Technology Helps Diminish the Doctor Shortage in BC
 Through a technology-based initiative meant to double medical student enrolment by 2010, BCNET has played a pivotal role in the development of a unique network that is enabling medical training in remote communities throughout the province. The only program of its kind in Canada, this innovative curriculum has incorporated the bandwidth and collaborative power of advanced research networks to enable distributed learning simultaneously at remote clinics and three universities – the University of British Columbia (UBC), the University of Northern BC (UNBC) and the University of Victoria (UVic).
The Challenge: Combating a Province-Wide Doctor Shortage
Over the past 20 years, we have seen a 50 per cent growth in the population of British Columbia, but have not equally increased our doctor output. As a result, a doctor shortage currently threatens the future of healthcare, particularly in northern and rural areas. To combat this shortage, the provincial government worked in collaboration with the UBC Medical School to establish an innovative way to train medical students in a distributed manner.
But how do students in different locations attend lectures simultaneously? Requiring high-tech videoconferencing and exclusive networks, UBC partnered with BCNET to create a high-quality network that would seamlessly facilitate distributed learning in a visually and acoustically perfect environment.
The Solution: Advanced Networks Provide the Backbone for Distributed Learning
 Cutting-edge networking technology provided by BCNET has enabled the success of this distributed program, which allows medical students at UBC, UNBC and UVic to attend their first and second year courses synchronously using audio-visual equipment so sharp it creates the illusion of being in the same room. “These state of the art systems, made possible by BCNET, combine multimedia with an interactive environment where instructors can teach, ask questions, see and hear medical students in remote locations,” said Stan Shaw, former IT Strategic Initiatives Lead at UBC’s Faculty of Medicine. “It enables the professor to do a lab demonstration at all three campuses at once.”
BCNET’s dedicated, advanced network is the telecommunications backbone behind the connected universities. High-speed links, referred to as lightpaths, are supplied by BCNET and facilitate the one gigabit capacity required for the perfectly streamed lectures and labs that are five to six times faster than traditional videoconferencing.
Today, the participating sites are fully equipped with high-tech audio-visual equipment, allowing first and second year students to observe and participate in everything that takes place in a distant lecture or lab. Microphones on each table provide opportunities for equal interaction between the sites, so that students can simply press a button when they want to ask a question, which triggers a camera to zoom in on them.
| The second phase of the program is also successfully underway, training third and fourth year students in clinical settings across the province. Initially, the program was faced with the challenge of delivering medical education to students in remote clinics. But through an exclusive partnership between BCNET, the UBC Medical School and the Provincial Health Authorities, a unique resolution was determined. |
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The technology performance has been excellent. Our success has been the result of tremendous teamwork efforts between IT, government, BCNET and teaching faculty and staff across three universities.
- Stan Shaw, former IT Strategic Initiatives Lead, UBC Faculty of Medicine |
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From the collaboration, they discovered a common TELUS network gateway, allowing BCNET to interconnect the universities with the academic clinics, and enabling students to gain top-notch expertise from lecturers in distant labs, hospitals and clinics.
Since BCNET’s connection to the TELUS Private Network Gateway, the connected clinics are facilitating doctor training in all six of the BC Health Authorities, enabling a deep integration of medical students and residences in communities that otherwise have limited access to doctors. Potentially decreasing patient wait times and travel distances, this rural integration marks a successful first step in diminishing BC’s doctor shortage.
The Result: A Promising Future
With students now successfully enrolled in both academic and clinical settings, the program has proven to be a huge success for future initiatives. “The network and monitoring capacity that BCNET has brought to the table is only going to increase in value and could very well serve as the foundation for other initiatives which will rely on the same type of interconnectivity between the Health Authorities and academic institutions,” said David Lampron, Fraser Medical Program Technical Operations Manager, UBC Faculty of Medicine.
Not only has this innovative training program put BC on the map in terms of using technology for education, but it is also successfully addressing the current doctor shortage. By 2010, 256 students will be able to enroll in the first year of the undergraduate program – a 100 per cent increase over the current 128 students enrolled.
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