Northern Medical Program
Northern Medical Program (NMP) is a joint medical program by the UBC Faculty of Medicine and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) for training of doctors in British Columbia, Canada.
The Northern Medical Program (NMP) is one of four geographically distributed medical programs of the UBC Faculty of Medicine, along with the Island Medical Program (IMP) at the University of Victoria (UVic), the Southern Medical Program (SMP) at UBC Okanagan (UBCO), and the Vancouver-Fraser Medical Program (VFMP) at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
History
The program was created to increase the number of doctors in northern British Columbia after 7,000 residents of Prince George packed the CN Centre Arena in June 2000 to protest the lack of access to physicians and health care.
In the summer of 2003, the ground was broken at UNBC for the Northern Health Science Centre, named after Dr. Donald Rix. In spring 2004, testing of technology and accreditation took place. The first cohort of 24 students began the program on August 30, 2004 and graduated in May 2008.
Program of study
The program consists of four years of studies. Year 1 and 2 consists of general sciences or foundations of medicine. All first year medical students (VFMP, IMP, NMP, SMP) attend their first term of studies at UBC in Vancouver. Year 3 and 4 consist of clinical practicum. Year 4 is an advanced clerkship and participation in the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMs) match allowing entrance to residency and specialist training, including family practice.
The program is based mainly at the Northern Health Sciences Centre in Prince George, British Columbia as well as at the University Hospital of Northern British Columbia (UHNBC); the Northern Health region; the Northern Health Sciences Centre; and the Island Medical Program - University of Victoria.