Rural Mentorship Program for Post-Secondary Students
The Rural Mentorship Program connects first and second-year medical students at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary with Alberta rural physicians (preceptors), providing these students with the opportunity to observe and learn skills and to practise simple medical procedures in a rural setting. The Universities and RhPAP work together to organize the experiences and provide liability coverage and funding.
Each Rural Mentorship Experience offers a student the opportunity to observe a physician, often one-on-one for six hours during an emergency shift in a rural hospital. The opportunities are intended to expose students to what rural medicine has to offer before they have to make decisions about clerkship and residency.
All first and second-year medical students (i.e., those in their pre-clinical years) are eligible to participate. Hands-on contact is only permitted when the student is under the direct guidance of the preceptor. Students can confirm the specific functional limitations of this experience with their UGME Office in advance.
RhPAP Support for Student-arranged Rural Mentorship Experiences
In addition, to the shifts the RhPAP facilitates, RhPAP will also support eligible rural mentorship experiences arranged by students. Support includes covering a portion of a student’s travel expenses (up to $100) and providing an honorarium for the preceptor.
To be considered for support, student-arranged rural mentorship experiences must meet the following eligibility criteria:
1. The student is in their first or second year of medical school and is registered for the Rural Mentorship Program (application can be found through the link above).
2. The student must submit their mentorship experience (date, location, preceptor, preceptor’s email, duration) to the program and have it approved in advance.
3. The preceptor must be a family physician and the experience must meet the following criteria:
*Take place in a community with fewer than 15,000 people outside the census metropolitan areas of Edmonton and/or Calgary.
*Be a minimum of six hours in duration.
*Not be part of any academic requirements or organized/ supported through another program.
4. Students can only claim for one experience per month.
5. RhPAP must also have space in the budget to support these opportunities throughout the year, so depending on demand, support is not guaranteed.