Dr. Jane Philpott, dean, Health Sciences at Queen’s University, shared her insights with faculty, students and members of the public on the future of health care at the university’s inaugural Chancellor Speaker Series on April 4.

As part of her visit, she spent two days on and around campus, learning about health and nursing initiatives at MacEwan, and participating in a Thought Leader Panel and roundtable discussion. 

Dr. Philpott also learned about the community-engaged, practical work our social work and child and youth care students are involved in with Boyle Street Community Services. She experienced the virtual reality simulators in MacEwan’s Faculty of Nursing, and observed a student-led presentation about leadership in nursing. She also served as a panelist for an Innovation Challenge, where students were able to present their ideas in a Dragon’s Den-esque pitch process.

Dr. Philpott’s final event on campus was the Chancellor Speaker Series, where she served as the first-ever speaker. She spoke about the current dire state of Canadian health care, and suggested multiple ideas and initiatives to drive the industry forward into more innovative territory. Those changes, she says, begin in education.

“I am convinced that the post-secondary sector has not only the opportunity, but also the responsibility to drive innovation through health sciences education,” said Dr. Philpott.

She addressed the lack of available family doctors for Canadians, citing an Our Care survey that estimates that 6.5 million people nationwide are unable to find a family doctor. The Nurse Practitioner Association of Alberta estimates that one in four Albertans face the same problem.

In order to combat this shortage, Dr. Philpott explained, Queen’s University is tailoring their Family Medicine program to direct and streamline their residencies. Her advice to other universities?

“Design your program modifications based on community need, embed students from the start in the communities where they're needed after graduation and encourage those communities to recognize that they actually can help to convince those students to stay,” she suggested.

Some of the more remote communities not only lack health care providers, but also struggle to have local individuals pursue health-care education because, in part, of the expenses of having to leave their communities to get the education they need. Through a MasterCard Foundation grant, Queen’s University is launching Indigenous-informed programming in the James Bay coastal area of Ontario that allows students to take a variety of medical programs while remaining in their communities and homes.

Improving access to health-care education isn't the only issue, said Dr. Philpott. The education itself must be interdisciplinary. She notes that interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial for understanding the broader scope of the field prior to graduation. 

“Why do we train people as individuals, and then expect them to go out and work in teams?” she asked. “We hope that somehow they'll graduate and understand each other and understand how to work in teams and know what each other does.”

She notes that having students from different health-care programs take courses together and collaborate on projects and placements will help shape a broader understanding of what the various members of the field need – and how to work together to solve issues.

“My hope is that, as we do this work together and show how creative and agile we can be, the post-secondary sector will increasingly be seen as not simply the place where the health workforce is trained, but also the place that can provide the best answers for society's most pressing health needs.”

Click on a photo below to see more images from Dr. Philpott’s time in Edmonton and to read more.