Program Contacts

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Important Information

Please note that the Northern Ontario School of Medicine Psychiatry Program is offered in three separate streams for the 2020 CaRMS R-1 Main Residency Match. These streams include: 

• Thunder Bay
• Sault Ste. Marie
• North Bay

Applicants are encouraged to apply to all three streams. One residency spot will be available per stream/site, therefore applicants who successfully match to the program will be required to home-base in the community (stream/site) they've matched to.

Note: if applying to multiple streams, candidates are asked to submit the same supporting and reference documents in each application.

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

Applications will only be accepted through the CaRMS R-1 Match application process.

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Supporting Documentation / Information

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Review Process

Applications submitted after file review has opened on February 8, 2021

Supporting documents (excluding letters of reference) that arrive after file review has opened  on  February 8, 2021

Letters of reference that arrive after the unmasking date on February 8, 2021

Each application is reviewed and scored independently by the program director, and two other file reviewers. File review scores will be combined for each applicant and the program will offer interviews to approximately the top 25 candidates based on their average file review score.

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Interviews

Selection Criteria

Applicants will be selected for an interview based on:

demonstrated interest in Psychiatry; academic record; strength of references; strong interpersonal skills; self-directed learning; and a desire to train in a variety of community settings with health care teams.

An interest in future Northern urban, rural or remote practice will be a key consideration.

 

Program goals

The NOSM Psychiatry residency program strives to deliver a comprehensive clinical curriculum which includes core rotations in psychiatry and subspecialty rotations selected to incorporate a diversity of experience and proficiency in subspecialty areas integral to community-based practice.

Our program aims to equip our residents with the necessary skills/competencies to become well-rounded, general psychiatrists who are trained to deliver excellent, culturally respectful health care to all patients in a wide variety of settings, such as emergency, inpatient, outpatient, and community settings, including northern urban, rural, and remote communities.

With one-on-one preceptor support, we aim to provide our residents with ongoing support to meet the program training objectives, as well as their own individual learning/career goals. Our goal is that upon completion of training, our residents will be prepared to begin their careers as general psychiatrists in any setting, and/or be well-positioned to pursue subspecialty training to further meet their career goals.

 

Selection process goals

Through our selection process, our program aims to identify candidates who have a strong academic history with demonstrated competence and interest in psychiatry (e.g. psychiatry rotations, electives, scholarly activities, conference involvement and other related work or life experiences). We are seeking candidates who possess superior clinical communication skills and have the ability to relate to patients, their families, and caregivers with compassion, empathy, sensitivity and humility.

We are looking for candidates who possess the ability and willingness to work collaboratively (within and across professional domains) in a team dynamic to secure optimal patient outcomes, while exemplifying the highest standards of professional behavior -- inclusive of responsibility, respect, and self-awareness.

We are also looking to identify candidates who would be a good fit for our program. As a socially accountable medical school, accountable to the needs and the diversity of the populations of Northern Ontario, candidates best suited to the NOSM Psychiatry Program are those with a vested interest in future northern urban, rural, or remote practice, who can adapt and thrive in a hands-on, distributed rural residency program that requires flexibility and some travel away from their primary location of residence. 

We also believe that candidates who are resilient, can prioritize their personal well-being and work-life balance, and are also committed to self-reflective learning, continuing professional development, and quality improvement, are well-suited to our program. Through our selection process we aim to identify and successfully match candidates who possess these attributes as well.

 

File review process

Evaluation criteria :

Elective criteria

Interview process

Interview evaluation criteria :

Information gathered outside of CaRMS application

Specifically, we may consider:
Social interaction during program related events
Communication with program administration
Social media
Unsolicited reference letters
Unsolicited email references
Unsolicited verbal information on a candidate's prior performance
Unsolicited feedback from colleagues and co-workers
Other : In keeping with the CanMEDs roles, please note that throughout the entire application and interview process, your interactions with NOSM personnel may be taken into consideration by the program in their selection process and ranking decisions.

Ranking process

The behavior(s) exhibited below during the interview process may prevent an applicant from being ranked by our program :
Unprofessional or inappropriate behavior   
Did not attend interview   
Interview performance was not competitive   

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Program Highlights

• A comprehensive understanding of the cultural, geographic and socioeconomic determinants of mental disorders in a Northern urban, rural or remote clinical setting.
• A unique and challenging learning experience.
• Unparalleled preceptor support from physicians committed to practicing in Northern Ontario.
• Early integration as a key member of a health care team dedicated to professionalism, high quality patient care and excellent medical education.
• Commitment to resident learning.
• Self-directed, learner-centered training to meet your career goals.
• Exposure to the culture and social fabric of Francophone and Indigenous communities.
• Financial support from NOSM for resident travel to and from core clinical placements away from the home base and all mandatory educational activities at non home base locations.
• Housing support from NOSM for core rotations away from primary residence.
• Opportunity to participate in research under expert guidance.
• Funding available from NOSM for research, professional development and conferences.
• Access to advanced technology and informatics in residency training.
• 24/7 access to electronic search engines, electronic indexes as well as an extensive collection of electronic medical/health journals and textbooks.
• Exceptional lifestyle balance with a wide variety of outstanding Northern Ontario recreational opportunities.

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Program Curriculum

This residency program is for 5 years.

Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.

The program includes core rotations in Psychiatry and subspecialty rotations selected to incorporate a diversity of experience and proficiency in subspecialty areas integral to community based practice but less commonly emphasized in traditional Psychiatry residency programs.

All rotations will be completed in distributed Northern sites, including  Thunder Bay, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, and Sudbury. Based on the resident’s personal learning plan, the content, sequence of training and schedule of movement between teaching sites may vary. 

Rotations are supervised by highly experienced and committed clinical academic faculty and the resident will have an opportunity to be involved in the care and management of patients in a wide variety of clinical areas.

Our program is established within a distributed site model and that all residents will be required to spend up to eighteen (18) months outside of their home location site during their residency. Residents could spend up to three (3) separate six-month blocks in distributed locations such as, but not limited to, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins and/or North Bay.

Starting 1 July 2020, incoming cohorts of successfully matched applicants to NOSM’s Psychiatry program will be entering into a Competence by Design (CBD) based residency program. 

CBD will use time as a framework rather than the basis for progression, and it is not anticipated that the duration of training will change for the majority of trainees. Residency programs will be broken down into stages (Transition to Discipline, Foundations, Core, Transition to Practice) and each stage will have a series of milestones based on required competencies. These milestones will create more targeted learning outcomes and involve more frequent, formative assessments within the clinical workplace to ensure residents are developing and receiving feedback on the skills they need. 

Key components of this CBD transition that will be effectively implemented include; competency-based assessment, high volume work-place based assessment with frequent, authentic feedback, and competency based promotion – which will all continue to evolve with the full transition.

As this is our first year of CBD, we expect that our plan is not perfect and we will encounter some bumps along the way. We want your feedback as we move along this journey together to help us build an even better program for you and those who will follow in your footsteps.

Residents in this program will have a number of opportunities unique to Northern Ontario. While the majority of the training takes place in your home base (Thunder Bay, North Bay or Sault Ste. Marie), the opportunity to have clinical experiences in various centers across the North. From small rural hospitals to other major centers, our program provides a unique chance to understand how Psychiatry is provided outside of the major teaching center, and exposure to potential career opportunities. 

The small size of the program allows for close mentorship between the faculty and the residents. This has been identified as a strength of our program and enables a rapid progression to independent activities for individual residents. 

As a growing program, resident feedback is an integral part of shaping this program for the future. Our program is extremely responsive to resident input throughout their training.  Regular meetings with our Site Directors and meetings twice a year with our Program Director, gives our residents a formal arena to offer feedback.

At present, our current clinical curriculum is structured as listed below, which will evolve as we transition into the CBD training model.

PGY-1

• Family Medicine – 4 weeks
• Pediatrics – 4 weeks
• Psychiatry – 12 weeks (includes 4 weeks of Emergency Psychiatry)
• Emergency Medicine – 4 weeks
• Internal Medicine – 4 weeks
• Neurology – 8 weeks
• Selectives – 12 weeks
• Electives – 4 weeks

The PGY1 schedule starts with one psychiatry rotation in Block 1 and ends with two psychiatry rotations in Blocks 12 & 13.  The other rotations are organized by the program by availability (Neurology and Neuro Imaging rotation will be done in Thunder Bay). PGY1s will be advised that travel from their home-base may happen during the academic year. 

PGY 2 (junior residency)

• General Inpatient and Outpatient Psychiatry (13 blocks) (break down = 6 months Outpatient, and 6 months Inpatient)

PGY 3 (junior residency)

• Child/Adolescent Psychiatry (6 months)
• Geriatrics Psychiatry (6 months)

PGY 4 (senior residency)

12 months total that provide complex care to the expected volume and variety of ADULT patients in General Psychiatric Practice. These 13 blocks of providing complex care must include:

• Supervised experience in Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry (3-6 blocks)
• Collaborative/Shared Care with Family Physicians, specialists, and any other mental health professionals (2 blocks)
• Supervised experience in the care of patients with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI) (3-6 blocks)
• Supervised experience in the care of patients in Addictions-Psychiatry (3-6 blocks)

PGY 5

Selectives (6-7 blocks): Child and Adolescent, Geriatrics, Forensics, Research, Psychotherapies, Development Disabilities, Addictions, Rural and Remote Psychiatry. Six months of selective in Psychiatry: preferably one content area, but may be comprised of two content areas with experience of no less than three months each.

Electives (6-7 blocks): Research in psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Neurology, and or any other branch of medicine related to Psychiatry. More than one practice area may be chosen but the duration of any experience must not be less than 2 months each.

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Psychotherapy Training

During the PGY2-5 years residents will be provided with training in CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy), Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Supportive Psychotherapy, Crisis Intervention, Family Therapy, Dialectic Behaviour Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Group Therapy.

Academics

Academic half day sessions occur weekly throughout the year during protected time from clinical duties in the PGY1 year and full day in PGY2-5 years. Residents will also have the opportunity to participate in local community educational rounds, presentations, journal clubs and rounds through the Ontario Telemedicine Network when stationed outside their main training site.

Research

Residents are expected to present a research project or a scholarly activity during their residency. Expert guidance and funding for research will be available through the faculty members.

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Training Sites

Applicants who match to the Thunder Bay stream will be required to select this community as their home-base/location of primary residence.
 

Thunder Bay

• Thunder Bay is situated on Lake Superior, in northwestern Ontario. The city has a population of approximately 121,000 and serves as a regional referral centre for northwestern Ontario and many rural and remote Indigenous communities.

• The high volume tertiary care hospital, Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC), is a 395-bed tertiary care academic & research centre offering a comprehensive range of services in state-of-the-art healthcare facilities.

Sault Ste. Marie

• Sault Ste. Marie (also know as the Sault or the Soo) is a city located on the St. Mary’s River in Ontario, in the Algoma District. With a population of approximately 78,000, Sault Ste. Marie is the third largest city in Northern Ontario.

• Sault Area Hospital (SAH) is a 291 bed state-of-the-art facility that opened in March 2011. SAH provides emergency, primary, secondary, selected tertiary and long-term care healthcare services to the city and the District of Algoma with a catchment population of approximately 120,000.

North Bay

• North Bay is conveniently located in the Nipissing District, in northeastern Ontario, with a population of 70,000. North Bay is a short 1.5-hour drive to one of two NOSM host university sites, at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

• Comprehensive medical services in North Bay are provided by a fully-accredited medical hospital, the North Bay Regional Health Centre, which is a 401-bed facility that offers numerous outpatient and outreach services in North Bay and throughout the northeast region. It provides acute care services to North Bay and its surrounding communities, and it is the district referral centre, providing specialist services for smaller communities in the area, and it is the specialized mental health service provider serving all of northeast Ontario.

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Additional Information

Overall program
	The program outlined above may be modified or taken in an alternative sequence based upon discussions between the resident and the program director. Any changes MUST allow the resident to complete an appropriate curriculum to meet accreditation standards and to spend the majority of their program in Northern locations.   To learn more about northern Ontario, please visit the "Wider Campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine" webpage.