About the Program 

PREP is a two week intensive elective available to pre-clerkship medical students at Dalhousie who have completed their second year of study. The program allows students to rotate through various medical specialties, while also engaging in lunch-time seminars and hands on sessions in the skills lab and simulation lab. The program is the first of its kind in Canada. In the inaugural year, 74 students of a possible 110 applied to participate in PREP, underscoring the need for such a program.

The program consists of five core components, listed below and further explained in the program manual:

1. Half-day Electives: Half-day electives provide the students with an opportunity to gain one-on-one experience with a supervisor in each specialty. It creates an environment in which they can ask questions, observe and understand the day-to-day responsibilities and meet the patient populations.

2. Discussions: As part of PREP students have the opportunity to engage in panel discussions or listen to a career seminar every day at lunch. These sessions are designed to provide participants with an informal and safe platform to ask questions, engage in discussion and hear about various career options available to them.

3. Specialty-specific Workshops: As part of PREP students will have the opportunity to experience specialty specific workshops that are designed to provide a more unique exposure to the hosting specialty. These workshops are up to the involved specialty to design. Many of the workshops are focused on providing clear information on what their specialty entails, what the job market is like and what the work-life balance is like. In addition, students will be provided the opportunity to practice procedures commonly performed by the hosting specialty.

4. Skills circuits: Throughout the Pre-clerkship Residency Exploration Program, student participants will have the opportunity to engage in several different skills circuits. These sessions are designed to introduce students to some of the procedures performed in specialties highlighted in PREP. Through participation in these skill sessions students will better understand patient care while rotating through their half-day electives. These skills are designed to introduce students to these techniques, not to replace traditional training or make them a competent practitioner of the skill.

5. Simulations: The final component of PREP is simulation. The simulations in PREP are designed to offer the participants a safe environment to practice putting their knowledge to the test in team scenarios that the specialties highlighted in PREP are likely to deal with. These simulations also offer an engaging scenario where the participants can use the skills they have learned from the previous skills circuits. There are two simulations sessions during PREP, held on separate days of the program. These two sessions highlight many of the educational outcomes of the Dalhousie University MD Program.

The goal of PREP is to provide early exposure for second year medical students to many medical specialties with the goal of assisting students with career-minded decisions by showcasing the clinical and non-clinical lifestyle of the medical specialties.