{"id":145545,"date":"2025-09-15T11:51:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145545\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T11:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:51:09","slug":"mun-pediatrics-program-was-at-stake-in-2019-doctors-say-it-could-happen-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/145545\/","title":{"rendered":"MUN pediatrics program was at stake in 2019. Doctors say it could happen again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"brickThe Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons warned Memorial University’s pediatric residency program that it would withdraw its accreditation in 2019 after an external review of the program. (Emma Grunwald\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Memorial University’s medical school almost lost its pediatric residency program in 2019 \u2014 and according to a report, pediatricians are warning that it could happen again if the women’s health unit is moved to the Janeway children’s hospital’s fourth floor.<\/p>\n

According to a report, which was tabled by the NDP in the House of Assembly in April and obtained by CBC News, the Royal College of\u00a0Physicians and Surgeons placed MUN’s pediatric residency program on intent to withdraw accreditation in early April 2019.<\/p>\n

The college is the national organization that awards accreditation for specialty medical programs in Canada.<\/p>\n

MUN’s pediatric residency program faced several challenges in 2019, which are\u00a0outlined in the Royal College’s 20-page accreditation review report, which was heavily redacted \u2014 but in a 2025 report written by some of Janeway’s current pediatricians, a lack of physical infrastructure was a major issue for the program.<\/p>\n

The 2025 report, titled Preserve, Protect, Prioritize, said the intent to withdraw status was a “serious accreditation warning that cited, among other concerns, a lack of adequate physical resources to support pediatric residents.”<\/p>\n

The report said\u00a0investments were made to ensure access to essential learning environments, designated call rooms, simulation spaces and clinical teaching areas.<\/p>\n

“Over the past six years, through focused advocacy and collaboration with Memorial University and Janeway leadership, these deficiencies were systematically addressed,” the report said.<\/p>\n

Full accreditation status restored<\/p>\n

According to an access-to-information request filed by CBC News,\u00a0the Royal College conducted two more external reviews after 2019, with one taking place in 2022 and the second in 2024.<\/p>\n

MUN’s faculty of medicine spokesperson Kelly Foss told CBC its pediatric residency program received full accreditation from the Royal College in its fall 2024 review.<\/p>\n

Full accreditation means the program’s next review will take place in 2032.<\/p>\n

\"BlackJaneway pediatricians outlined their concerns about moving gynecological services to the children’s hospital in their 30-page report titled Preserve, Protect, Prioritize. (Olivia Garrett\/CBC)<\/p>\n

In the province’s 2025-26 budget, $3 million is allocated for the redevelopment of the Janeway and to relocate women’s health services from the Health Sciences Centre to the Janeway to create additional inpatient bed capacity at the Health Sciences Centre.<\/p>\n

In April, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NLHS) CEO Pat Parfrey told reporters there isn’t a timeline for moving obstetrics and gynecology to the Janeway’s fourth floor \u2014 and sources tell CBC that it hasn’t moved yet.<\/p>\n

If the move happens, Janeway pediatricians worry it could jeopardize the program’s future in its next review.<\/p>\n

Fourth floor holds education infrastructure<\/p>\n

Pediatricians say Janeway’s fourth floor is home to critical education and clinical areas.<\/p>\n

“The program is now in good standing, and its survival has been a critical component in sustaining the accreditation of the medical school itself,” the pediatrician-written report said, adding NLHS must consult MUN’s Faculty of Medicine.<\/p>\n

“There is growing unease that NLHS is not fulfilling its responsibility to maintain the infrastructure required for training within a teaching hospital,” the report said.<\/p>\n

The program must also meet the training requirements of the Royal College, which include a number of mandatory facilities and services, including on-call rooms, workspaces, Internet and patient records for residents to conduct their work.<\/p>\n

\"AThe province allocated $3 million to relocate women\u2019s health services from the Health Sciences Centre to the Janeway in the 2025 budget. (Paul Daly\/CBC)<\/p>\n

In a statement to CBC News, the Royal College said its standards of accreditation for residency programs in pediatrics “aim to prepare residents to meet the health care needs of their patients during and after their training.”<\/p>\n

Janeway pediatricians warn that any changes that could hinder these standards between now and 2032 shouldn’t be made lightly.<\/p>\n

“Any erosion of the pediatric identity of the Janeway places our training programs, workforce pipeline, and provincial child health systems at risk,” the report said.<\/p>\n

Download our\u00a0free CBC News app<\/a>\u00a0to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our\u00a0daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click\u00a0here to visit our landing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons warned Memorial University’s pediatric residency program that it would withdraw its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-145545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}