Letters

Can J Rural Med 1996; 1 (2): 61-62

Kudos for the first issue of CJRM

Congratulations to the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada on this excellent new journal. I hope it will alert your community to the concerns of a weary corps of rural doctors.

The answer to many of our common problems lies in such areas as education and psychosocial support.

Education is vital, and we need to ensure that it is integrated into our practices from the moment we leave school until the day we retire. Rural doctors need to be involved actively in the selection and the curriculum of undergraduate doctors, in the training of rural physicians through hospital and practice segments, and in the selection of appropriate continuing medical education, including control over the accreditation and recertification processes. If we are to be effective we have to work for involvement in these vital areas.

Finally, rural medical practitioners and their families need a lot of support. Research is needed into retention strategies to reduce the high attrition rates that are wasteful of the money spent on education and training of rural physicians.

I urge all those who want to see an adequate rural medical workforce of happy, functioning, rural doctors in happy, functioning, rural communities to involve themselves in working to achieve these objectives.

Digby Hoyal, MD
President
Rural Doctors Association of Australia


Congratulations on the publication of the first issue of the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine. It's another step forward in providing recognition, support and continued education for those physicians and other health care professionals who look after the health care needs of Canadians in rural and remote settings. Although difference in setting is not usually a factor in most diseases, there are real differences in the level of responsibility taken by rural physicians, who have limited access to consultants and other back-up and diagnostic facilities compared with their urban colleagues. Some situations, such as industrial accidents related to mining, fishing and logging, occur only in rural settings.

The Department of Family Practice at the University of British Columbia trains residents to identify both their own educational needs and the health care needs of the community. For those physicians who plan a career in rural medicine, emphasis is placed on hands-on learning, together with experienced preceptors who understand rural health care needs.

We have developed opportunities for enhanced-skills training for family physicians in obstetrics, anesthesia, psychiatry, surgery and emergency medicine. A member of our department also coordinates continuing medical education, via teleconference, across rural British Columbia.

I anticipate that your journal will become a vehicle for the publication of research done in rural settings, which will add to our knowledge base in family medicine. Your journal can help these dedicated physicians to maintain and further develop both relevant knowledge and skills.

Carol Herbert, MD, CCFP, FCFP
Royal Canadian Legion Professor and Head
Department of Family Practice
University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC


Congratulations to you, your editorial board and the Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) on the publication of the première issue of the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine. As a rural practitioner, I was gratified to see a publication that addresses issues specific to our practice setting, as well as issues that we have in common with our urban colleagues, viewed from our unique perspective. I enjoyed Jim Thompson's "Country cardiogram"; not only was this article instructive academically, but it brought out vividly the decision cascade that we all must add to our patient care regimens related to isolation and the weather. Dr. Iglesias's proposal for ambulatory epidural analgesia is sure to further the discussion of this important topic.

In the Teaching Practices Program at the University of Toronto we actively promote rural practice as a career choice, and this publication will help us to further that goal. In Ken Babey's "Focus on Ontario," he reports that the results of the SRPC survey in January included the preference of 74.8% of respondents to have the SRPC manage the CME program for rural practitioners. It makes good sense that the consumers should control the product to ensure that it meets their perceived needs. I'm sure that departments of family practice across the province would enthusiastically support such an initiative and collaborate in the development of CME programs if invited to do so.

I look forward to future issues of this journal and know that it will be one of the few that actually gets read from cover to cover soon after arriving.

Bob Henderson, MD, CCFP, FCFP
Chair, Teaching Practices Division
Department of Family and Community Medicine
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ont.


Please send us your comments and opinions. Letters to the editor should be addressed to: Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine, Box 1086, Shawville QC J0X 2Y0; email cjrm@fox.nstn.ca; fax 819 647-2845
Table of contents: Can J Rural Med vol 1 (2)
Copyright 1996, Canadian Medical Association