Accepted Type
Oral
Code
OC1-2-2
Acceptance Declaration
Accept
Additional Information
I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.
Was this work accepted for CCME 2020?
no
Category
General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)
Type
Oral
Sub Type
Education Research
Will the presenter be a:
Other
Presenter Other
Research Data Management Librarian
Affiliation
Considered for Poster
yes
Title
The impact of a medical school admissions pathway on social accountability and rural physician recruitment
Length of Presentation
Background/Purpose
To improve local and rural physician recruitment, the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry introduced, in 2005, a Southwestern Ontario Medical Education Network (SWOMEN) pathway for medical school admissions to attract high school graduates within the ten predominantly rural counties in the catchment region. This study assesses the impact of the SWOMEN admissions pathway on the percentage of medical school graduates practising in a rural setting in the SWOMEN region and across Canada.
Methods
Either high school or home postal code of student applicants admitted to Schulich Medicine from 2002 to 2010 were tracked to practice location postal code as of 2020, extracted from Scott's Medical Directory. SWOMEN and rural classifications at time of application and at practice were substantiated by Canada Post postal code data. Chi-Squared analyses were performed.
Results
Of the 1,000 (77%) Schulich Medicine graduates tracked to a Canadian practice location, 44.9% vs. 14.0% (p<0.001) of those from SWOMEN vs. non-SWOMEN regions, respectively, were practising within the SWOMEN region as of 2020. The implementation of the SWOMEN pathway resulted in a near-doubling of graduates practising within the SWOMEN region by 2020 (28.1% vs. 15.4%, p<0.001). Most notably, the introduction of the SWOMEN pathway significantly increased graduates practicing in rural locations within the SWOMEN region (7.2% post-pathway vs. 3.3% pre-pathway, p=0.008) as well as across Canada (15.7% vs.11. 2%, p=0.04).
Conclusion
The introduction of the SWOMEN pathway helped achieve social accountability by increasing local physician recruitment within SWOMEN and rural physician recruitment within SWOMEN and across Canada.
Keyword 1
social accountability
Keyword 2
rural physician recruitment
Keyword 3
medical school admissions
Level of Training
General
Abstract Themes
Admissions
Additional Theme (First choice)
Additional Theme (Second Choice)
Additional Theme (Third Choice)
Authors
Presenter
Kristi Thompson
Term 1
Yes
Term 2
Yes
Term 3
Yes
Term 4
Yes
Term 5
Yes
