Rural Medical Education

Rural communities need excellent clinicians with a range of skills and competencies to meet the needs of the people who live there. How we educate those future rural clinicians and how we support the clinicians who do the teaching matters. That’s where MERLIN comes in!

Resources and Recent Publications

There is fantastic work being done in the area of rural medical education! Check out the links below to see new research and reports.

Status Report on Rural Medical Education Advancements in Canada: Rural Road Map for Action Analysis February 2022

Data Sharing in Canadian Medical Education Research: Consensus Recommendations and Principles for Governance

Preparing Our Future Physicians: A final report of the Outcomes of Training Project from the College of Family Physicians

Current Projects in Northern Ontario

Here at MERLIN we are hard at work on a number of projects about rural medical education, including the following projects:

• Early rural placements –  In this study, our goal is to identify the factors that contribute to a positive early rural placement for learners and preceptors (leads Drs. Erin Cameron, Frances Kilbertus, Brian Ross)
• Rural pedagogy study – The goal of this study is to determine the learning processes and outcomes that support students in preparing for a rural career (leads Drs. Brenton Button, Mirella Stroink, Hoi Cheu, Erin Cameron, Brian Ross)
• Clerkship Study – With this study, we are assessing the impact of a rural community becoming a clerkship site (leads Drs. Cheri Bethune, Erin Cameron)
• Feedback study – Our goal with this study is to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention on giving and receiving feedback for students and preceptors during CCC (leads Drs. James Goertzen, Clare Cook, Erin Cameron)
• Generalism study – In this study, we will be evaluating how generalist principles are being taught in pre-clerkship curriculum across Canada with an added focus on rural generalism (leads Drs. Erin Cameron, Tara Baldisera, Ed Hirvi)
• Physician transition to rural practice – The goal of this study is to understand the experiences of new physician graduates as they transition to rural practice in Ontario (leads Dr Sarah Newbery, Dr Kathleen Walsh, Dr Kerry Reed).

Feeling inspired? Contact us today to learn more about our projects, get involved, or share your project! We see this as a space for connecting people, places, and projects!

Who are we?

The rural medical education research group brings together people who are passionate about rural medical education and building capacity for rural medical education research. We are an eclectic group of researchers, medical practitioners, students, and more. Our goal is not only to conduct the research, but to share our findings and have a positive impact on the state of rural medical education in Northern Ontarioand beyond.

We are situated within MERLIN and the Dr. Gilles Arcand Centre for Health Equity at NOSM University.

We will also be embarking on the Rural Generalist Pathway, and we anticipate great, valuable information to come out of that work. For a glimpse at that, check out the Rural Generalist Pathway webpage, and stay tuned for more information.

Check back here often to stay up to date with our research projects or download our reports!