So you want to be a doctor? UBC Okanagan’s high-tech recruitment tool

WOULD-BE PHYSICIANS FIND OUT ABOUT MEDICAL SCHOOL REMOTELY

KELOWNA – They use video conferencing to train doctors, so why not recruit them to UBC Okanagan using the same tool?

That’s the thinking behind the Faculty of Medicine’s first-ever virtual information session using the same gear normally used to connect four academic campuses and over 100 clinical teaching sites across the province.

Secondary students from Penticton and Summerland with an eye on becoming a doctor took in the admissions information session from a lecture theatre at UBC Okanagan.

It focused on the realities of medical school, diversity of practice while seeking to dispel what UBC Okanagan says are myths about admissions requirements. The school receives over 2,000 applications a year.

The session was planned in collaboration with career counsellors in the Okanagan Skaha school district.

Dr. Bruce Fleming, associate dean of admissions for the Faculty of Medicine, says the hope is to expand the program to other academic institutions and school districts across the province.

Fleming says encouraging more medical school applications from rural students could help with physician shortages in some parts of the province as students are more likely to return to their home town to set up practice.

For more stories on UBC Okanagan, click here.

To contact the reporter for this story, email John McDonald at jmcdonald@infonews.ca or call 250-808-0143. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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