Participants at ICRE 2010 program urge medical community to adopt new resident training methods

Medical community urged to adopt new resident training methods

Presenters at an international medical conference in Ottawa today urged their colleagues from around the world to adopt fundamental changes to postgraduate medical education for residents that would ultimately improve outcomes for patients.

The presentations were part of the third annual International Conference on Residency Education (ICRE) in Ottawa today. More than 1,200 delegates from 26 countries are attending the three-day conference, organized by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. 

Under the theme of "Residency Education, Reimagined," participants are examining current postgraduate medical education programs and challenges, with a focus on emerging trends that could significantly change the way doctors are trained. 

"This is a call to action," says Dr. Salvatore Spadafora, vice dean, Postgraduate Medical Education, University of Toronto. "The world has changed and we must change with it. We seem to be drowning in a sea of data, and it's now time to act. Our ultimate goal is to see that patients are cared for by competent physicians. However, in implementing these changes, we have to be alert to a potential cascade of unintended consequences."

In her presentation, Dr. Nathalie Saad, a fifth-year respirology resident at McGill University says, "the status quo is no longer an option." She indicated the practice of medicine is evolving at a rapid pace and education of residents must keep up. Treating patients remains a priority, she says, and increasingly this must be balanced with education and resident wellbeing.

Driving the need for change is the fact that physicians are expected to master greater amounts of technical skill and knowledge and work as part of multidisciplinary teams. "We have to start thinking about medical education as a continuum," she adds. 

The Conference is also examining a wide range of other issues facing postgraduate medical education. These issues include continuing efforts to strike the right balance between patient safety and the hours worked by medical residents, which will be discussed tomorrow at a groundbreaking half-day symposium.