Northern Ontario School of Medicine

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine is a medical school in the Canadian province of Ontario, created through a partnership between Laurentian University in Sudbury and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay. Mandated both to educate doctors and to contribute to care in Northern Ontario's urban, rural and remote communities, the Northern Ontario School of Medicine has campuses in both Sudbury and Thunder Bay.The school is known for its small class size, its distributed model of education, heavy emphasis on enabling technologies, problem-based and self-directed learning, and early exposure to clinical skills. The school describes its campus as "Northern Ontario". This is evidenced by the close relationship between the school and various communities and First Nations throughout the region. All students complete a month-long placement in an Aboriginal or Métis community in May of their first year. In second year, they travel to smaller communities for two, month-long placements . The third year is clerkship and is spent living in one of the medium-sized communities for the entire year. The fourth year of studies is completed in Sudbury or Thunder Bay.HistoryBefore the creation of NOSM, Northern Ontario had for several years been designated as "underserviced", meaning that the region's ratio of medical professionals to the general population was not meeting the standards set by the Ministry of Health. As a result, a multifaceted plan was adopted by the province, including the creation of NOSM and the adoption of special recruitment strategies. A study of medical services in Ontario, released in August 2005, found that for the first time in many years, the region's level of medical services had improved over the previous year.