You may have been in the Port McNeill medical clinic, hospital or pharmacy recently and noticed a few new faces shadowing the regular healthcare professionals. Port Hardy, Alert Bay, Sointula and other places on the North Island have also seen these new faces. So just who are they and why are they following around the healthcare professionals of our area?

These new people are students that are part of a province wide program called the Interprofessional Rural Program of BC – or IRPbc for short. Port McNeill is again participating in the program this year drawing together students from six health disciplines – nursing, medicine, physiotherapy, social work, midwifery, and pharmacy. This interprofessional team serves as the framework for the program.

Read the rest of this entry »