New ER focus for N.B. medical students

The new Saint John medical school plans totrain a new kind of doctor by offering additional courses designed toalleviate the strain onemergency departments.

Canada has a shortage of emergency medicine specialists, so a lot of hospitals rely on family doctors to help fill ER shifts.

But now doctors in Saint John are working tocreate a unique curriculum for the medical students that will add more emergency department training for all.

Dr. Michael Howlett,clinical chief of emergency medicine for the Horizon Health Network in the Saint John area, said students typically get their medical degrees first, then go back to school for another yearif they want specialized emergency training.

"We're looking at trying to integrate those, so that people with that special interest learn to be family physicians but also integrate a little bit better the emergency medicine focus into their practice," Howlett said.

The new program is expected to be ready withintwo or three years.

Howlett saidoffering emergency room training soonergives students more time to develop their critical thinking skills, dealing with life-and-death situations that they may face in hospital ERs.

"We think they'll be a little better rounded. Their training will be focused more on what this province needs in terms of physician skill sets and education," Howlett said.

"So that's the hope ...that we produce people that work in this type of an environment more effectively."

The Saint John medical training centre will welcome the first class of future doctors fromHalifax-based Dalhousie University this fall. The University of Moncton has a similar program for francophonestudents.

Construction is underway atSaint John Regional Hospital and the old Saint John College building to make room for the new training centre.

Recruiting success

The plans fortraining doctors to work in emergency rooms coincides with what has been the Saint John hospital's best year in a decade for recruiting doctors.

Howlett,the new head of the ER department,said emergency doctors are suddenly interested in coming to Saint John.

The hospital hasattracted eight new ER doctors in the last year. Therenow are 16 full-time doctors and a few part-time physicians.

Howlett said he hopes to have a full staff of 24 in place when the new ER formally opens next winter. A year ago, the Saint John ER was down to eight doctors when it should have had 22.

Saint John has become attractive to ER doctors for a lot of reasons, Howlett said. he creditedthe new medical school that is opening this year, better funding and the millions of dollarsspent ona new emergency department.

Three years ago, hospital officials in Saint John were faced with an emergency room crisis when nearly all the doctors submitted resignations over staffing and workspace issues.