What is medicine? Recruiting high-school students into family medicine.

PROBLEM ADDRESSED: Family medicine is a vital part of health care in Canada. The decline in numbers of new family physicians being trained bodes ill for a sustainable and efficacious health care system. We need to recruit young people more effectively into careers in primary care. Early outreach to high-school students is one approach that holds promise. OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM: To provide high-school students with exposure to and appreciation for careers in medicine, particularly family medicine. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Family medicine residents in the University of Alberta's Rural Alberta North Program initiated an outreach project that was implemented in rural and regional high schools in northern Alberta. The program consisted of visits to high schools by residents who gave interactive presentations introducing medicine as a career. The regional hospital subsequently hosted a career day involving medical and paramedical professionals, such as physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and physical and occupational therapists.
CONCLUSION: Physicians' visits to high-school students could be an effective way to increase interest in careers in rural family medicine.