If physicians can't come to the training, the training will come to them. That's the premise behind a pilot program launched by the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada and Dalhousie University's Department of Family Medicine.
Over the next 18 months, at least 24 CME courses for rural physicians will be offered in towns throughout Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Ontario. The program will also provide short-term locum relief for the physicians in conjunction with their professional training.
Each course will be conducted by a rural physician trained to deliver one of more than a dozen modules developed by the society. The modules, which run for approximately 4 hours, emphasize different aspects of medical care that routinely face rural physicians. The first 2 sessions, held in Digby, NS, included discussion of the treatment of hand injuries and suturing techniques.
"We're trying to provide rural physicians with continuing medical education that has been developed by rural physicians for rural physicians," says Sally Schafer, the program administrator.
Physicians who conduct the sessions will also provide a brief respite for the doctors. In the case of the Digby sessions, the 2 physicians who conducted the modules also worked emergency room shifts the first weekend they were in the south shore community and were on call at the local hospital for the remainder of the week. Schafer says the goal is to allow the local doctors to close their offices for a week, with the visiting physicians taking over their remaining duties.
The program, funded by a $245 000 grant from Health Canada's Rural and Remote Health Innovations Initiative, is supposed to assess the actual level of demand for courses and locums, says Schafer. Ultimately, says Dr. Richard MacLachlan, head of family medicine at Dalhousie, it may result in a national CME/locum program.