Medical residency program helping to attract, retain family physicians
Doctors in training in Annapolis Valley would consider calling community home
Family medicine residents training in the Annapolis Valley appreciate that the community has a lot to offer socially and professionally.
Dalhousie For participants in the University Annapolis Valley Family Medicine Residency Training Program, the experience is very much about on-the-job training.
Residents start in their family medicine practices in early July. They get to know their patients, learn the style of practice of their preceptors and get to know the medical community in the area.
There are family medicine residents disbursed throughout the Annapolis Valley, from New Minas to Annapolis Royal.
As part of their training, residents are frequently required to do on-call and overnight rotations at the Valley Regional Hospital. Rotations can include general surgery, hospitalist service, pediatrics and more.
Dr. Thomas Ritchie, who
residency, is in his second year of is with Harvest Tides Family Practice at the Valley Crossroads Health and Wellness Centre in New Minas.
Dr. Luke MacMillan, who is in his first year of residency, is with the Berwick Family Practice in Berwick.
consider Both said they would working as family doctors in the Annapolis Valley region once their residencies and training are completed.
Ritchie, an Ottawa native, said he has extended family in the Annapolis Valley. He’s been familiar with the area since childhood and recalls making the long drive to Kingston, where he currently lives, to visit.
“I came up here in some of my summers over med school too, and from the beginning was very keen on coming to the Valley to train,” Ritchie said.
He said it’s lovely to be able to come to an area where he has an existing support
network. Professionally speaking, he said the environment in the Annapolis Valley is very collegial.
“From a resident perspective, I think it’s really meaningful to train or practice in an area where family physicians are so needed and so respected in the community,” Ritchie said.
“I would consider anybody to be very fortunate to be able to work in the Valley, as either a resident or a physician.”
The area also has a lot to offer prospective residents from a social perspective. Although most community festivals have been cancelled in recent times due to COVID19, Ritchie, a member of the Kingston Lions, said he’s looking forward to the next Kingston Steer Barbecue.
He also volunteers in other capacities and enjoys playing soccer at the Valley Credit Union Recreation Complex in Kentville when possible.
MacMillan is originally from New Brunswick and currently lives in Kentville. He did his medical training in Newfoundland and was matched with the Valley family medicine residency program through the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS).
CaRMS is a national organization providing the mandatory matching service for medical residency training throughout Canada.
MacMillan said his experience so far in the Annapolis Valley has been great, and everyone has been extremely friendly. There is a lot of scenic beauty and many outdoor adventures to enjoy, such as hiking Cape Split. He is quite taken with the “great restaurants to try all over the place.”
“In terms of the medical community, our specialists in the area are amazing,” MacMillan said.
He said most are very receptive
to having the medical residents call or text them with questions and are quite happy to teach them. MacMillan said they’re quite spoiled in the sense that it’s often one resident to one staff physician, providing “excellent one-on-one teaching.”
MacMillan said that although the geographic options are endless, it’s been “a very special experience” being in the Valley for the past six months.
One bonus for him is that the family doctors he works with are both graduates of the Valley family medicine residency training program. As more doctors in residency decide to stay in the Valley region, he thinks this dynamic will be a huge asset to the program moving forward.
RETAINING DOCTORS
As with other ongoing doctor recruitment and retention efforts, it could be said that the ultimate goal of the family medicine residency program is to help alleviate a shortage of family physicians.
Dr. Roop Conyers is the post-graduate site director for the Dalhousie University Annapolis Valley Family Medicine Residency Training Program.
In an earlier interview, he said that his original hope was to retain one new family physician for the Annapolis Valley per year, which has been surpassed every year since the program’s inception in 2012.
As of last year, the program has graduated 38 new family doctors — 31 remain in Nova Scotia, with approximately two dozen remaining in the Annapolis Valley region.
They take on five family medicine residents a year, four medical grads from Canada and one international placement. It’s a two-year program, so they currently have 10 residents in training. Conyers said they’ll be taking on six new residents this year thanks to the addition of a