It still early days but Dr. David Snadden is pleased so far with the rate at which the Northern Medical Program (NMP) is attracting new physicians to northern B.C.
"I'm actually pretty positive about how things are going," said Snadden, University of Northern British Columbia's vice provost for medicine.
Of the 29 who graduated from the four-year program this year, six are moving on to two-year residencies with family practices in Prince George.
On the surface, that may not seem like a winning percentage but that doesn't tell the whole story, cautions Snadden.
"It's the final location of practice that's important, not so much the residency," Snadden said.
Many of the graduates go onto specialist residencies, which means moving to a major centre for a further five years of study. What's more, there are only so many residency spaces available in northern B.C. for those seeking a career in family practice.
That said, 18 of those from the most recent class are now in family practice residencies around the country, amounting to roughly 60 per cent, which Snadden said is much higher than the 30-per-cent average nationwide.
What's more 16 of them chose rural programs.
"To me, that's a great success," Snadden said.
In selecting students for the program, Snadden said preference is given to those who've grown up in northern B.C. "That's the biggest indicator they might settle [here]," Snadden said.
Seven of the 23 students from the first class in 2008 are now practicing in northern B.C.
"We've got a number actually in practice having done the Prince George [residency] program," Snadden said.
"And one's up in Fort St. John in practice there, one of our grads has taken on a contract in Mackenzie for a year and another one is coming back to Fraser Lake in the fall."
Most of the rest are continuing in specialist residencies but Snadden expects many of them will also return to rural communities.
"A lot of them are interested in specialty careers that will allow them to work in small towns because they are from small towns," Snadden said. "But they have to go away to a big centre because that's the way the training works."
It will take a few years yet before the effect of the NMP on northern B.C. communities is well understood in Snadden's opinion but he added the early results leave him optimistic.
