Provincial summer student initiative continues to prove popular in PMH

It’s summertime, and for some eager students, early exposure to health care careers can be a valuable experience that influences their future decisions. Discover Health Careers Manitoba (formerly the ‘Home for the Summer’ program) offers term positions to students within the health region to provide a ‘hands-on’ experience in clinical, hospital or healthcare site environments that apply to their areas of training. The program initially started with medical students and extends to nursing and allied healthcare students (including career areas like public/community health nursing and pharmacy). PMH and Shared Health cost share the initiative.

PMH offers 26 approved positions this year in Pharmacy, Primary Care, Mental Health, Therapy Services, Acute Care, Public Health, and Nutrition Services.  For first and second-year medical students, PMH has sponsored 10 positions in Neepawa, Virden, Deloraine and Brandon (in Brandon the areas include Anesthesia, Obstetrics-Gynecology, General Surgery, Psychiatry, Radiology, the Western Manitoba Cancer Centre, Nephrology, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology and Hospitalists).

Dr. Sydney McLaughlin is preparing to start her first year of Residency in Neepawa based out of the Beautiful Plains Medical Clinic. In 2022, she spent eight weeks through the program at the clinic in Neepawa. In 2023, she participated in various locations including Dauphin, Ste. Rose, Killarney and Neepawa. She spent time seeing patients with a preceptor in a variety of clinical situations, and appreciated opportunities to advance her education.

“I found the experience to be very rewarding and a great way to continue my learning over the summer in order to further prepare myself for my clerkship years in medical school. ‘Home for the Summer’ gave me the opportunity to explore my career options while also earning an income that helped to pay for my medical school. This is something that I am very thankful I had the opportunity to pursue,” McLaughlin stated.

Students must be enrolled in a healthcare training program that fits a future need for PMH.  The duration of sponsored positions varies depending on the type. Medical students’ positions are up to a maximum of six weeks. The maximum duration for nursing, allied health, and other positions is 10 weeks. The program requires an agreed-upon time commitment; students do not start or finish simultaneously.  

More information on this program, as well as other Discover Health Careers initiatives, can be seen at healthcareersmanitoba.ca or Students.

Question & Answer with Dr. Sydney McLaughlin

Dr. Sydney McLaughlin, who is preparing to start her Residency this summer in Neepawa answered some questions for us with her insight of the Discover Health Careers program. She previously participated in the Discover Health Careers (formerly known as Home for the Summer Program) in 2022 and 2023.

Can you elaborate on where you participated in the (formerly Home for the Summer) program, what you did during those weeks, and generally how you found it?

I participated in the Home for the Summer (HFTS) program during the summers of 2022 and 2023. In 2022, I spent all eight weeks of my employment at the Beautiful Plains Medical Clinic in Neepawa. During my second summer, I spent time at various locations throughout Manitoba, including Neepawa, Killarney, Ste. Rose du Lac, and Dauphin.

During these weeks I spent my time seeing patients with my preceptor in a variety of clinical situations. A typical week would include spending time in the clinic, shifts in the emergency department, seeing inpatients, helping with obstetrics, and spending some time in the operating room, either as an assist during surgical procedures or working with the anesthesia team.

I found the experience to be very rewarding and a great way to continue my learning over the summer in order to further prepare myself for my clerkship years in medical school. HFTS gave me the opportunity to explore my career options while also earning an income that helped to pay for my medical school. This is something that I am very thankful I had the opportunity to pursue.

Did anything stand out to you during that “Home for the Summer” experience? Any key learnings? Any preceptors that should be acknowledged?

HFTS taught me many things, not only about clinical medicine, but also about life in medicine and how to cope with the challenges that come with pursuing a career in medicine. I had a variety of preceptors throughout my time in HFTS that offered advice on work life balance and how to build a rewarding career. It also gave me the opportunity to further develop my procedural skills, as I gained more confidence in suturing, emergency room procedures, and management of obstetrical cases.

Dr. Sandra Wiebe was my preceptor in Neepawa for both of my summers. She provided me with lots of guidance not only for furthering my clinical medicine learning, but also my bedside manner and professional development. I am very grateful for the summers I got to spend with her and look forward to learning from her more in the future.

Dr. Brian Milligan also provided me with lots of guidance and was very great at involving me in any procedures that came up around the hospital and gave me the opportunity to learn from him whenever possible!

How have you turned that previous experience into furthering your career path? Where are you now in your health care career journey?

HFTS solidified my interest in rural medicine. I knew when I started medical school that I wanted to practice in a rural community, but having the opportunity to participate in HFTS allowed me to experience the scope of practice of a rural family physician and further strengthened my decision to pursue rural medicine as a career choice. I am now just about to start my residency in rural family medicine in my home community of Neepawa. I am looking forward to returning home and giving back to my community and continuing to learn from so many amazing physicians!

Any other comments about the initiative you feel would be worth mentioning?

HFTS is a great initiative for not only exposing medical students to rural medicine, but also giving health regions an opportunity to recruit medical students that are soon to be participating in the CaRMS match! I would highly recommend that any student pursuing a career in medicine give the program a try as it can open doors and create opportunities for learning and career advancement. It also offers great exposure to rural medicine, which may help some students to realize a career in rural medicine is perfect for them!

PMH making physician recruitment gains: 32 doctors recruited in last year

Through proactiveness, persistence and partnerships, Prairie Mountain Health (PMH) has made gains in filling physician vacancies over the last year. Dr. Adrian Fung, PMH Chief Medical Officer, says the vacancy picture is improving, with 32 doctors recruited to work within PMH communities since last April. He says this is a credit to the region’s recruitment team and continued collaboration with health-care partners and stakeholders.

“About a year ago, we were short about 87 doctors, which, at the time, made some headlines. Since then, we’ve worked hard to recruit and retain physicians here. In the last year, we’ve recruited 32 new physicians, which is about a 30 percent improvement in our physician shortage rate. We are making headway, but we’ll continue to push ahead as there is much more work to do,” Fung stated.

Since last April, PMH has successfully recruited 17 doctors within Brandon who are either specialists, hospitalists or both. The region has also recruited 15 family physicians to Brandon, Dauphin, Deloraine, Grandview, Hamiota, Killarney, Neepawa, Ste. Rose and  Virden.

PMH hired an additional physician recruitment coordinator about a year ago and now has two full-time staff dedicated to recruitment and retention. They are supported by other medical services team administration staff. The team works closely with the provincial health care recruitment and retention office.

Dr. Fung acknowledges that the challenges in recruiting exist across the country and even globally. Like other health regions, PMH went through staff retention challenges during the peak and immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Doctors, like all health-care professionals, went through extreme stressors including burnout. At the moment, physician retention is impacted by those reaching retirement age.

 “It’s not a secret, we have to work extremely hard to sell ourselves. What makes this a better place to live and work is what we have to offer collectively within communities, our lower costs of living, and our natural attractions. We will always be willing to explore new ideas, because we will always be in a position where we need health-care professionals.”

There’s been a lot of work on recruitment provincially, regionally, and locally. Community engagement continues to push success.

“We recently did a presentation to Brandon City Council through their Economic Development Board to partner on new physician recruitment support initiatives. We continue to have communities involved with our medical student workshops (Rural Week in May and Student Rural Interest Group in January). If communities have ideas, we want to listen,” he stated.

Dr. Fung says health care recruitment, including physician recruitment, is everybody’s business. The region often recruits a person for a health care position and, in some cases, needs to connect a person’s spouse to another job in a community. Additional family questions about schools, extra-curricular activities, and other support also exist.

“We’re very proud of our community partnerships. One of our strengths is showing off our lifestyle opportunities and what we offer within our diverse region. No matter where a physician is from, connecting them with communities is key. We will continue to build on these connections in the future. We’ll continue to emphasize that people should come and enjoy our good nature!”

What else is the region doing in physician recruitment?

• PMH has strong partnerships with the University of Manitoba and well-established Residency Programs (Brandon Satellite Campus and Parkland Family Medicine Residency Unit, based in Dauphin), which have provided exceptional opportunities for physicians to train in rural settings and have further increased the number of physicians who remain to practice in rural and more remote communities. The Brandon program has been training physicians for rural opportunities for 12 years, and Dauphin’s site recently celebrated its 30th year of training in 2023.
  
  In Neepawa, a two-year medical residency training program commenced in July 2024. The U of M Residency Program, based within the Beautiful Plains Medical Clinic, started with two Year 1 Residents, who will graduate in 2026.

• PMH participates in two annual medical student recruitment initiatives for first- and second-year U of M medical students. The Student Rural Interest Group workshop is held at the end of January and  Rural Week takes place at the end of May. These student-led initiatives promote the career and lifestyle opportunities that rural healthcare centres and communities offer. We held two separate rural interest group weekends for the first time this year. In late January, RIG workshops were held in Brandon and Killarney. It featured 75 students, the most ever. In early February, we held a separate workshop in Swan River, in partnership with the local recruitment and retention committee in Swan River, which drew the interest of 19 students.

• PMH continues to sponsor physicians through the provincial Medical Licensure Program for International Medical Graduates (MLPIMG). The ‘IMG Program’ assists foreign-trained doctors in obtaining their medical licenses to be able to practice as primary care (family) physicians in Manitoba. IMG physicians agree to practice in their respective communities for four years in return for regional sponsorship. The Program is supported by the University of Manitoba —Max Rady College of Medicine, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba and Manitoba Health. In 2023/2024, these communities included Swan River, Russell, Virden, Hamiota, and Glenboro. All of the physicians commenced work in September/October 2023. In 2024-2025, eight physicians are going through the Program and will be placed in PMH communities later this fall. These include Swan River (3), Roblin (2), Virden, Neepawa and Souris.

• Continuing to recruit and retain Physician and Clinical Assistants (PAs) (CAs) in the region. Currently, we utilize these positions in the BRHC Hospitalist Program, PMH Surgical Program, BRHC Anesthesia Program, BRHC Renal Program, and Acute Care Medicine (rural) Program.

• PMH continues to attend special recruitment events throughout the year, including the annual Provincial Family Medicine Residents’ Retreat. In the fall of 2025, the region will play host to the event in Brandon. The interactive job fair affords many recruiters, including Regional Health Authorities and physician clinics throughout the province, to showcase their respective areas to prospective doctors. PMH makes great connections and stays in touch with those interested in rural medicine.