New Coastal residency program launches

Yesterday (July 9) brought another occasion worthy of celebration here in Coastal, marking the introduction of the first eight residents to be enrolled in the new UBC-Coastal Family Practice Residency Program.

This groundbreaking family medicine program is a collaboration between Coastal and UBC and marks a noteworthy expansion of the relationship that has been growing for years now. One of the key things that makes the program unique is that each resident will spend four months of their training working in one of Coastal’s rural or remote communities, gaining experience and insight into the challenges healthcare practitioners can face in these kinds of settings. Residents will also work closely with North Shore General Practitioners as their preceptors for the two-year term of the program. Physicians and other care staff at Lions Gate Hospital will also play a role in developing the residents during the program, giving them a broader-than-normal  exposure to VCH-Coastal.

As the Site Director for the program as well as the Chair of the North Shore Division of Family Practice, Dr. Dean Brown applauds the role that the physicians and staff across Coastal will play saying, “The partnership we’ve established with this program is inspiring and recognizes the value of linking our physicians across Coastal’s vast geography. We hope that the enhanced relationships they build across Coastal will encourage them to stay and practice within our communities once they complete the program.”

VCH VP of Physician Engagement and Strategic Initiatives Wendy Hansson agrees and, as a past Coastal Chief Operating Officer for Coastal, was a key initiator of the program. “Our vision behind the program was  to enable knowledge translation across all of our communities and promote a learning environment to enhance innovation and quality care. Today’s milestone is a fundamental building block to support the urban-rural-remote network strategy.”

Different but similar

The eight residents each have different backgrounds and life experiences but a shared interest in the benefits of good rural medicine runs through them all. As well, many of them were born in, or worked in, smaller rural communities during their career already so know the challenges healthcare practitioners can face in these kinds of settings.

With the UBC Medical School set to be housed in the HOpe Centre this fall, the eight new residents will have plenty of time here on the North Shore to work closely with local staff and their GP mentors in the community as well as within LGH while they complete their training. While the four-month stint they will all do in a rural or remote Coastal community will come in their second year, some of them already have ideas about where they’d like to venture out to to get the experience they’re looking for in 2015/16 including Sechelt, Squamish, Pemberton or Powell River.

For more information on the UBC Coastal Family Practice Residency Program, go to the UBC Medical School Family Practice Residency Program site.

Key Coastal leaders on hand to commemorate the program launch included Wendy Hansson, former Chief Operating Officer for Coastal and current VCH VP, Physician Engagement & Strategic Initiatives; Dr. Dean Brown, LGH Site Director for the UBC Family Practice Residency Program; and, Mike Nader, current Chief Operating Officer for Coastal.