Senate Request Number: 08:M05:05
Approved by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee: January 2005
Approved by Faculty Council: December 5, 2006
Approved by Council of Undergraduate Studies: N/A
Approved by Executive Committee of the Senate: January 15, 2007
Revisions
Approved by the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee: December 11, 2008, June 23, 2022
Approved by Faculty Council: December 17, 2008; August 29, 2022
Approved by Council of Undergraduate Studies: September 8, 2022
Approved by Executive Committee of the Senate: January 15, 2009; September 13, 2022
Rationale
The proposal to mandate a Clerkship (3rd and 4th year of the MD program) rural/community rotation was requested to fulfill accreditation requirements and to meet current and projected societal needs. The Faculty is accountable to society to educate the appropriate numbers of generalists and specialists necessary to provide comprehensive health care to Canadians. Accreditation standards require that students have clinical experience in primary care in Family Medicine and the general specialty disciplines. Students must also understand health care delivery at all levels as part of the requirements for licensure. In addition, there is evidence that experience in rural/community practice settings attracts more students into Family Medicine, general medical and surgical specialties, and increases physician recruitment to these communities. The breadth of exposure and learning opportunities for medical learners in distributed and underserviced clinical sites may reach or exceed the objectives of the undergraduate medical education program. Ontario and the other provinces have an excellent resource of rural/community preceptors, and Distributed Medical Education (DME) networks.
Proposal
Commencing with the Class of Meds 2007, Clerkship students are required to complete a minimum of 4 consecutive weeks in a rural/community rotation prior to graduation. One rotation choice must be identified as a rural/community rotation. This is usually completed during one of the core 3rd year rotations, and less often during the 4th year. In order to be eligible to commence a core 3rd year DME placement, a student must not be on the active academic concern list. Any exception to the above designation can be approved only by the Student Promotion Executive Committee (SPEC).
Students will complete their rural/community placement in Ontario, except for students with the Consortium National de Formation en Santé (CNFS).
Rotations in Ontario DME networks have been developed for many core rotations. Students in 4th year may choose any clinical discipline that is available in the DME networks. The DME networks have greater capacity to place students in Family Practice settings than in specialty practices as most physicians in the community are Family Physicians. Consistent with the Mission Statement of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Ottawa, a partnership relationship exists with the Eastern Regional Medical Education Program (ERMEP). The majority of Ottawa students will be placed within the ERMEP network. The other Ontario DME networks and medical school DME offices are: Rural Ontario Medical Program (ROMP), Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM), and Schulich Office of Distributed Education.