Hello SCOMEdians and IFMSAsians,
For those of you I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet, I’m Scott Hodgson, the current RA for SCOME in the Americas. Today I have been given the honor of writing on this blog, in order to tell you about the adventure known as the Canadian Conference on Medical Education, or the CCME.
The CCME, arguably one of the largest medical education conferences in the world (personally, I would say it ties with the AMEE conference in scope and credibility, although falls behind in international cooperation), is the annual event in Canada that brings together our medical faculties, our medical organizations, and many other professionals involved in medical education. Of note, the conference registration is also completely free for medical students.
This year, the conference was held in Ottawa, our nation’s capital here in Canada. The venue for the conference switches every year, however. Next year, the beautiful city of Vancouver will play host.
(Caption for photo: The Harry Potter-esque City of Ottawa. If you come in the summer, then it becomes even more beautiful as the Rideau Canal is full and flowing)
This year’s theme for the CCME was ‘Transforming Healthcare through Excellence in Assessment and Evaluation’. With that lofty theme in mind, a huge amount of workshops, forums, and presentations were offered by many of the leading experts In the field as well as huge medical education stakeholder organizations.
The CCME represents a coming-together of faculty, doctors, and professionals, all with the goal to discuss how to improve medical education. As medical students, conferences like this are vital to ensure the continuing improvement of our education. In addition, the conferences focus on involving medical students within the discussion by waiving all registration fees for them speaks to their spirit of cooperation and involvement. The Canadian Federation of Medical Students even hosts our Spring General Meeting in the days leading up to the CCME, with many students staying after for the conference.
I hope that this blog post has served to introduce the CCME to the IFMSA. If you have any interest in making the trip, presenting a poster, giving a presentation, or just seeing what the CCME is all about, give the organizers an email and I’m sure that they’d be happy to have you.
And, on an entirely different note, did I mention that they have free ice cream?
Scott Hodgson
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