Christopher Beresh and Tanner Dusyk partaking in year-long clerkship program in Melfort hospital and clinic. (submitted photo/Christopher Beresh)

By Angie Rolheiser

Medical students in Melfort

Year-long clerkship program welcomes two medical students to Melfort

Nov 25, 2020 | 2:15 PM

A new to Melfort program has two students from the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine spending their third-year clerkship shadowing local physicians.

The Saskatchewan longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (SLIC) program is in its first year in Melfort and is also offered in Estevan and Meadow Lake.

Tanner Dusyk whose primary preceptor is Dr. Mike Stoll, said there are many benefits to staying in one rural centre for his clerkship.

“You can carry out cases and have some continuative care with patients and I find that quite rewarding,” Dusyk said.

Dusyk grew up southeast of Regina in Montmartre and can see himself practicing medicine in a rural centre rather than urban.

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“In rural medicine, physicians might be in the emergency department one day dealing with something very acute and then they might be in the clinic or delivering babies,” Dusyk said. “The scope of practice is so wide and something you wouldn’t see in urban centres and my time here has really reinforced my interest in it.”

Dusyk has been in the Melfort hospital since August along with classmate Christopher Beresh.

Beresh is originally from Clavet and reiterated the benefits of the program.

“By then end of the year, you don’t have as much as a block format but you just kind of do a little bit of everything every day,” Beresh said. “I am quite enjoying myself in the hospital and with the staff and the community has been very welcoming for us.”

The all-encompassing approach to healthcare is appealing especially to students who are undecided on what areas they will pursue in the future according to Beresh.

When applying for SLIC, Beresh knew he wanted the opportunity to be in the Melfort facilities.

“I had heard that Melfort had a strong group of physicians and I knew the hospital was very self-sustaining and that I would get opportunities in many different areas of medicine,” Beresh said.

He touted his primary preceptor Dr. Geoff Zerr who has been a family physician in Melfort for two years, along with the other physicians he has been able to work alongside.

Bringing the program into the community of Melfort was the work of Dr. Stoll and Dr. Zerr. after hearing of the great feedback of it being in Estevan and Meadow Lake for a year.

“On the whole, it seemed like a win-win situation,” Zerr said. “We can share our rural practices and get students involved in that early so we can recruit more physicians long term.”

The two students are also able to get out and spend time with counsellors, physiotherapists and dieticians in the area, in addition to the time in clinic and the hospital.

“They are getting a full exposure to not only the clinic but the hospital and community,” Zerr said. “With spending more time than just a month with them we can really tailor the program to each student and fill in those knowledge gaps and customize it.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing more disruptions in the larger centres, Zerr said Beresh and Dusyk are miles ahead of their classmates that have been on rotations in facilities in Saskatoon or Regina.

On a typical year, Melfort physicians take on four or five students at any given time through the year. With Beresh and Dusyk in Melfort for their full third-year, they can take on six to seven students at any given time.

“It is becoming a very well recognized centre for teaching, for academics and a really good model to try to copy elsewhere in the province for students,” Zerr said.

The hope is to continue the program in the long term depending on feedback from the community, students and the College of Medicine.

“We’d like to see more recruits not only in Melfort but also Tisdale and Nipawin,” Zerr said. “I think it would be a nice thing for the entire region.”

Both Dusyk and Beresh’s placement in Melfort will go until the end of June.

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angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser