U of M seeks to increase intake of medical students

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This article was published 15/04/2023 (925 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE University of Manitoba is seeking to expand admissions to health-care programs to bolster the ranks of understaffed hospitals and facilities provincewide.

U of M’s latest senate agenda reveals detailed requests to increase intakes for its undergraduate medical education degree and various master’s degree programs in nursing, physician assistant studies, and both physical and occupational therapy.

The focus is on training more future doctors as quickly as possible.

The proposal includes the addition of 15 undergraduate seats for aspiring physicians next year and another 15 the following year, for a total of 140 spots starting in 2024-25.

Dr. Peter Nickerson, dean of the Max Rady College of Medicine, said it’s a big jump — the largest of its kind in recent history — but “it’s what’s called for, given the circumstances.”

The respective master’s program admissions targets are slated to grow by 20 (nurse practitioner), 15 (physician assistant studies), 10 (physical therapy) and 10 (occupational therapy) over the coming school years.

The need for growth was determined in consultation with regional health leaders, including chief medical officers and specialty leads, and national and provincial regulatory bodies, according to internal university documents.

“We’re very optimistic. I think there’s a lot of positive energy that we can do our part to try and help. The best way to address needs in Manitoba is to train people who are here in Manitoba and who want to stay in Manitoba,” said Nickerson, a transplant nephrologist at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg.

Roughly 900 candidates, the majority of whom are from Manitoba, apply to U of M’s medical school every year. Between 70 to 75 per cent of graduates choose to do their residencies locally.

Doctors Manitoba is touting the university’s plan to scale up its overall physician-training seats and related spots; the organization’s leader said an expansion is long overdue.

Dr. Candace Bradshaw indicated the number of doctors graduating from Manitoba’s only medical school has not kept up with annual population growth for upwards of 30 years.

“There’s a record physician shortage right now. We would need 405 more doctors to reach the Canadian average in Manitoba — and that is not even meeting the needs of populations elsewhere,” the family physician said.

Extensive surgical backlogs, reports of wait times surpassing 20 hours for emergency care, and patient challenges finding family doctors are all symptoms of the labour shortage, she said.

Bradshaw said she worries about the long-term consequences of being a U of M graduate in a class of fewer than 70 physician residents when she entered the workforce in 1999. She described her current patient load as double what would be comfortable.

Manitoba’s advanced education department could not confirm Friday whether the province has agreed to fund all of U of M’s health-care program expansions.

“There’s a record physician shortage right now. We would need 405 more doctors to reach the Canadian average in Manitoba — and that is not even meeting the needs of populations elsewhere.”–Dr. Candace Bradshaw, president of Doctors Manitoba

“We have listened to the front-line workers, including nurses and doctors, who have highlighted the need to open up more training capacity within our post-secondary institutions,” a government spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson cited the province’s commitment to increase respiratory therapy graduates, which began in September, and the imminent launch of U of M’s third annual bachelor of nursing intake.

The province recently announced it would provide funding for 80 additional physician-training seats, including 40 new undergraduate seats — 30 of which U of M indicated it has capacity for — and 10 additional spots for a one-year international medical graduate program.

Provincial dollars have also been set aside for 30 new seats for internationally educated medical students to complete a two-year postgraduate medical education program.

While noting the looming admissions changes will make “a big dent,” Bradshaw pointed out incoming undergraduates will not practise medicine for at least seven years.

Until then, it’s critical to focus on retaining working doctors and recruiting enough of them to educate and support the coming surge in local physicians-in-training, she said.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca