the other press llews Section Editor: Eileen Velthuis e winner of Event magazine's bike raffle was announced last week, d the lucky winner got to take home a brand new Norco moun- ain bike. The winner, Peter Wong, is a Douglas College student who says e’s almost finished his Associate of Arts Degree. “I didn’t expect to win the bike...the reason I bought the raffle icket was because I really wanted to help out,” he said. The raffle tickets were sold during the Douglas College oundation’s fundraising week from February 24-28 in the New estminster campus concourse, and through the Douglas College oundation’s David Lam campus office. In the end, over 300 tickets ere sold and $675 raised, $325 going toward Event. According to Event Editor Cathy Stonehouse, the raffle was rganized after Marc Arellano, a former Douglas College ommunications instructor who currently works for Norco, offered new bike at cost. ANCOUVER (CUP)—The University of British Columbia (UBC) Faculty of Medicine undergrad students won't be putting live pigs under the knife this fall. A report commissioned by UBC Dean of Medicine John Cairns has recommended the elimination of the use of live animals for training procedures. The recommendation will be implemented for September 2003 lasses. Each year, students operate on about 25 anaesthetized pigs for ractice in procedures such as chest tube insertions and _tra- cheotomies. High-tech simulations designed by UBC’s Centre of Excellence for Surgical Education at the Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) will replace the lab. “These laboratories are ones where the skills can be gained by the use of robotic techniques, abattoir materials and simulations,” said Cairns. “We've moved pigs out of the undergraduate program, and it will not compromise their education in any material way.” Fourth-year UBC Medicine student Ian Wong was skeptical about he difference between plastic, pigs and humans. “There is no way to find landmarks in plastic tissue,” he said. “While landmarks will be different on pigs and humans, they are there and can be used. It doesn’t matter if it’s a bleeding pig or human, our job is to just stop the bleeding. “With pigs, the acuteness of the situation is the same,” he said. “Surgical doctors will still practise extensively on live animals in graduate school,” Cairns said. “Our focus is to ensure that we have highly-skilled practitioners to operate on a person. | think, in reality, neither [simulations nor ani- mal labs] really prepares students,” he said. “While it is important to learn everything you can before you ork on a human, where they actually learn is in the setting of real uman beings.” “A large factor influencing the decision was the availability of ffective technologies for simulation. Haptic technologies provide phenomenally accurate simulations for the feel and touch,” Cairns aid. “A combination of a computer screen interface and responsive rubber skin attempts to stimulate every aspect of suturing, down to e pop of the needle. “It feels like you're stitching skin,” said eileenv@telus.net Event Announces Mountain Bike Winner At the same time as the raffle, Event staff and volunteers ran a used book sale at the New Westminster campus. Most of the books were donated by the college community. Stonehouse said all the fundraising efforts were well worth it. “This was the second consecutive year we have held the book sale, which was highly successful. We were overwhelmed with donations and the book stall was very busy every day, so we sold most of the books we were given,” she said. Event is a literary journal based out of Douglas’ New Westminster campus. “We publish fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by new and estab- lished writers from Canada and around the world, and have won many awards, including the Western Magazine Award for Fiction the past two years in a row,” said Stonehouse. Check the College bookstore for the magazine, or for more infor- mation, call Event at 527-5293. Live Animals Cut from Undergrad Labs UBC Med School to phase out use of live pigs by fall & Associate Dean Angela Towle. The report on animal use was commissioned as a response to pres- sure from animal rights groups. The Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine Magazine refers to the use of simulations as “cruelty-free education,” and laments that “UBC continues to use animals despite growing public opposition to such practices.” Animals used are treated to standards consistent with Canadian law, veterinary practice, and the animal use committee at UBC. “Still, every time this pressure comes, it behooves the Faculty of Medicine to consider what the best course is to take in order to pro- duce physicians who can look after patients effectively. That’s our goal,” said Cairns. UBC is one of the last universities in Canada to still use live ani- mals, a shrinking group that still includes McGill University. “As a veterinarian I don’t think you can adequately train someone who is doing an emergency procedure where the procedure you're doing will have an effect on the animal, how you can do it with a dummy,” said Richard Latt, director of the Animal Resources Center at McGill. “You're training medical personnel to react quickly to a patient coming into an emergency room [and] how to properly place a chest tube or a [tracheotomy] tube or something like that.” Latt said. “If you put the trach tube or chest tube in the wrong place, it’s certain- ly going to have an adverse affect on the patient. And I’m not sure how you can simulate that in a model.” Wong ultimately agreed on the need for experience. “The biggest concern for most Med students is that, at some point, there is a first time that you will operate on a human being. The more times you practise, the better. Our biggest fear is hurting someone's mother or daughter. Animal labs have given me confi- dence,” he said. UBC will go ahead with its program in the coming school year, co-operating with VGH in its fundraising from private donors, the health care system, and a number of private companies. The machines will be evaluated in a surgical setting. “The objective in all of this is to produce physicians who can look after patients properly, and that has always been our main goal,” said Cairns. March 12, 2003 page 3 ©