ESTEVAN — For the fifth straight year, a third-year student from the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine is spending a year in Estevan through the longitudinal integrated clerkship (LIC) program.
Dalton Males started in Estevan at the beginning of August. As an LIC student, he will get a variety of experiences at St. Joseph’s Hospital and with the different physicians in the community.
“It’s better than I expected, but also I expected it to be great,” said Males. “I’ve had a great first few weeks. I’ve got a lot of experiences already, but there’s lots of things I haven’t seen and I’m excited for those, too.”
Depending on what day it is and where he’s scheduled to be, he could be at the emergency room, the operating room, could be in the Primacy Medical Centre located in the Clifton’s No Frills building, or he could be learning about any one of the other services offered locally.
“I have a lot of different interests,” said Males. “I really enjoyed spending a day with the radiologist when he came to visit, but I’ve also had some great experiences in anesthesia and it’s just exciting that you never know what you’ll see any day, whether it’s in clinic here or in emergency. It’s just every day is something new and there’s so much to learn, but it never gets boring.”
Males decided to apply for the LIC program because he thought it would be a great learning opportunity with all of the one-on-one instruction and the ability to follow patients over time. It’s something his classmates wouldn’t get to do in the bigger cities.
“They work with different people every day and different tutors every day, but also they don’t really see the same patients repeatedly, so they don’t get to form that relationship with patients that we do here or in the other smaller sites,” said Males.
The LIC program also provides hands-on experience, as he gets to try things and develop skills that his peers might not have.
“In those centres, there are residents, there are new doctors and just lots of people who are trying to learn and train, and it can be harder to get that hands-on experience,” said Males.
Before going to medical school, Males obtained a bachelor of science in biochemistry from the University of Saskatchewan. Then he took a couple of years off to travel through Europe and he lived in Budapest. He returned to Canada for medical school.
The College of Medicine has kept him busy but it’s still enjoyable.
“The first two years of med school are a lot different from the third and fourth, and there’s a lot more lecturing in those first couple of years, and a lot less patient contact. Like most med students, I’m excited to finally be leaving lectures behind a little bit and spending more time talking to patients and learning that way in the hospital.”
He has been able to take in some of what Estevan has to offer, but Males has also been busy with his studies. He might leave the hospital at 5 p.m., but then he has a lot of work to do in the evenings and weekends.
“There are a lot of events and activities that I try to check out, but there are a lot of things like the leisure centre that I haven’t really got to explore. I think the leisure centre looks great specifically, and I can’t wait to explore that a little more during my time here,” he said.
Males is from Saskatoon originally. He had never been to Estevan before he applied to be part of the LIC program, but he said he’s really happy with the community and the city.
