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home / 世界杯决赛2022

province exploring rural doctor training but critics say help needed now

alberta's health minister said the training hub program might not show results for six to eight years

by bill kaufmann

jan 26 2023
read time 3 minute read
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the ucp government is spending $1 million to gauge the merits of physician training centres in rural areas in a bid to cure doctor shortages in those regions.
but critics say that won’t fix the urgent and ongoing problems of rural emergency-room closures and other disruptions in medical services caused by staff shortages.
on thursday, government ministers said they’re exploring the feasibility of operating health training centres at the university of lethbridge and northwestern polytechnic in grande prairie that will include patient care by physician residents, in hopes of crafting a blueprint to attract and retain more doctors in rural areas.
“research shows very clearly that when students train closer to home, they’re more likely to stay in that region for their entire careers,” said advanced education minister demetrios nicolaides.
“there is no substitute for local training.”

rural areas underserved despite reaching record number of registered doctors in 2022

the program will be backstopped by the universities of calgary and alberta, both of which operate medical schools.
even though 254 physicians were attracted to the province last year, bringing the total to a “record” 11,407 doctors registered in alberta, rural areas remain underserved, said health minister jason copping.
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“we need more physicians in smaller communities where it’s harder to recruit them and keep them . . . we know there are shortages,” said copping, adding the problem isn’t new and is a global one.
he couldn’t say how many more physicians the province requires or how many of those who came to alberta last year went to rural areas.
jason copping, minister of health, speaks at a media event discussing how the alberta government is addressing rural physician shortages at foothills medical centre in calgary on thursday, january 26, 2023.
jason copping, minister of health, speaks at a media event discussing how the alberta government is addressing rural physician shortages at foothills medical centre in calgary on thursday, january 26, 2023. azin ghaffari / postmedia

just one physician was attracted under new government plan last year

a year ago, copping said the government was putting $6 million over three years into a new program administered by the long-standing rural health professions action plan that would see up to 20 new family physicians  eligible for bonuses.

the program included  $60,000 for undergraduate tuition fee reimbursement, as well as a remote community incentive ranging from $20,000 to $40,000.

on thursday, copping said that effort has proven a failure, with only one physician being attracted by it.
“we’ve made it much more wide open . . . we’ve added additional money to that program,” said copping.
“we are going to keep working until we get it right. the worst thing is to do nothing.”
the ucp government last november laid out a plan to beef up the number of rural physicians by training and credentialing more health-care workers.
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premier danielle smith also asked nicolaides to work alongside the department of health to expand bridging, post-secondary programs designed to offer immigrants with training in their home country additional education and credentialing to allow them to enter alberta’s workforce.

that would   include   building on a recent agreement between alberta and the philippines government to recruit filipino registered and licensed practical nurses to local jobs.

results from training program won’t show results for six to eight years, copping says

copping said thursday that the rural training hub program might not show results for six to eight years.
“i’d say ‘help is on the way,’ this is just one piece of the broader strategy . . . if you don’t start now, you’re never going to solve it,” he said.
but the program is too little and too late, said alberta ndp health care critic david shepherd.
“one million dollars and a news release will not build two regional training hubs,” he said.
“at best, graduates from these potential programs are many years away. we have a severe staffing crisis in alberta right now.”

the ucp government’s “ chaotic and incompetent mismanagement of health care” has left many albertans without a family doctor, urban emergency rooms overwhelmed and dozen of rural hospitals partly shuttered, he said.

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and he said the government’s dispute with doctors — who reached a funding agreement last fall — and danielle smith’s touting of quack covid-19 remedies before she was premier hurt alberta’s efforts in attracting health-care workers.
the rural training study is worthwhile but there’s no quick fix for staffing rural health care, said dr. todd anderson, dean of the cumming school of medicine at the u of c.
“this creates the possibility of change . . . fixing it is not straightforward. if it was easy we would have done that already,” said anderson.
nicolaides pointed to $30 million allocated last year to create 2,400 more post-secondary health-care spaces in the province.
“we are taking clear and proactive steps to ensure we have enough doctors, nurses and health-care professionals well into the future,” he said.
bkaufmann@postmedia.com

twitter: @billkaufmannjrn

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