All Posts Tagged With: "medicine"

2009 figures show enrolment continues to increase

The medical schools listed below are sorted by size of enrolment: from the largest, Université de Montréal, to the smallest—and newest—Northern Ontario School of Medicine. These 2009 figures show enrolment continues to increase (up 15 per cent compared to 2006), with women outnumbering men at most institutions.

*Northern Ontario School of Medicine is located at Lakehead and Laurentian universities.

Source: Office of Research and Information Services, Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada

In response to society’s “evolving needs”

Medical schools across Canada are making drastic changes to their teaching philosophy, according to a 48-page report just released by the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada.

The Future of Medical Education in Canada project outlines 10 recommendations for undergraduate medical education in response to “society’s evolving needs.”

According to a press release from the AFMC, the report is the first comprehensive study of the Canadian system of medical education in the last 100 years.

That’s not to say Canadian medicine hasn’t evolved and improved over the past century. Image-guided and robotic surgery weren’t exactly standard procedure in 1910. But as Dr. Nick Busing, President and CEO of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada, mentions in the press release:

“This is a watershed moment for medical education in Canada. The recommendations contained in this report are forward-thinking, ambitious, and broad-based; their implementation on a national scale will have a definite impact on how physicians are trained and how care is delivered in this country.”

The recommendations outlined in the report include an emphasis on community medicine, as well as promoting generalism, such as “comprehensive family medicine.” The report also includes five ‘enabling’ recommendations, which are supposed to “facilitate the implementation” of the 10 FMEC recommendations. Dr. James Rourke, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Chair of the Board of Directors of AFMC, notes that the report has received “unanimous approval” from Canada’s faculties of medicine.

-photo courtesy of ernstl

Within 18 months, and with an extra $30 million, McMaster says it could fill the gap

An Ontario university says its aging nuclear reactor is capable of supplying Canada’s medical isotope needs – four times over.

The catch is, it will take up to 18 months to start production, which won’t help solve the current shortage crisis.

Representatives from Hamilton’s McMaster University told a House of Commons committee Tuesday that their reactor needs an extra $30 million – on top of the $22 million it just got from the federal and Ontario governments – over five years for staff and fuel.

“Our physicists have done the calculations and verified them with the literature and . . . that equals, at the end of the day, 20 per cent of the North American market,” said Christopher Heysel, the school’s director of nuclear operations and facilities.

The McMaster reactor is the only Canadian reactor outside of Chalk River capable of producing the isotopes used to detect cancer and heart ailments.

Doctors have been struggling to deal with a scarce supply of isotopes since Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. shut down its aging reactor at Chalk River, Ont., a month ago after finding a heavy-water leak.

Many cancer and heart patients have had to scramble to find alternatives.

The 52-year-old reactor produces a third of the world’s supply of the medical isotopes and AECL expects the reactor to be out of commission for at least three months.

The 50-year-old McMaster reactor would need to ramp up to a seven-day, round-the-clock production cycle. It now runs five days a week for 16 hours at a time. The reactor filled in for the Chalk River during a shutdown in the 1970s.

The school also wants to partner with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. to store highly enriched uranium from the United States or Russia, and handle other logistics.

And it wants the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to forego any changes to the school’s licence to operate the reactor.

The McMaster reactor is just one option the Conservative government is mulling to deal with the isotope shortage.

Med school checklist: undergrad degree, prerequisites and a ridiculously high GPA

This time last year, I was playing the waiting game. I had chosen my top three programs. The applications were done, and it was all riding on one letter. The letter from the Registrar’s Office of McMaster.

Finally, it arrived.

I had applied to McMaster’s Health Sciences undergraduate program, and was hoping this was the letter. The one officially welcoming me into my top-choice undergraduate program.

Eventually, I want to apply to med school, so I needed a program that could bring me closer towards that goal. I had considered (and applied to) several other programs at U of T and the University of Waterloo, including biology and biomedical sciences.

But then I discovered Health Sciences at McMaster.

It instantly became my top choice. I wanted to be on the most efficient path to med school. An undergraduate program with all the prerequisites built-in, but also one that focused on a subject area I find fascinating: biology. The Health Sciences program seemed like a perfect fit.

By the end of the four-year program, I would have all of the prerequisites necessary for every med school across Canada. Acceptance into the program doesn’t come with any guarantees of a future spot in med school later, of course. But I knew it would be the perfect pre-med program for me. I wanted in.

But I knew getting in wouldn’t be easy.

The few select spots are reserved for students with GPAs of at least 90 per cent. In order to be competitive, however, McMaster makes it clear you need something in the low 90s. Minimum. My GPA was in the low 90s. Would it be enough? The lengthy application process also includes answering some really challenging personal questions.

Including, “Please describe a non-academic aspect of your life that you feel is important to your sense of self and explain why.”

So, was this where I could brag about building an 800 piece 3D puzzle in less than an hour? Maybe not. Instead, I explained how important my artwork is to me. How much I enjoy creating large works of art on canvas using oil paints. Of course, the minute I laid claim to considering art an important non-academic aspect of my life, one that is also important to my sense of self, I felt pretentious and somehow exposed. But since we can’t ever be certain about what the ‘right’ answer might be, or worse, the ‘wrong’ answer, all I could do was answer the questions as honestly as possible.

The next question was the one question I think should never be asked. “If there were one question that shouldn’t be asked, what would it be and why?” I’m not kidding. That really was one of the questions.

Despite my search for the perfect pre-med program, most Canadian med schools claim there is no ideal program, that they view all undergraduate degrees equally. Just as long as you also have the required prerequisites. Such as organic chemistry, physics, several specific biology courses, and lab experience. Oh, and also a ridiculously high GPA.

Of the 2008 accepted applicants to McMaster’s med school, for example, more than half are science or health sciences students. But law, divinity, and engineering students, just to name a few, also got in. Just not as many. And they still had to chase after those prerequisites, of course.

The thing is, not all undergraduate degrees help you get the best marks, and your GPA is one of the most important considerations when applying to med school. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should choose a program just because you think it will give you some advantage.

Because chances are, you might not even get in.

So that morning last May, when I held the letter in my hand, I was afraid to open it. So much was riding on that first sentence. What if they said no? I ripped open the envelope and began to read. Then I read it again. And again.

“Unfortunately, after careful consideration, we are not able to offer you admission at this time. ”

I hadn’t made it in.

I’d been accepted into the biology programs at McMaster and U of T, and the Health studies, biology, and Biomedical Sciences programs at Waterloo. But that didn’t matter. I hadn’t been accepted into my top choice. I was devastated.

Well, for about 10 minutes. Then I felt relieved that I’d been accepted into my second-choice, the Biomedical Sciences honours program at the University of Waterloo. The core classes built into the biomedical sciences program are prerequisites common to almost every med school in North America. Exactly what I need for my goal of one day attending med school. Somewhere. Anywhere. Please.

Plus, Waterloo has the added bonus of being just a 45-minute bus ride from my home in Kitchener. It even makes me centrally located for about a dozen friends from high school who are going to Guelph, Brock and McMaster. And although none of my old friends from high school are in Biomedical Science with me at Waterloo, three are in other programs at the school so I still get to see them for coffee and study breaks.

I’ve now completed my first year of the biomedical sciences program. I’m learning about genes and mutations, cells and cancer. And that’s only first year.

Biomedical sciences at Waterloo allows students to tailor their program using lots of electives to meet the admission requirements for many different graduate programs. Or I can just take more biology courses.

Versatile, but structured. Perfect.

But if you don’t eventually make it into the professional program of your dreams, like med school, doesn’t that make your undergraduate degree useless?

Absolutely not. Most programs list what past grads are doing now, so you can get a sense of what you could be doing later. For my program, it lists possible careers such as respiratory therapist, dentist, forensic scientist and speech pathologist. And yes, physician. Yay.

So even if I don’t get into med school one day, my degree will not have been for nothing.

My program works for me. And it’s not just a means to an end.

Highest paid are in business, medicine

Every year, legions of new bright-eyed university students aspire to a six-figure salary in business or at a top-tier medical practice. But according to figures released this week on Ontario’s salary disclosure day, the big money could also be in becoming a business or medical professor.

More: Who made the $500,000 club?

Go West, ambitious university president

Last year, twelve out of thirteen professors making more than $300,000 in the province taught business or medicine. That means they earned more than most executives at medium-sized universities. On disclosure day, all eyes are on the rapid growth of university presidential salaries, but last year many business and medical professors were quietly clocking big bucks.

Last year, we reported that the top-paid professor in 2007 was Brian Golden of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. In 2007, he earned $303,490. But the bar has since been raised. In 2008, 13 professors, all without senior management responsibilities, made more.

This year’s leading professor appears to be McMaster University assistant professor Gary Chaimowitz, who made $373,321. However, while listed in the disclosure as an assistant professor Chaimowitz also holds an administrative position as Head of Service, Forensic Psychiatry at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton. He also holds an MBA, merging his medical knowledge with business management ― a potent earning combination.

Many hospital-based physicians and hospital administrators at university teaching hospitals also hold the title of medical school professor, because of the close relationship between medical schools and teaching hospitals. As we noted in this story, in the United States, almost all of the most highly paid academics are senior physicians or hospital administrators, with some earning more than US$1 million a year. In the U.S., many hospitals are part of a university, and therefore many of those people are considered to be university employees. In Canada, they often aren’t, because of a different corporate relationship between hospital and university. But you get a sense of how much their Canadian medical equivalents (some of whom would also be med school professors) are making from this list.

Leaving medical schools aside, the 2009 title for Ontario’s top paid professor without senior administrative responsibilities goes to John Hull, a finance professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business. He received total compensation of $364,335 last year. Closely behind are fellow Rotman professors Glen Whyte and William Strange, who earned $363,290 and $354,231 respectfully.

Ontario’s top paid female professor is Deborah Cook of McMaster University’s Faculty of Medicine, who made $349,943. The most highly paid female professor not at a medical school is Brenda Zimmerman, who is an associate professor at York University’s Schulich School of Business. She made $314,612 last year, in part for teaching a course called “Understanding the Canadian Health Industry.”

No more free lunches in student lounges of Canadian medical schools?

There may soon be no more free lunches – or fridges to store them in – in the student lounges of Canadian medical schools.No talks given by physicians’ experts paid handsomely by pharmaceutical companies. Or unsupervised meetings with drug reps.

The association that represents Canada’s medical schools announced Tuesday it is endorsing the principles that lie at the core of rules such as these introduced by its American counterpart earlier this year.

The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada said the aim is to limit the influence the pharmaceutical industry has on medical students and residents and assuage the public’s concerns about the perceived cosiness between medical schools and Big Pharma.

“There’s no question that the environment within which you’re trained will have some sort of impact on the way you perceive these issues,” Irving Gold, the association’s vice-president of government relations and external affairs, said from Ottawa.

“The public has to trust that the doctors that they see do not have any debts to pay to individual pharmaceutical companies or the sector as a whole.”

“We have to model good behaviour in this context. And if we want to teach professionalism (to medical students), a part of teaching professionalism is by implementing these sorts of policies.”

The board of the association voted in mid-November to endorse the principles espoused in the April 2008 report from the Association of American Medical Colleges. It made public that decision on Tuesday after having informed Rx&D, the industry group representing Canada’s research-based pharmaceutical companies.

There have been complaints for years that some members of the medical community have been too close to the pharmaceutical industry. Critics have railed at pharma for providing expensive gifts and freebies to doctors, whether in the form of tickets to sporting events or invitations to educational sessions held at posh resorts where an ample measure of pleasure was mixed in with a bit of business.

In recent years professional bodies have adopted codes of conduct aimed at stopping this type of behaviour, though critics contend there are still plenty of doctors eating plenty of free lunches.