News and Updates

Reminder. Today is the last day to send us your nominations.  (max 250 words) 

• Tell us who has done an exceptional job coaching you on your rural path. (Generalists & specialists are eligible.) Rural Mentors are committed to supporting future rural physicians & rural physicians in practice. Rural Mentorship Award

  
  

• We are looking for Student & Resident Leaders. Tell us about a student or resident passionate about rural & remote medicine, indigenous health, electives, volunteering, and published work.  Student Leadership Award / Resident Leadership Award

  
  

• We want to acknowledge the strong partnerships across the broader healthcare & educational system. Nominate an urban physician who has a Rural Heart! Rural Heart Award.

  
  

• Nominate a deserving individual or organization that has made an outstanding contribution to rural medicine nationally. Tell us how their achievements and hard work have impacted rural Canada for the Rural Leadership Award.

  
  

• Do you know a Rural Specialist who lives & works in rural Canada? Tell us about their commitment to serving their community, how they care for rural patients & support rural generalists. Rural Specialist Merit Award

  
  

• Do you know a rural physician who has significantly impacted their community through clinical services, teaching, research, volunteer work, or other community involvement? Nomination them for the Rural Community Impact Award.

  
  

• Nominate an allied healthcare professional (non-MD) for the Rural Health Champion Award. Tell us who has significantly impacted rural health care at a community, provincial or national level.

  
  

All the details and criteria are online at www.srpc.ca/awards

• Guidelines on how to nominate:
• Nominees must be active members of the SRPC.
• Format: Microsoft Word (max 250 words) A brief description of how the individual meets the criteria outlined on the www.srpc.ca/awards page.
• Send your nomination email to nominations@srpc.ca
• Your nomination must be received by January 31st.

Are you interested in applying to rural family medicine? Look no further! Check out the annual Rural Residency Catalogue for 2023 created by the Society of Rural Physicians Student Committee, which compiles information on rural sites all across Canada.

We have included a google map so you can see where each program is located, check out the links on page 2 of the catalogue. Also find testimonials and FAQ from real residents attending many of these programs. Best of luck with CaRMS!

Our student members have worked hard to keep this document as up to date as possible by contacting CaRMs and every program coordinator, but can sometimes miss new sites as they are created. A survey is linked on page 2 for any feedback you may have! 

While this has been developed with input from the residency programs, it is not designed in any way to replace the information that is available via CaRMS. If there is a contradiction between information presented in the catalogue and that presented elsewhere, then the information from CaRMS or directly from the school should be taken as correct.

https://srpc.ca/rural-residency-catalogue

A system in crisis. We are all feeling the heavy burden of increased workloads, lack of nursing and physician staff to provide clinical care, and higher volumes of patients seeking care in emergency departments. The relief we all hoped to feel, as case numbers, hospitalisations and deaths from COVID-19 decreased, has eluded us. We feel the moral injury of the late presentations and preventable illnesses, knowing that, despite our best efforts to provide care in this crumbling system, we have not been able to live up to the standards of our training.

It is an incredibly challenging time to work in healthcare, and the pressures felt in urban areas are only amplified for those of us working in the rural communities. In many regions, rural teams have had to face the difficult decision to close or limit services. While we all understand the importance of setting boundaries and a need to have some time off to be able to sustain work long term, it is harder to put into action. There is always a sense of guilt in seeing your patients at the grocery store, your child's sports practice, while spending time exercising or out to dinner with friends, knowing the emergency room is closed for the night. However, we are not the ones to blame for this.

All too often physician wellness initiatives have focused on having physicians come to terms with setting boundaries and augmenting their self-care or mindfulness strategies. However, these actions are far from sufficient to sustain our rural healthcare systems. We must demand more from our mayors, MPPs/MLAs and Federal government; rural Canada deserves better. We must also engage our patients in conversations around appropriate use of system resources, preventative care, injury prevention and ongoing strategies to reduce the transmission of illness. As part of our efforts to engage patients and governments in these critical conversations, the SRPC has launched an initiative regarding Emergency Department closures: https://srpc.ca/HHR_resource.

We know there is a crisis, but does everyone else? It's time we ensure they do, as this is not our burden to carry alone.

Lesperance S. President's Message – Rural emergency room closures. Can J Rural Med [serial online] 2023 [cited 2023 Jan 26];28:5. Available from: https://www.cjrm.ca/text.asp?2023/28/1/5/366271

Shawville – Jan. 23, 2023 – The Society of Rural Physicians of Canada (SRPC) welcomes the Government of Ontario’s announcement regarding physician mobility. The SRPC has been advocating for national licensure as a critical element that will reduce barriers and improve access to healthcare in Canada.

Canada’s healthcare system is in crisis and the mobility of healthcare professionals across jurisdictions must be addressed. We are encouraged by this news from Ontario and recent announcements by the Atlantic provinces regarding a move towards a regional licensure process. However, changes need to be implemented to recognize the credentials of healthcare workers registered in all provinces and territories.

The SRPC believes that national licensure would promote and support access to care for patients and coverage for providers in rural and remote regions, where care often relies on providers and systems that span provincial and territorial borders. We urge the federal and provincial governments to further their actions to enable a national approach to licensure.

Canadians need access to healthcare practitioners and a national licensure would allow health care professionals to work anywhere in Canada.

We are updating our website over the next few days, and although we don't expect any outages, there may be temporary disruptions.

Our New Menu

• Home
• Rural Healthcare
• Resources
• Events
• Residents/Students
• About Us
• Membership

Have a look around and be sure to sign in to your profile to keep us up to date.

Need help - please get in touch with Jenna by email. 

Join us in person at the Rimrock Hotel in Banff, AB.

• Wednesday January 18 - 17:00 - 21:00
• Thursday January  19 - 07:45 - 21:00
• Friday January 20 - (Optional) - 08:00 - 10:00

Poster PDF

Register Here

This Group Learning program has been certified for up to 21 Mainpro+® credits. 

Surgical Skills Workshops

• The Dreaded C Hyst
• Sphincter Injuries (the OASIS program)
• New Approach to Postpartum Hemorrhage
• Tips to “Rescue” the C/S Gone Sideways
• Obstetrical Ultrasound Skills
• Vacuum Mid Pelvis Rotations
• Surgical First Response to Trauma

Bring Your OR Nurse

Rural OR nurses are invited to fully participate in this program.

With the support of our sponsors RhPAP, RCCbc, and Manitoba Health Care Providers Network, the SRPC is able to reduce registration to $50 for all OR nurses and to offer a $500 bursary for a limited number of OR nurses who register.

Join us in Niagara Falls for the 30th Annual Rural and Remote Medicine Course

Date: April 20-22, 2023
Location: Niagara Falls, ON
Event Details page: RR2023

The Society of Rural Physicians of Canada is recruiting members for the following positions on Council. Terms start in April 2023.

SRPC EXECUTIVE MEMBERS

• President-Elect - (4 year term)

PROVINCIAL AND TERRITORIAL REPRESENTATIVES

• Northwest Territories

• Nova Scotia

• Nunavut

• Prince Edward Island

• Quebec

STANDING COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES

• Anesthesia

• Emergency

• Indigenous Health
  

Provincial and territorial and standing committee roles have a term of 3 years, eligible for renewal once. SRPC Executive positions are a 2-year term, eligible for renewal once. The SRPC President term is a total of 4 year term.

The main role of these representatives is to act as a liaison between SRPC members and SRPC Council. Representatives will be the primary contact person to connect with regarding current issues.

Please submit an expression of interest in Microsoft Word (max 250 words) to SRPC head office, signed by one SRPC member in good standing. Please include your curriculum vitae. The eligible candidate must be an active physician member of the SRPC. Previous Committee and / or Council experience should be listed and is desirable.

For further information on the roles and responsibilities of these positions, please contact Jenna Keindel.

All nominations must be received no later than Saturday, December 31st, 2022.

The Nominations & Awards Committee will review the submissions and choose an appropriate candidate.

All across Canada, doctors, nurses, paramedics and other healthcare providers are working hard to keep hospitals, and emergency departments open.  This summer, many emergency departments in small hospitals have had to close. You should be able to access care when and where you need it, especially in an emergency.

• Visit the SRPC's Health Human Resources (HHR) Resource page
• Click here to download a template letter to personalize and send to your local and provincial leaders. 

Summer is over, but many rural communities saw an influx of travellers over the summer months, multiplying the size of the population and increasing demands on local resources. Despite the extra demands and critical staffing shortages faced, I hope you had the opportunity to see friends and family, or simply enjoy some time off. Perhaps, this included connecting with nature, and the beauty of our rivers, forests, beaches, tundra and other vast and varied Canadian terrain.

As we enjoy the beauty surrounding us, we also see many reminders of the climate-related changes affecting our communities. Devastating forest fires and heat waves experienced in 2021 were a stark reminder of the need for community preparedness, particularly in rural areas. Beyond the health human resource crisis facing our healthcare system, climate change and its impacts will be one of the most significant challenges to healthcare faced by rural and remote Canada in the coming years. The SRPC recognises the importance of this issue and is committed to providing leadership and evidence to drive the climate adaptation. At the Rural and Remote Conference in Ottawa, on Earth Day (22 April 2022), a motion was endorsed unanimously at the SRPC's Annual General Meeting asking the federal government to redirect fuel subsidies to support climate crisis adaptation.

When faced with the devastating effects of climate change, we have the capacity to leverage our strong connections with our communities, seeking methods to adapt, mitigate consequences and protect the most vulnerable citizens from health-related effects. Community strength and resilience lead to many potential solutions, whether through team-based care, sustainable growth and development, indigenous community partnerships, youth engagement or technology. We have the opportunity to gather data and share our knowledge and experience with a broader audience, and the SRPC is actively engaged in supporting this work.^[2]

While we gather data, build community partnerships, and speak nationally on the issue, the SRPC must also consider how else we mitigate impacts of climate change. After over 2 years with limited in-person opportunities, we recognise the value of personal connections for our members, but we must also consider effective ways in which to transform our work. We must learn from our experiences in COVID, perhaps looking at virtual options for some meetings, conferences or other events. In doing so, we play an important role in ensuring our summers continue to be ones where we can reconnect with the beauty of the great outdoors.

Lesperance S. President's message. Can J Rural Med [serial online] 2022 [cited 2022 Dec 18];27:133. Available from: https://www.cjrm.ca/text.asp?2022/27/4/133/357856