A Mini Integration Weekend in Regina
Being a University of Saskatchewan medical student in Regina has always felt like being in on a best kept secret.
By Eman Abdulhadi and Sarah Moroziuk
One of the ways the Saskatchewan Medical Student Society (SMSS) shares that is through the annual Integration Weekend. It provides a great opportunity for hands on learning, familiarizing yourself with the campus, and a chance to build relationships with the upper year students based in Regina.
This event is hosted each fall by the VP Regina and the Regina Social Representative for the first-year class.
However, this past year with the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the events we have come to know and love as part of the SMSS calendar were cancelled or postponed with Integration Weekend being one of them.
Given this event is such a staple for the Regina site, we worked closely with the College of Medicine to find creative ways to host a virtual event in the spring. While this event allowed us to teach skills and recreate a community atmosphere, it still was not quite the same.
So a group of students on the executive team set their sights towards summer and created the Social Bonding Committee. Among many other great events, we knew Integration Weekend, Regina’s flagship event of the year, had to make a summertime appearance. And the idea of Mini Integration Weekend was born.
On July 17, Regina had the pleasure of hosting 50 students from the class of 2024 at the Regina General Hospital for a variety of skills including IV insertions, intubations, suturing, pelvic exams, and a tour of the hospital hosted by the Office of Student Affairs (OSA). Students rotated from one station to the next and had an opportunity to practice hands on skills that were so badly missed over this past year.
Following a busy morning of skills, we relocated to one of Regina’s beautiful parks for a lunch by a local restaurant. The afternoon was spent lawn bowling and enjoying the summer weather. An evening social rounded off the event and allowed students from all years to meet each other.
While the event was a shortened version of the traditional weekend, it was rewarding to show off the wonderful Regina site and why it is a great place to study medicine. Additionally, this let students of all years to reconnect and build relationships which we all know is vital on this crazy journey called medicine.
We look forward to the continued tradition of planning a full Integration Weekend and highlighting all the wonderful things that Regina has to offer!
Eman Abdulhadi and Sarah Moroziuk are third-year medical students at the College of Medicine.