Northern Routes

Our Physician Workforce Strategy: NOSM Solutions

There is a serious physician workforce crisis looming in Ontario. The physician shortage has been influenced by several important factors that predate COVID-19, but the consequences of the pandemic have exacerbated the situation significantly. Some of the reasons for the physician shortage include: Disruptions for graduating physicians going into independent practice (provisional licenses are in place but time out for delayed exams); Early retirement of some physicians because of COVID-19 or changes in their scope of practice due to workload challenges; Ongoing difficulty in recruitment and retention for rural, northern, Indig...

We’re revealing our new Strategic Plan: The NOSM Challenge 2025

SPECIAL EDITION Hello, Aanin, Boozhoo, Bonjour, Today marks another historic day at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM). I am very proud to share The NOSM Challenge 2025, the School’s third strategic plan. The theme reflects the need to challenge ourselves, our communities, our ideas, and our commitment to social accountability in order to drive change and improve access to quality health care in Northern Ontario. The five-year plan sets out the School’s goals, aspirations and outcomes by 2025. With an updated mission statement “to improve the health of Northern Ontarians by being socially accountable in its edu...

These days, leadership means dealing with volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity—also known as VUCA.

Extraordinary leadership is the key to building high-quality health care and medical schools. However, when it comes to developing a medical career, acquiring the skills of leadership is traditionally not valued as highly as the technical and academic competencies. At NOSM, we are focusing on helping our learners, faculty and staff to become great leaders. Organizations are demanding that physicians have a higher capability for leadership in order to face the challenges of modern health care. A report by the Institute of Medicine recommends that academic health centres “develop leaders at all levels who can manage the organization...