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Simulated Inside birth arrives SPORTS at Ottawa hospital International hockey teams head to Ottawa for the Bell Capital Cup.
Doctors hone skills with simulations Steph Willems
– Page 5
EDITORIAL
There are plenty of reasons to give thanks for our snowy winter. – Page 8
NEWS
steph.willems@metroland.com
EMC news - The danger wasn’t real, but the situation presented at the Ottawa Hospital uOttawa’s Skills and Simulation Centre happens all too often. Physicians delivered a baby by emergency Cesarean section on Dec. 19 after detecting a slowing fetal heartbeat. The difference today was that the baby – and the mother delivering it – were simulation mannequins. The exercise served to illustrate the tools and training that take place at the simulation centre, located on the grounds of the hospital’s Civic campus. The Ottawa Hospital Foundation is in the midst of raising $2.5 million to expand the centre and add state-of-the-art research tools and equipment. “The 21st century has brought with it great medical advances – we know more about diseases then we’ve ever known and our technology has really evolved to where we now do operations through incisions the size of buttonholes,” said centre director Dr. Viren Naik. “Unfortunately, our medical education hasn’t changed that much. The apprenticeship model is still the backbone of how we teach doctors today. There are some problems with that apprenticeship model, in that with the exponential growth in (medical knowledge), there may be too much to learn in a finite training schedule.” Naik said simulation centres allow doctors to further their knowledge of emerging technologies and new procedures. STAR PATIENT
Don’t fret, the second part of the year in review is here. – Page 6
The star of the demonstration was the aptly-named Noelle, an anatomically-correct “advanced patient simulator mannequin” that stands in for a live patient during training. These mannequins have the capability to talk, cry, sweat and go into shock. During the simulation, doctors and nurses assessed the condition of the mother and baby before wheeling the patient into another room to have the Cesarean section performed. See STAFF, page 3
JENNIFER MCINTOSH/METROLAND
Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announces a student loan forgiveness program designed to entice doctors and nurses to work in rural, remote communities. Aglukkaq made the announcement at the Rideau Valley Health Centre in Barrhaven on Dec. 28.
Doctors get break on school debt Announcement made at Barrhaven health clinic Jennifer McIntosh jennifer.mcintosh@metroland.com
EMC news - The federal government is trying to entice doctors and nurses to the country’s rural and remote communities, said federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq on Dec. 28. Aglukkaq announced a student loan forgiveness program that will start in April 2013 – potentially for-
giving as much as $40,000 in student loans for doctors and $20,000 for nurses and nurse practitioners. Aglukkaq made the announcement on behalf of the Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley at the Rideau Valley Health Centre in Barrhaven. Family doctors and nurses can work in more than 4,200 designated rural and remote communities across Canada to be eligible for the loan forgiveness, which amounts to $8,000 a year for doctors and $4,000 a year for nurses. Both have maximum terms of five years. Designated communities refer to those with a population of less than 50,000, including communities that provide health services First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations.
Aglukkaq said she wasn’t able to give a cost estimate for the program because it would depend on the number of applicants. “We are trying to improve access to primary health care and we hope that doctors and nurses will take advantage of the program,” she said. “Working in our country’s rural and remote communities can be a great learning experience.” Aglukkaq said the initiative compliments a program announced last February to train 100 new doctors for rural communities in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, British Columbia and Nunavut. “Our government is committed to strengthening health care for all Canadians,” she said.
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