April

The BCMA is excited to offer members complimentary insurance planning services from an experienced insurance advisor and certified financial planner, Julie Kwan, CFP, CLU, GBA. Julie will work under BCMA Agencies Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the BCMA, to provide members and their families with in­surance reviews, product recommendations, and assistance with underwriting and claims. 

The first recipient of the BCMA’s Dr David Bachop Gold Medal has once again been honored, this time by the University of Victoria. Dr Bob Young was celebrated at the university’s Distinguished Alumni Awards banquet in Victoria on 9 February for his accomplishments in the Division of Medical Sciences. 

Dr Young represented Victoria on the BCMA Board of Directors for 20 years, and the citation for the award extolled his role in the BCMA’s public relations program, particularly the successful seatbelt, bike helmet, and infant seat campaigns.

By Stephen J. McPhee, MD and Maxine A. Papa­dakis, MD. Whitby, ON: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2011. ISBN 978-0-07-170055-9. Paperback, 1808 pages. $88.95. 

First, a disclaimer. I did not actually read every page of this reference work. I doubt that anyone except the McGraw-Hill editorial staff actually has. But what I did do was read randomly selected sections, which is the way that this text will be used by virtually all those who access it.

The February edition of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry focuses on Aboriginal mental health in Canada. 

Dr Malcolm King, guest editor, writes “Mental health is, in some ways, the most important health issue for Aboriginal peoples in Canada, partly because it contributes both directly and indirectly to so much of the gap in health status, and perhaps even more importantly, because mental health issues are so neglected in our society, especially so for Abori­ginal peoples.”

Whenever I talk to doctors and professors about the method of teaching they received as students in medical school, they invariably answer that in the “old days,” their medical school curriculum was didactic and entirely lecture based, with no problem-based learning (PBL). How things have changed. 

Today the University of British Columbia Medical School includes PBL as a major part of the curriculum. In fact, by sequestering 6 hours per week in the schedule of a first- or second-year medical student, PBL usually takes up about as much time as lectures do.