January 20, 2004 For Immediate Release

Eight students from the UBC medical school will be at UNBC next week (January 26-30) to test the technology and curriculum delivery methods critical to the expansion of medical education in the province.

The students at UNBC will participate in a full week of regularly scheduled classes connected with UBC and UVic. While in Prince George, the students will be taught by local physicians, work with family physicians in their offices, and participate in a half-day session at PGRH to develop clinical skills. Regular lectures will also be received via videoconference and internet technology.

This system will allow the students in Prince George to see the professors delivering lectures at a distance while also viewing diagrams/illustrations, lecture notes, and even multimedia animations and video clips that students at UBC will see.

"The feedback that we get back from students and faculty will be invaluable to us as we work towards implementation of this unique, distributed style of medical education," says Dr David Snadden, Associate vice-President Medicine (UNBC) and Associate Dean for the Northern Medical Program (UBC).

In addition to the eight students at UNBC, eight students will also be placed at the University of Victoria.

The Northern Medical Program and Island Medical Program are part of the expansion of UBC's Faculty of Medicine, which is aiming to double the number of medical spaces in BC by 2010. Currently, BC has the lowest per capita number of medical spaces in the country. The partnership should help to ease the shortage of northern and rural doctors since professionals tend to practice in the regions where they receive their training.

There are two opportunities for media to learn more about the Prototypical Week:

Thursday, January 22, 2pm
3rd floor Library - Dr Snadden will lead a demonstration of the technology that will be used during the Prototypical Week. Dr Gavin Stuart, Dean of the UBC Faculty of Medicine, will be joining via videoconference.

Wednesday, January 28, 4pm
3rd floor Library - media will have the opportunity to meet/interview some of the medical students and local instructors who are participating in the Prototypical Week.