Program Contacts

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Important Information

NOSM Pediatric Program Promotion Event

Date:   Monday, November 30^th

Time:  7pm – 8pm

Duration: 1 hour

Brief Description of event: This presentation is focused on providing medical students interested in pediatrics an overview of the NOSM Pediatric program.  There will be a short didactic introduction to the program which will be delivered by the Program Director and chief resident(s).  Participants will then have the opportunity to break into smaller groups to chat with current residents and the Program Director.

Connect to the Event via WebEx

Link: https://nosm.webex.com/nosm/j.php?MTID=m5a86576a07b024c6d409cbb5f412c377

 Meeting number: 171 301 0862  Password: 2222

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

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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

Once all of the files have been reviewed, applicants being offered an interview will be contacted to confirm the date and interview details. Only those applicants being offered interviews will be contacted.

An email notification will be sent at 12:00 p.m. noon ET on Monday, March 1st, 2021.

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Interviews

Dates:

• March 25, 2021
• March 26, 2021

Selection Criteria

• Candidates for the Pediatric Residency Program at NOSM are selected on the basis of: a demonstrated interest in Pediatrics, desire to train in a variety of clinical settings including both northern Ontario and Ottawa, demonstrated interest in advocacy and social pediatrics, strong interpersonal skills, and a commitment to self-directed learning. The program is looking for candidates who are hardworking, adaptable and enjoy change.
  
  
  
• The NOSM Pediatrics Program promotes equal opportunity to all eligible candidates applying to the program, regardless of where they have completed their MD training. We encourage all applicants, and accept residents into the program with or without prior exposure to northern Ontario or medical training in the north. Therefore, candidates from the North and/or those who have trained in the North are not given exclusive consideration in the selection process.

• All clinical experiences, including mandatory rotations and electives, will be considered in the application/assessment process.

Program goals

Our vision is to train residents who have the skills and attitudes necessary to deliver excellent, culturally respectful health care in any setting, including northern Ontario and other rural communities. Our program strives to meet the social accountability mandate of NOSM through our social pediatric curriculum which provides hands on training in advocacy as well as mandating an advocacy project. 

We strive to deliver a comprehensive curriculum that provides exposure to clinical learning experiences in both Northern Ontario and world-class tertiary care/subspecialty training in Ottawa. Our program aims to provide a supportive learning environment that allows our residents to focus on their individual career objectives, and develop into highly skilled, knowledgeable, and professional pediatricians. Our graduates are well prepared to practice as general pediatricians in any setting, but are also well-positioned to pursue pediatric subspecialty training if that better meets their career goals.

Selection process goals

Through our selection process, the program aims to identify candidates who have a strong academic history with demonstrated competence and interest in pediatrics (e.g. pediatrics rotations, electives, scholarly activities, conference involvement and other related work or life experiences). We are seeking candidates who are interested in health advocacy and are able to think creatively about ways to address the social determinants of health. Candidates should 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) and exemplify 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. Candidates best suited to the NOSM Pediatrics program are those who can adapt and thrive in a hands-on, distributed residency program that requires flexibility and travel away from their primary residence. We believe that candidates who are resilient, committed to self-directed learning and can prioritize their personal well-being are well suited to the program. Through our selection process we aim to identify and successfully match candidates who possess these attributes.

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

This four year residency program improves upon the traditional tertiary center-based training model by providing residents with extensive training opportunities in northern urban centers under the supervision of general pediatric consultants. In addition to world- class subspecialty and acute care rotations at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO), the northern rotations provide the learner with extensive opportunities to develop the skills necessary to fulfill all of the CanMEDS roles. By honing their clinical and problem-solving abilities in a preceptor supervised environment, distant from extensive subspecialty support, residents have the opportunity to develop into confident, practical, skilled clinicians. A full exposure to tertiary subspecialty and acute care rotations is maintained throughout the residency.

Although the philosophy of training in this program has been developed from the practice of general consultant pediatricians, upon completion of the program, residents will be well positioned to pursue subspecialty training if they choose or embark upon a career in general consulting pediatrics.

Residents are required to provide their own vehicle.    It is strongly recommended that residents have a laptop computer.

Distance learning in the northern centers is enabled by state-of-the-art telemedicine facilities. Resources and opportunities for additional learning, including electives and conferences, will also be made available.

The following represent the highlights of our program:

• A unique and challenging hands-­on learning experience.

• Unparalleled preceptor support from physicians committed to practicing in Northern Ontario. Early integration as a key member of an integrated health care team dedicated to professionalism, high quality patient care and excellent medical education.

• Commitment to resident learning.

• Commitment to the NOSM social accountability mandate with hands on teaching in social advocacy

• Self-­directed, learner-­centered training to meet your career goals.

• Financial support 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 for core rotations away from primary residence.

• Opportunity to participate in research under expert guidance.

• Funding available 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.

 

For residents beginning in July 2021, the Competence By Design (CBD) curriculum will be officially launched. The 4 stages of CBD are mapped over 4 years, after which residents can choose to apply to a subspecialty. The program has been piloting CBD for over two years now, and has gained much experience in the new design.

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Program Curriculum

This residency program is for 4 years.

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

NOSM Pediatric Program PGY1
	Rotation Duration Northern Ontario Pediatrics 6 blocks Perinates (Ottawa) 2 blocks Pediatric Tertiary Care Ward (Ottawa) 1 block Pediatric ER (Ottawa) 1 block Sub-specialty (Ottawa) 2 blocks Elective 1 block
NOSM Pediatric Program PGY2
	Rotation Duration Northern Ontario Pediatrics 6 blocks NICU (Ottawa) 1 block Sub-specialty (Ottawa) 1 blocks Night float/Surgical sub-specialty or Research (Ottawa) 1 block Elective 1 block General Surgery (Ottawa) 1 block PICU (Ottawa) 2 blocks
NOSM Pediatric Program PGY3
	Northern Ontario Pediatrics 5 blocks Sioux Lookout 1 block Perinates (Ottawa) 1 block Tertiary Care Ward Senior (Ottawa) 1 block Pediatric ER Senior (Ottawa) 1 block Night Float/Selective or Research (Ottawa) 1 block Sub-specialty (Ottawa) 3 blocks
NOSM Pediatric Program PGY4
	Rotation Duration Northern Ontario Pediatrics 7 blocks Selective/Elective (in Ottawa or other location) 3 blocks Selective/Election (must be in Ottawa) 2 blocks Night Float/Selective (Ottawa) 1 block
Seminars and Rounds
	Residents will have a half day per week protected time for academic teaching sessions. These sessions are all delivered by video conference/web-based technology and mostly consist of small group learning sessions with one didactic lecture per block.   Three to five times per year, residents will gather in one of the northern centres  for face to face learning sessions, simulation sessions, OSCEs and social  events. Protected time to attend Grand Rounds broadcast by the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario by videoconference will be available. Residents will participate actively in the departmental academic and morbidity and mortality (M&M) rounds at northern locations. Residents attend a northern based morning report and noon rounds, with all the northern sites, while in the north.
Research
	All residents in the program are expected to complete a scholarly project prior to the completion of training. NOSM has resources available to support resident research in addition to those available in Ottawa. Several opportunities for practical research meaningful to the local communities and under expert guidance are available.

 

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Training Sites

Northern teaching sites include Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Sudbury. A rotation in Sioux Lookout is part of the core program. Subspecialty, PICU, ER, and NICU rotations will be completed in Ottawa.

Housing options are available for residents who must reside in communities outside their “home base” during mandatory rotations.

Please note that applicants who match to the Pediatrics West stream will be required to select either Thunder Bay or Sault Ste. Marie as their home-base/location of primary residence.

Sudbury

• Sudbury is centrally located in northeastern Ontario, with the city of Greater Sudbury being the largest city in Northern Ontario with a population of approximately 161,000.
  
  
• Health Sciences North (HSN) is a 454-bed facility, one-site acute care hospital, which boasts state-of-the-art equipment. As a large tertiary care provider for Northern Ontario, HSN is the regional referral centre serving over 600,000 people in northeastern Ontario.
  
  
• Programs and services offered at HSN include: Medical Imaging, Medicine and Rehabilitation, Critical Care, Emergency and Ambulatory Care, Family and Child, Mental Health and Addictions, Northeast Cancer Centre, Surgical Services, Corporate Services, and Research.
  
  
• HSN also established a Simulation Center, helping to advance its academic mission, in addition to the creation of the Advanced Medical Research Institute of Canada (AMRIC). 
  
  

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. 
  
  

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.

Ottawa (CHEO)

• Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) is a 167 bed tertiary care children's hospital that provides the only pediatric inpatient services in the Ottawa-Carleton region and serves a referral population of over 1,500,000. CHEO is a medium-sized hospital which provides a work environment that is friendly and supportive. World class specialists and subspecialists come together to provide excellent care, research and education to the pediatric population of the region.

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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 the appropriate curriculum to meet accreditation standards and spend the appropriate amount of time in the Northern locations.   To learn more about northern Ontario, please visit the "Wider Campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine" webpage.