Health professions students in Prince George are one step closer to having a dedicated space for learning at the University Hospital of Northern BC.
An architectural rendering of the Learning and Development Centre at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia.
Officials gathered Dec. 16 to mark the official construction start for a 1,365-square-metre (14,692-square-foot) centre that will include a library, seminar rooms with a combined capacity of up to 140 people, a clinical simulation centre, videoconferencing suites and group study areas. The addition, expected to open in early 2015, is funded by the Province.
The $9.86 million Learning and Development Centre is the latest example of dozens of capital projects designed to accommodate medical students and residents in hospitals throughout the province. That distribution of medical education and post-graduate training – which is providing more physicians for underserved areas of B.C. – celebrates its 10th anniversary next year.
The Northern Medical Program, a partnership between the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) and Northern Health, educates 128 medical students in Prince George, mostly on the campus of UNBC and the University Hospital of Northern BC. In addition, 30 residents in various specialties are based at the hospital year-round, along with several visiting residents. Students in the Northern and Rural Cohort of UBC’s Master of Physical Therapy program also receive clinical training at the hospital.
“For 10 years, our students, residents and faculty in northern B.C. have been linked with their peers and colleagues through an elaborate videoconferencing system, especially in classes and labs on the UNBC campus,” said Gavin Stuart, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Vice Provost Health. “But the Learning and Development Centre will enhance that connectivity at University Hospital, creating new opportunities for learning, as well as research. Based on what we’ve seen at other hospitals, this will likely lead to more thoughtful, collaborative and evidence-based care for patients.”
The distribution of medical education and postgraduate training among more than 80 teaching sites also coincided with a more than doubling of the number of medical students and residents. Since expansion began, UBC has graduated over 1,600 new MDs, and 1,157 of them are now physicians, having completed their post-graduate training in family medicine or other specialties. More than three-quarters of them are practicing medicine in B.C.