Society of Rural Physicians of Canada
Société de la médecine rurale du Canada
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Society of Rural Physicians of Canada |
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Société de la médecine rurale du Canada |
· Improve your working conditions
· Make your voice stronger on provincial and national organizations
· Give discounts on annual and regional medicine conferences
· Locum service
· The Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine
· RuralMed Internet discussion group
· SRPC Web site
· Realistic guidelines that validate your practice
· All work done by rural docs like you
Membership: Membership is growing by leaps and bounds. All SRPC members are practising rural doctors, residents or students with an interest in rural medicine, or urban doctors with ties to rural medicine. Unlike most other medical organizations, we have strong links to the community, and also include GP's and specialists.
Structure: the SRPC has a tight and efficient structure of committees designed for quick and democratic action.
Communication: The SRPC has established the Canadian Journal of Rural Medicine (CJRM), which is peer reviewed for scientific and academic validity, but which also brings forward social, political and professional issues of rural doctors. It tries to be very practical. We have also established RuralMed, a very successful Internet discussion group. Our five regional committees and our standing committees meet and interact on a regional and national basis via teleconference, e-mail, and face to face meetings.
Standards and Guidelines: There is a great need to bring out standards of practice that are realistic for the type of medicine we do, and which validate our practice. The SRPC has authored the Rural Obstetrics Policy Statement and published it in conjunction with the CFPC and the SOGC. For the first time maternity care was officially validated for communities without cesarean capability. A paper on maximum time to be on call has also been published. (check out the Library for copies) Additional statements to do with training and accreditation for learning advanced rural skills ( C-section, surgery, anaesthesia, etc.) have been developed. The SRPC plans to look at the whole spectrum of rural medicine, from training to clinical practice to working conditions.
Links with Medical Associations: The SRPC has developed as a strong voice in the CMA, and is the sole representative for rural medicine in that Association. As such, we are making inroads to the Provincial Divisions. The CMA Affiliate's Committee passed a resolution that the Board of the CMA should see that each Provincial Division have a strong and independent rural section. As the rural medicine movement grows, the SRPC will be able to exert considerable influence on each provincial division, not just for fair representation of rural doctors, but also in such matters as fee negotiations, on call remuneration, physician resources, and working conditions.
The SRPC has begun making strong links with other medical bodies as well. The links with the CFPC are well established., and we are participating on the rural curriculum working group with links with The Canadian Anesthesiologists Society, The Canadian Associations of General Surgeons, and many other specialist societies. We have the respect, interest, and co-operation of the Federation of Medical Licensing Authorities of Canada, the Association of Colleges of Medicine Of Canada, and such committees as the National Committee of Post-graduate Training. Most of the organizations look to the SRPC as the national voice of rural medicine.
Links to Governments: The Federal government asked the SRPC to brief them on rural health care, and as a direct result , announced the creation of a senior executiveposition for national rural health. We believe there is much the federal government can do for rural medicine without infringing on provincial jurisdictions, and we will pursue this avenue vigorously. Our regional committees will be able to influence provincial health ministries in the same way. The SRPC is being listened to in many health ministries,. The Health Minister for Newfoundland, for example, addressed our meeting in St' John's in 1998, and was also on a panel. As the SRPC participates as a national primary care organization in many government National Forums (recently on Home care, and on Info-Technology), we can influence provincial health ministry bureaucrats.
Education: The SRPC is the only national deliverer of high quality, consistent rural CME tailored by rural doctors for rural doctors. Our annual national conference on Rural and Remote medicine is our premiere event. SRPC members get a significant discount on this chance for realistic CME and meet fellow rural docs from all over Canada. We are also have a CME/Locum project going, where workshops developed by and given by rural docs will be offered in your community. The teachers then will stay and do locums. We plan some satellite broadcasts, but more importantly, want to develop regional CME events.
Support: Many of us have gone through similar problems, usually to do with working conditions. The SRPC has supported many rural doctors in their struggles with these problems. The Scott Report, for example, came as a direct result of Emergency Room work actions by rural doctors in Ontario. The SRPC considers support , for individual physicians or groups, a key role of the society. We are firstly an organization of field workers.
Community Links: The Canadian Federation of Agriculture works with us in lobbying and community support. The SRPC is a member of The Canadian Rural Re-structuring Foundation. We want to increase these community links, and create lobbying and teaching modules so individual rural docs can link better with the community, without having to re-invent the wheel each time. We have a CREDO manual to help communities make themselves more attractive for prospective doctors.
Cheap insurance and rent-a-car deals: There are none, and we ran out of tee shirts. There is a CME event in the Caribbean this winter, however . . .
If you have any questions please contact:
Mr. Lee Teperman
SRPC Administrative Officer
R.R. #5 Shawville
QC J0X 2Y0
Phone: 1-877-276-1949
Fax 819 647 2485
E-mail admin@srpc.ca
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