undergraduate Program now have more opportunities than ever to gain exposure to life and training in a diversity of communities situated throughout our region. The Faculty of Medicine continues to expand postgraduate education opportunities across the province, including the Interior, which many of our future graduates will inevitably take advantage for their residency training.

Twenty volunteer UBC medical students are now in the final stretches of their third year clerkship rotations in Kelowna, Kamloops, Trail, and Vernon.  The leadership and clinical faculty at each of our third year training sites have built and refined incredible rotations in final preparation for the first wave of SMP students in September 2013. Faculty development remains a top priority across the region to ensure our clinical faculty have the necessary tools and resources for their teaching sessions.

This summer marks the huge transition for our inaugural class as they make the jump from the classroom and local clinics to the wards, operating and emergency rooms of our region’s hospitals.  Their first stop is a four-week, rural family medicine clerkship rotation that can take them to virtually any small rural community within British Columbia, Yukon, or Northwest Territories. We are extremely proud of their achievements over the past two years and look forward to the next stage of their medical education with great anticipation.

Allan R. Jones, MD, FRCPC
Regional Associate Dean, Interior, UBC Faculty of Medicine
and Associate Vice-Provost, Medical Sciences, UBC Okanagan’s campus

32 new faces are gracing the halls of the Reichwald Health Sciences Centre and Clinical Academic Campus. The second-ever cohort of SMP students arrived in early January to begin their studies with the program. With many originating from outside of the Interior, students have spent the past couple of months getting acclimated to the city and building connections with the SMP faculty, staff, second year students, and the Okanagan medical community.

Comments from the class of SMP 2016:

Kurt Hoskin
My experiences with the doctors in the community have been extremely positive – all have been very excited to teach and share with us all their knowledge.

Trish Caddy
Everything about the SMP, from the pace of life to the preceptors to the wonderful, caring staff have made studying here an exciting and enjoyable experience.

Nicholas Azad
I have had an amazing experience with the Southern Medical Program. Everyone looks out for one another whether it be studying, setting up events, or doing activities inside/outside school.

Julia Hassler
The patients in clinical skills and especially in family practice are so welcoming and happy to have students learn from them in a clinical setting. All the staff are so welcoming and approachable.

Rob Trasolini
SMP was my first choice and I’m loving it. Kelowna is beautiful and the small program makes for a great learning environment.

Greg Costello
The local tutors and instructors have been absolutely fantastic, and really instill in me the sense that I am getting a truly top notch medical education here in Kelowna

First year SMP student Vivian Ma submitted this 5^th place winning entry for the annual Heartfelt Images contest. Held during the cardiovascular block of the MD program, entries must artistically conceptualize the heart and circulatory system.

“I was inspired by one of my clinical skills profs who told us to just close our eyes and listen through the stethoscope when he taught us how to listen for murmurs,” says Ma. “He said that it’s like listening to music where if you close your eyes, you can pick out the different components of an orchestra and for the heart, you can pick up the different components and patterns.” Ma received a stethoscope for her winning submission.

Dr. Charlotte Jones has recently joined the UBC Faculty of Medicine Southern Medical Program as Associate Professor of Medicine. Dr. Jones is an endocrinologist and leading researcher in the field of chronic disease prevention. Her research focuses on increasing awareness, detection and control of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in diverse and “at risk” populations including the elderly, ethnic minority groups and Aboriginal peoples.

Dr. Jones completed her medical degree and residency training in the field of endocrinology with the University of Calgary. Dr. Jones also holds MSc and PhD in Biochemistry from McGill University and completed post-doctoral training in cancer research at the Mayo Clinic. For the past 8 years, she served the University of Calgary as Associate Professor of Medicine and in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada and supported by the University of Calgary and Hypertension Canada, Dr. Jones is conducting a nation-wide community-based participatory research project entitled “Know Your Numbers, Chart Your Heart” which aims to reduce cardiovascular disease risk in Canadian South Asians.  More than 1200 participants have been screened, educated and referred for care as part of the project that encompasses Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Quebec City.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remain the number one cause of death in Canada due in large part to poor public awareness and inadequate CVD risk factor control in the community. In 2010, Dr. Jones developed the CHAMP model (Community Health Awareness Management Program) as a way to help address the problem and create a new, cost-effective approach to addressing community vascular health. CHAMP engages undergraduate students from a spectrum of health professional programs to work collaboratively in Community Action Teams whose aim is to increase awareness, detection and control of CVD risk factors in high-risk diverse populations.

Based on the program’s success, CATCH Alberta (Collaborative Action Teams for Community Health Alberta) was created representing the University of Calgary Faculties of Medicine and Nursing, University of Alberta Faculty of Pharmacy, and the Mount Royal University Faculty of Nursing. The program recently was incorporated into the curriculum and has became one of the most popular option choices offered in the mandatory community practicum for third and fourth nursing  students at Mount royal University in Calgary. Alberta.

The model was successfully piloted by medical and nursing students at UBC’s Okanagan campus resulting in a partnership with the UBC Faculty of Medicine, School of Nursing, Institute of Health Living and Chronic Disease Prevention, and the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Now based in Kelowna, Dr. Jones is exploring opportunities to introduce cardiovascular disease awareness and research programs such as CHAMP for ‘at risk’ populations in the BC Interior.

Year 1 Class President Nicholas Azad addresses the crowd on behalf the first year students.

The second cohort of SMP students was officially welcomed by the local medical community at the first ever SMP Student Welcome Reception. Over 150 students, faculty, staff, alumni and program partners attended the event held at the scenic Volcanic Hills Winery this past February.

The annual event is aimed at providing a warm welcome to the new students and thanking the clinical community, donors, and alumni for helping to support the program. Second year students also took the opportunity to honour several of clinical faculty with teaching awards:  Best Family Practice Preceptor – Dr. David Hawkins, Best Clinical Skills Preceptor – Dr. Mark Hyslop, and Best PBL Tutors – Rani Behl and Dr. Graeme McCauley.

Thanks to all of our event partners including Scotiabank, Kelowna Medical Society, BC Medical Association, Canadian Medical Association, MD Management, and UBC Development and Alumni Relations.

SMP students Sandy Lou, Ellen Cai, and Matt Mittelstadt sample the menu.

Dr. Jones and Year 2 Class President Alex Bond present teaching award to Rani Behl

Dr. Jones recognizes SMP faculty and staff

Representatives for SIDIT join SMP students for lunch at the Reichwald Health Sciences Centre.

The Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust (SIDIT) has provided a grant of $75,000 over three years to fund educational support for SMP students. The contribution will be matched by an anonymous funder, activating a total of $150,000 in bursary support for SMP students. SIDIT’s primary focus is to support economic development projects that will have a lasting and measurable impact for the Southern Interior of BC.  “We are proud to support students in the Southern Medical Program” says Grace McGregor, SIDIT Board Chair. “Our organization feels it is important to support local medical students who will most hopefully return to the Southern Interior as practicing physicians upon completion of their residency training.”

A recent luncheon was hosted by bursary recipients for SIDIT representatives to thank them for supporting their medical education. “Bursaries provide students with much more than financial support,” says Stefano Tolhurst, second year SMP student. “They are instrumental in providing a chance to explore and make connections within the community and allow students to do the best we can to get the most out of our education.”

Students trying to resuscitate SimMan 3G in the Pritchard Simulation Centre.

20 third-year UBC med students are currently completing rotations in Kelowna, Kamloops, Trail, and Vernon. In early February, all of them were brought to the Clinical Academic Campus in Kelowna for the ‘Year 3 Clerkship Boot Camp.’ Working in teams, students were able to connect with their peers and participate in a full day of interactive learning including medical jeopardy, mock code scenarios, practicing IV starts, and airway management. Students had a chance to work with the state-of-the-art ‘SimMan 3G’ patient simulator in the Pritchard Simulation Centre.

Dr. Jones assigned a case study to the teams who had to solve the problem utilizing the Dr. Clifford B. HendersonLibrary.  Dr. Henderson, Kelowna’s first pediatrician, was a special guest for the event and had a few words for the students. “Medicine is a wonderful profession and presents new challenges everyday,” says Dr. Henderson. “You are able to be successful in a lot of things that you do and can continue to improve care for patients.”

Dr. Henderson addresses the third year students.

Students work on question for medical jeopardy.

Dr. Gary Victor, Director of the Medical Teaching Unit at Kelowna General Hospital.

As the Director of the Medical Teaching Unit (MTU) at the Kelowna General Hospital, Dr. Gary Victor oversees the teaching and evaluations for countless residents and students completing internal medicine rotations at the hospital.

The 10-bed MTU at Kelowna General is a prime example of medical education and patient care delivered in unison. Patients usually are admitted from the Emergency Department with undifferentiated diagnoses often involving multiple organ systems.  The education team is then tasked with working through a number of possible scenarios and developing an action plan for each patient.  On most days, the education team consists of a second or third year Internal Medicine resident, a first year family medicine resident, and one or two medical students – all being supervised by an Attending general internist or sub-specialist.

Students are given responsibility for 3 to 4 patients and learn how to take a thorough history, perform a complete physical exam, present cases, develop a management/treatment plan, and follow-up with their patients on a daily basis. The patient’s length of stay can be a few days, weeks or even longer. Specialists are often called upon to consult on these patients and provide recommendations, but ultimately the team decides the priorities and next steps. The MTU also provides educational opportunities for nursing and pharmacy students creating an interprofessional learning environment.

“The key is to maintaining a stimulating environment for all levels of learners,” says Dr. Victor. “Sometimes teaching is done better as a group and sometimes on a one-on-one basis. We really try to emphasize that the approach to problem solving can be different, but the goal remains the same – to care for the patient in the best way possible.”

Starting in the fall of 2013, approximately 24 students from Southern Medical Program’s inaugural class will complete a full year of clinical rotations at KGH in internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry, emergency medicine, orthopedics, anesthesiology, dermatology, and ophthalmology. The internal medicine rotation consists of eight weeks with students dividing their time between the MTU and ambulatory care clinics.

More than 700 physicians across the BC Interior are involved with teaching medical student and residents with the UBC Faculty of Medicine. To learn about how to get involved, visit the Faculty Recruitment section of our website (smp.med.ubc.ca).

Dr. Trent Smith, Pediatrician – Kamloops

Dr. Trent Smith

Dr. Trent Smith was involved in teaching at Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) long before the Southern Medical Program (SMP) was even a consideration. For the past 8 years, Dr. Smith has been teaching pediatric residents as part of the UBC pediatrics residency program. Dr. Smith completed his medical degree at the University of Alberta and his pediatric residency with UBC. Lifestyle preferences and RIH’s high level acute nursery were primary draws for him starting his practice in Kamloops 10 years ago.

When plans were announced to include the RIH as a third-year training site for SMP students, it was a natural fit for Dr. Smith to take on the role as the pediatrics rotation leader for the Kamloops rotation. “It’s great that students are having the opportunity to train outside of the Lower Mainland and I am happy to be involved with the program,” says Smith.

RIH will see a steady flow of third-year SMP students starting in the fall of 2013. The hospital is one of the four primary clinical training sites for the program which also offers third-year rotations in Kelowna, Vernon, and Trail. In final preparation for the arrival of students from the SMP’s inaugural class – currently in their second year in Kelowna – four UBC students are completing a year-long pilot of the Kamloops rotation.

Thinking back on his own student experience, “I really appreciated the learning opportunities given to me and feel we owe the effort to the students coming in behind us,” says Smith. The RIH staff and administration have really embraced the program and the students. “Our department is really on board and the students add a different flavour to the work day.”

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Dr. Joey Podavin, Family Physician – Kelowna

Dr. Joey Podavin

Based on his positive teaching experiences as a resident, Dr. Joey Podavin decided to continue in that role upon entering his family medicine practice. After completing his medical degree from the University of Saskatchewan and residency from McGill, he started practicing on a Cree reserve in the small northern-Quebec community of Chisasibi. For three years, new students and residents would arrive each month to train alongside Dr. Podavin and learn about life and practice in a small, rural community.

When Dr. Podavin and his wife moved to the Kelowna in early 2012, he quickly got involved with the Southern Medical Program as a preceptor for the Family Practice Continuum course. For many physicians like Dr. Podavin, they find the experience rewarding and are excited for the opportunity to incorporate students into their practice. “The course asks the teacher to ensure they have a common approach to medical problems and able to verbalize their thinking process,” says Podavin. “It’s a good way to ensure you are on top of your skills as a physician.”

Medical student spends roughly one half-day per week during their first two years of the program learning in the community alongside family physicians as part of the Family Practice Continuum course. Students are matched on a one-on-one basis with a family physician preceptor as they focus on developing their clinical skills and applying some of the book knowledge learned to date.

After teaching with the program for the past fall term, Dr. Podavin is continuing his role with a student from the SMP’s second cohort that arrived this past January. “Most of my patients are excited to see medical students,” adds Podavin. “It has been really rewarding experience and I am happy to be a part of the program.”

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Dr. Gary Victor, Internist – Kelowna

Dr. Gary Victor

Dr. Gary Victor has been teaching medical students and residents for over 20 years, previously at Ottawa General Hospital and now at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) for the past three years.  As the Director of the Medical Teaching Unit (MTU) at KGH, he oversees the teaching and evaluations for countless residents and students completing internal medicine rotations at the hospital.

Dr. Victor has always had a passion for helping future doctors learn medicine on the wards and in the clinics. During his time at Ottawa Hospital, he taught both communication and clinical skills to medical students in addition to serving as the Internal Medicine Residency Program Director. Now at KGH, he manages the MTU and the medicine rotation for Southern Medical Program (SMP) students.

“The key is to maintaining a stimulating environment for all levels of learners,” says Victor. “Sometimes teaching is done better as a group and sometimes on a one-on-one basis. We really try to emphasize that the approach to problem solving can be different, but the goal remains the same – to provide care to the patients in the best way possible.”

The MTU education team usually consists of a second or third year Internal Medicine resident, a first year family medicine resident, and one or two medical students – all of whom are being supervised by an Attending physician(general internist or sub-specialist). Students are given responsibility for 3 to 4 patients and learn how to take a comprehensive history, perform a thorough physical exam, present cases, and develop a management /treatment plan with daily follow-up on their patients. The patient’s length of stay can be a few days, weeks or even longer.

“It is satisfying to see students starting to understand clinical medicine when they are given a differential diagnosis and are able to start putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together,” says Victor. “When the light bulb goes off, it is a very rewarding experience.”