The province of Ontario has recently announced that it will allow students in grade 11 to work towards apprenticeships in an attempt to fast-track workers into the skilled trades.

"Ontario will allow students in Grade 11 to begin working toward their apprenticeships in skilled trades.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce says it's a deal that lets high school students earn credits toward a secondary school diploma while they apprentice." https://t.co/Jhc6DqmaRK

— Stephen Lecce (@Sflecce) March 8, 2023

Dr. Kieran Moore alluded that a similar announcement would be coming to funnel healthcare workers into the depleted and burnt-out frontlines.

The statement was made during a panel at the Queens University School of Policy Studies tasked with looking at COVID at 1000 days.

The focus of the discussion was “what we didn't know, what we know now, and what we wished we had known; the expected and unexpected, and policies and principles for next time.”

Dr. Moore was asked about the healthcare system woes that have plagued the province in recent years, including such severe understaffing that emergency departments across the province have closed repeatedly.

He responded that there was a program announcement coming that would shorten residency, which would shorten the entry time into medical school, with an overall goal to decrease the amount of time it takes to get through medical and nursing school.

Dr. Moore called this an innovative investment but one professor – who has extensive experience training students at the undergraduate, professional degree, and post-graduate level – has some serious concerns.

The warp-speed training of medical professionals would see education compressed with unchanged performance expectations, notes Dr. Byram Bridle in his recent Substack.

“I was shocked to hear the response that [the province] is going to accelerate the training of medical professionals to get them into these positions faster,” said Dr. Bridle during an exclusive interview with Rebel News.

Dr. Bridle expresses concern with the maturity level of a roughly 22-year-old who would be expected to have robust medical training and a vigorous understanding of medicine to adequately treat patients and save lives.

The accelerated training would see students give up summers and likely contribute to increased burnout, says Bridle.

This leaves some pondering: is stacking burnt-out recent graduates on top of pre-existing worker fatigue going to help or hinder a system in a chronic state of crisis?