Med 2023 Class
Wednesday, April 21, 2021
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Thanks to the many, many people who registered ... and ALL who joined us for this very special event!
The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta is dedicated to providing learner-centred educational programs that meet the healthcare needs of our communities.
To promote the development of knowledgeable, compassionate, collaborative, reflective, and professional physicians, the MD Program has introduced a wide range of curriculum innovations, such as a longitudinal Physicianship course which provides medical students with multiple opportunities for learning about patients as people, as individuals with full lives and existential concerns.
The Patient Immersion Experience (PIE) matches entering first-year medical students with individuals living with chronic medical-related conditions (known as "Patient Mentors"). Over a two-year period, students gain insight into the experience of chronic illness, including challenges patients and their family members face on a daily basis. The interpretive Project, a required capstone component of PIE, offers a collaborative, inquiry-oriented approach to learning. This unique curricular thread offers an opportunity for our students to creatively explore new insights, leading to deeper understanding.
Since 2015 the MD Program has organized an annual Patient Appreciation Event featuring an exhibition of our second-year students' PIE Interpretive Projects, creative explorations that illustrate new insights, understanding, and questions they have. In 2020, with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, we hosted our 6th annual, and first-ever virtual opening reception of the PIE Interpretive Project exhibition via Zoom. The success.
Our virtual opening reception - hosted by our student curators Steph Dalmer (Med 2023) and Sarah Morin (Med 2024) - features a number of student presentations, interactive breakout groups, as well as a presentation by Michael Frost, who has been a patient mentor since YEAR.
We encourage you to take time to explore this website and enjoy the wonderful interpretive projects created by students in our Med 2023 class - a true celebration of collaboration, caring, and creativity!
We invite you to share reflections about the different interpretive projects you view via the Google Forms provided. Also enjoy the reflections shared by others in response to the many different interpretive projects exhibited on this website - which we believe offer a testament to a better future for healthcare through collaborative, appreciative, and aesthetic practices.
The MD Program is grateful to the many individuals living in the greater Edmonton community who make a unique and valuable contribution by volunteering to help our medical students become skilled, caring, and compassionate practitioners.
Send an email to UME20@ualberta.ca, to inquire about becoming a Patient Mentor.
The Patient Immersion Experience (PIE) component of the MD Program’s longitudinal Physicianship course matches medical students with individuals with chronic medical conditions to promote an understanding of the lived experience of illness. Over the span of two years, visiting every few months, medical students gain insight into what it is like to live with a chronic condition. This experience gives medical students an appreciation of the challenges patients and family members face on a daily basis and influence of social determinants of health on a patient’s illness experience.
We are deeply grateful to all the Patient Mentors who volunteered to share their experience of living with a chronic medical condition, and very glad for all our Med 2023 students learned over the past two years.
Educational opportunities such as the Patient Immersion Experience (PIE) and PIE Interpretive Project are always the result of the vision and commitment of a team. We are pleased to acknowledge Dr. Tracey Hillier, the first Indigenous Associate Dean of the MD Program (2015-2020), and Dr. Helly Goez, Assistant Dean, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusiveness, and Physicianship Course Director, MD Program, for their leadership in relation to socially accountable curriculum innovation. The Interpretive Project, a required capstone component of PIE was first introduced in 2014 and continues to evolve through the ongoing effort of faculty-lead Dr. Pamela Brett-MacLean, director of the Arts & Humanities in Health & Medicine (AHHM) program. We are also deeply appreciative of Dr. Sarah Burton-MacLeod, Physicianship Coordinator and Dr. Lillian Au, Physicianship Thread Lead, as well as MD Program administrators Melissa Coumont, Laurie Logan, and Lisa Bussiere for their many contributions which have continued to ensure the success of PIE and the PIE Interpretive Project over the years.
Our thanks to everyone who helped create this website:
We congratulate and thank all of the Med 2023 class for their wonderful creative projects and the many thoughtful insights they have shared with us on this website!
