College’s clean bill of health T T
he lifting of its probationary status is the best news that the college of medicine at the University of Saskatchewan has received in more than 15 years, but the announcement in Regina was mostly glossed over in people’s preoccupation with the federal election that was just a couple of days away.
Dr. Preston Smith, who took over as dean a scant nine months after the college in October 2013 earned the dubious distinction of being placed on probation for the second time within the span of 11 years, had ample reason to be beaming at Friday’s positive news from the two agencies that regulate medical education.
Facing a visit this past spring by accreditors with the Committee on the Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools, Smith wasn’t confident that probation would be lifted for some time, even though the college had put in place several measures including a permanent leadership structure and making changes to the curriculum.
“They’re likely to say, ‘Good progress and, since you have a full visit coming up in 2017, we’re going to just leave you on probation till then’,” he said in April. “To me this is business as usual if we’re still on probation after this visit.”
However, the visitors saw enough in May to accredit the college until March 2018, with the next inspection due in fall 2017. Smith notes that the provincial government has boosted funding to hire more faculty members to teach courses in their specialties, the college had more doctors willing to teach and has hired or is recruiting new vice-deans to increase the focus on areas such as clinical research.
The university this summer signed a letter of understanding with the faculty association to offer about 125 in-scope physicians a timelimited voluntary pay package for clinical and academic work. If 50 doctors accept the individual contracts, the cost would be as much as $25 million.
Smith said in August that the flexible option allows doctors to work with the college and health regions in a way that meets individual career interests, and “allow(s) us to increase the number physician educators and researchers in Saskatchewan and brings us in line with the top medical schools in Canada.”
Given the important role the college plays in Saskatchewan, not only in educating and training the physicians required to service a growing population, but also in doing vital clinical and other research, Smith deserves kudos for identifying and setting about tackling the root problems that are behind the probation woes.
However, the medical college and the dean also need the provincial government to step up with a strong commitment and the funding required to keep pace with other education institutions in meeting the rising accreditation standards.