Today, hundreds of Ontario medical students are receiving the first iteration results of the 2019 R-1 Main Residency Match. OMSA would like to congratulate our colleagues who matched today. We also express our support to all students who were not matched to a residency training spot. These results do not define you. Information regarding next steps including the second iteration are available at carms.ca and through your school's Student Affairs Office.
This week, the Government of Ontario announced its intention to reduce tuition by 10 percent and reform the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). These decisions have many implications for medical students across the province.
First, OMSA welcomes the government’s intent to address the rise in post-secondary tuition. Advocating for reduced tuition has been a priority for OMSA over the past few years, and we appreciate the government’s efforts to reduce tuition costs.
OMSA regrets the Ontario Provincial government's intent to repeal the updated 2015 Ontario Health and Physical Education Curriculum and revert to the curriculum developed in 1998. The current curriculum is rooted in the promotion of respect and diversity, it teaches about differences in sexuality and gender identity, the importance of healthy and consensual relationships, and strategies to safely use social media. To return to the outdated curriculum does a great disservice to the students of Ontario.
Some of the current and former OMSA Education Committee members had submitted an abstract titled "Evaluation of Ontario medical students' preferences and engagement in formal mentorship programs" to the Canadian Conference on Medical Education (CCME) 2018, and it has been accepted for a poster presentation. They are presenting the results of an Ontario-wide medical student survey designed to examine student preferences and engagement in formal mentorship programs in Ontario medical schools.
From learning about the "tough, spidery and tender mothers" of the meninges, to the "gate-keeping properties" of the pylorus (pyle = gate; ourus = guardian), I have had great fun exploring medical etymologies this past year. Medicine is a veritable treasure trove of word origins; it is a discipline chock full of fascinating etymologies and hidden stories. Behind every pathology, process or treatment, it seems, there lies a tale of epic proportions just waiting to be told. Here is but one:
"In February of 2014, Facebook added 50+ self-identifying options for its English users, such as transgender, cisgender, gender fluid, intersex, and neither. Why acknowledge a person’s gender identity?"
Earlier this month, medical students from across Canada gathered in the nation’s capital to participate in the Canadian Federation of Medical Students' Lobby Day. As they do every year, many Ontario students travelled to Ottawa to spend the weekend discussing health care policy, learning from talented peer speakers as well as leading physician advocates. On Monday, they took to the Hill to engage Canada's leaders in a discussion of health human resources and accessible housing for all Canadians.
I think medical schools should be using a lottery to select their students for admission. Not a weighted lottery (i.e. better grades/MCAT scores give you a higher chance of being selected), but a pure, unadulterated, Lotto 6/49 type lottery. To get your ticket, all you need is to meet the academic requirements of the medical school you're applying to. This is not a popular view. I have been called an idiot – and worse – for believing this. But I'm not an idiot, let me tell you why.
Over the past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University for their annual "Book to Bedside" Internal Medicine symposium. Organized by McMaster medical students in their final year, this event provided a great combination of information about choosing Internal Medicine as a career, information about McMaster’s Internal Medicine residency programs, and hands-on, interactive workshops geared towards students in their last two years of medical school. As a third year medical student at Schulich