The Rural Interest Group (RIG) program is being held at the Portage Clinic Saturday, April 6. Portage Clinic Family doctor and Site Education Director Mike Omichinski says it's an opportunity for 1st and 2nd-year medical trainees to come out to different communities to get to see what family physicians do here.

"We give them an opportunity to get some hands-on experiences by learning different skills taught by family physicians," explains Omichinski. "We'll give them an opportunity to get some hands-on suturing skills. Some of them won't even have seen what suture materials are like at this stage of their training. We do a lot of hands-on ultrasound in the emergency room. They'll get an opportunity for that. Some basic skills in some women's health, include pelvic exams. We'll get them to go on a treadmill to do a stress test under Doctor Tan and also what they'll get an exposure to the SIM machine, which is a simulated training program that we have at the hospital that we use to teach our medical residents that are here; our family physician residents."

He says many don't know what goes on outside the perimeter of Winnipeg, with several trainees in medical school coming from urban centres.

"So, they don't really know what happens," he continues. "This is an opportunity early in their training to see the breadth of what a family doctor does, which is very different from what occurs inside Winnipeg. It opens up a lot of opportunity for us to have a positive impact where family medicine, and for that matter, rural family medicine is something that might be what these students want to do for their future." 

RIG has been held about six times over the last ten years, and a pause occurred during COVID. 

"We've had people who've taken part in RIG. They come back here as trainees during their third year and what we call a clerkship, and then they may come back and do residency. I think probably a few went back and talked to many of our current trainees who've stayed here. They've actually had exposure through RIG somewhere. I would simply say, yeah, it's been great." 

OmichinskiMike Omichinski

Omichinski explains he much prefers the difference between being a family doctor in a more rural setting than a city like Winnipeg.

"It's much more rewarding. Instead of just a cog in the wheel, you're actually in the centre part and you're helping to drive the care for an entire community in a rural area. In city practices, you might be marginalized or put to the side. I think that the return on the effort is quite gratifying from my standpoint, personally." 

He adds they're looking forward to socializing with the trainees, treat them to lunch and I have the opportunity to outline what their residency training program is like, and what they could expect in residency. 

"It gives them an opportunity to think about family medicine early in their career."