Program Contacts

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Important Information

Applicants  are responsible for reviewing the University of Saskatchewan Policies for the R1 Match to determine if they meet all requirements and eligibility criteria. Failure to meet or provide proof of any of the stated requirements or documents may result in an applicant’s file not being reviewed or ranked.

CASPer Test
All applicants must complete the Casper test. More information is available under Supporting Documentation-CASPer Exam.

Licensing
Matched applicants must be eligible for an educational register license with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) for a July 1^st start date and must maintain eligibility for an educational register license throughout their entire training program. Matched applicants who are graduating in the spring will need to provide a copy of their medical degree/diploma to the PGME office and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CPSS) prior to the start of residency training. Any delays in providing all required documentation to CPSS may result in the following:

• delay in issuance of an educational register license and a delay in start of postgraduate training beyond July 1^st
• release from CaRMS match contract

Applicants completing medical education at the University of Montreal, Sherbrooke, Laval, and the University of Ottawa (French stream) are required to submit proof of English language proficiency before the rank order deadline to demonstrate they meet CPSS requirements. More information is available under Supporting Documentation-Language Proficiency.

NOTE: Applicants who are considering a delay to their convocation date must be aware that a medical degree cannot be issued to a student until they have convocated. CPSS bylaws require that new residents must have received their medical degree prior to the commencement of residency training. Choosing to delay convocation will affect a matched applicant’s ability to commence their residency training program in Saskatchewan on July 1. Please refer to the U of S CaRMS Deferral Policy for additional information.

Credentialing
In order to commence and continue in Postgraduate Medical Education training programs, matched applicants must be eligible for and maintain privileges within the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) as determined by their credentialing process. The SHA requires successful applicants to submit a current criminal record check as part of their pre-resident application for appointment. Applicants with criminal records will be considered on a case by case basis by the College of Medicine in consultation with the SHA.

Resident Boot Camp
All matched applicants must attend a mandatory three-day Resident Boot Camp scheduled for late June. The purpose of the Boot Camp is to provide additional support to trainees as they transition to residency by introducing and consolidating baseline skills and knowledge needed to flourish during their residency years. The program will include interactive case-based and hands-on practice sessions. There will also be a social event to provide trainees with the opportunity to interact and network among themselves. Stipends will be provided to trainees.

Attendance is required and absences are only permitted in exceptional circumstances, with prior approval of PGME.

Advanced Cardiac Life Support
Matched applicants are required to provide proof of ACLS certification (current as of July 1, 2023) to the PGME office prior to starting their training program. The ACLS course must be endorsed by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and/or the American Heart Association. ACLS training that is not certified by these two organizations and/or is completed entirely through an online course will not be accepted. Applicants are responsible for all costs associated with obtaining ACLS certification.

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

Applications accepted in English

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Supporting Documentation / Information

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Review Process

Applications submitted after file review has opened on January 10, 2023

Supporting documents (excluding letters of reference) that arrive after file review has opened  on  January 10, 2023

Letters of reference that arrive after the unmasking date on January 10, 2023

There will be a review of all applicants by a sub-committee of the Residency Program Committee.

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Interviews

Selection Criteria

Applicants should demonstrate knowledge of what range of professional work the specialty involves, ideally acquired in an elective in the specialty.

The selection is based generally on the overall quality of the candidate, his/her likelihood of being able to contribute to the specialty in the future, and how well the specialty fits with the career plans of the candidate.

Program goals

To provide a diverse training environment conducive to train specialists in Public Health and Preventive Medicine that are prepared to work in any of the diverse settings and roles available to our specialty, in urban, rural and remote public health. Public Health and Preventive Medicine is the medical specialty primarily concerned with the health of populations. The discipline’s focus is disease and injury prevention and control, which is achieved through health protection and health promotion activities. A Public Health and Preventive Medicine specialist monitors and assesses the health needs of a population and develops, implements, and evaluates strategies for improving health and well-being through interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral partnerships. Building on foundational competencies in clinical medicine and the determinants of health, the Public Health and Preventive Medicine specialist demonstrates competencies in public health sciences, including but not limited to epidemiology, biostatistics, and surveillance, planning, implementation and evaluation of programs and policies, leadership, collaboration, advocacy, and communication. These competencies are applied to a broad range of acute and chronic health issues affecting a population, including those that may be related to environmental exposures.

Selection process goals

Applicants providing evidence of academic potential in the CaRMS application file will be considered first, especially in areas relating to public health and preventive medicine. This includes academic achievement in the form of academic standing or awards, scholarship (e.g. research, publications, innovation), evidence of leadership capacity and experience (e.g. committee memberships), and/or teaching excellence.

Other skills and attributes of a successful applicant include:

- demonstrated ability to interact appropriately with peers, community groups and partners

- recent clinical experience 

- demonstrated interest in prevention, health promotion, and population health approaches

- high level of proficiency in the English laguage, both spoken and written

- demonstrated leadership potential 

File review process

Evaluation criteria :

Elective criteria

Interview process

Interview evaluation criteria :

Information gathered outside of CaRMS application

We do not consider any information gathered outside of the CaRMS application and local interview processes.

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

The strength of the program will be in helping residents learn how to function effectively as specialists in Public Health and Preventive Medicine within an integrated regionalized healthcare system, able to work in a public health department, and with other parts of the healthcare system.

The variety of public health experiences available in rural, northern and urban settings as well as the provincial level will provide a well balanced learning environment. The small size of the program will also ensure a greater ability to exercise responsibility through the program and to adapt training to their career goals.

As well as being a good learning environment for educating public health "generalists", there are the academic resources to support other career goals in the specialty, whether that includes academic medicine, medical epidemiology, administrative medicine or a combination of practice and public health work.

The University of Saskatchewan has a unique combination of academic units related to health issues, including a veterinary college, agriculture college, School of Public Health, School of the Environment, School of Public Policy, and a world class vaccine development centre [Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization].

Being embedded in a relatively small healthcare system serving just over 1 million people, this program will provide residents with the opportunity to get to know first-hand the important components of the public health system.

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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 curriculum is designed to meet Royal College requirements for the specialty, with the usual length of training after medical school of 5 years of postgraduate medical education tailored to support the candidate's career goals, whether those are related to a role in the public health system, as a medical epidemiologist, in clinical preventive medicine, health administration, an academic setting or in administrative medicine.

PGY1

The first year will consist of 12 months of basic clinical science training appropriate to a future career path as a specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Generally, this will involve rotations in urban and rural primary care, pediatrics, internal medicine, emergency medicine, geriatrics, and mental health and addictions.

PGY2

The second year will consist of academic course work to meet the learning objectives related to the Royal College requirements for the specialty. These are most commonly fulfilled by the course work in a Master of Public Health degree. A Master's degree in Epidemiology or in Community and Population Health Sciences are also possible. The course work is preceded by a 6-8 week Introduction to Public Health based in the Saskatchewan Health Authority. The year ends with the first part of a practicum, which is completed while doing a rotation in Public Health Intelligence at the Saskatoon Public Health Observatory and the Health Quality Council.

PGY3

This year will include finishing the practicum at the Health Quality Council of Saskatchewan and then completing the remaining requirements of the academic course work, followed by the start of 24 months of core placements in public health settings. The PGY 3 core rotations in this set include 4 months in Environmental Public Health (supplemented by some audited courses taken at the School of Environment), and 2 months in Health Promotion and Health Equity in Population and Public Health Services, in Saskatoon.

PGY4

This will be a continuation of public health core rotations, including a 6 month rotation in Communicable Disease Control and Immunization in the Population and Public Health Services Department in either Saskatoon or Regina, followed by a 3 month rotation in Provincial Public Health at the Ministry of Health in Regina, and a 3 month rotation in either a northern or rural public health setting as the resident progressively acquires the skill and judgement necessary for independent practice.

PGY5

The final year of training starts with a 6 month rotation in Public Health Leadership in Population Health Services in Regina or Saskatoon where the resident co-manages a public health program area in a dyad role with an administrative manager, followed by 6 months of elective time to tailor their training to their career objectives or to do further academic work.

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Training Sites

University of Saskatchewan,

Department of Community Health and Epidemiology
Provides content expertise in the area of epidemiology and epidemiologic methods during the program. It also houses a Master's degree program in MCPHS [Community and Population Health Sciences], which is one option for the academic content of the residency program. Staff in the department have a particular focus on qualitative data as well as quantitative methods.

University of Saskatchewan,

School of Public Health

Courses related to the MPH degree housed in the School of Public Health are an important option for acquiring the academic content related to the residency program. Examples include epidemiologic methods, health promotion, program evaluation.  Detailed course descriptions are available on the School of Public Health website.

It is anticipated this will be the most common academic background.

Population and Public Health, Saskatoon Area, Saskatchewan Health Authority

This training site will provide an introductory orientation to regional public health, prior to the start of academic course work in PGY2. It is the main site for the rotations in Health Intelligence, Environmental Health, Communicable Disease Control and Immunization, and Health Promotion and Health Equity. It can also be the site for a senior urban public health 6 month placement in the R5 year.

It is the largest regional public health department in the province with close links to the academic centres in Saskatoon.  Staff within this public health unit work in the full range of local public health roles including health protection, disease prevention, population health promotion, and surveillance.  As is typical of Saskatchewan, the largest single staff component consists of public health nurses who work largely in the areas of well child care including immunizations.

The public health department is one administrative unit of the regional health authority, and many services are linked to other parts of the health region, such as maternal and child services, home care, primary care, and addictions services.

The learning opportunities are broad including many areas of content expertise, advocacy, public communications, developing management skills and participating in strategic planning.

A particular strength of the department is the Public Health Observatory, a small but active epidemiology/surveillance unit.

Public Health Observatory, Saskatoon Area, Saskatchewan Health Authority

This unit within Population and Public Health provides support to the rest of the public health department related to surveillance, performing epidemiologic studies, working on health indicators, quality improvement indicators, and is responsible for general and targeted health status reports for the health region.

One of the regional medical health officers functions as medical director of the unit.

A health data placement, either in the Public Health Observatory or Health Quality Council is a mandatory component of the residency program, usually in the R2 to R3 year.

Public and Population Health Services, Regina Area, Saskatchewan Health Authority

This is a large urban public health department in Regina. In relevant years, it can be the site for a senior 6 month urban public health placement in the R5 year.

It provides a full range of local public health services covering the functions of health protection [communicable disease control, environmental health], disease prevention, health promotion and health surveillance.  The largest single staff component is that of public health nurses, with much of their work concentrated on well child care and immunizations.  It is one administrative unit of the regional health authority, with links to many other parts of the health region.

The learning opportunities are broad, including many areas of content expertise, advocacy, public communications, developing management skills and participating in strategic planning.

Being in the capital city means links to the provincial government, including the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Disease Control Laboratory are close.

Population Health Unit, La Ronge

The Population Health Unit provides centralized public health expertise for the 3 northern health regions and their largely aboriginal population spread over a large territory.

The range of services provided include health protection [environmental health, communicable disease control], disease prevention and health promotion.  Working with the northern population, cultural issues are important and the impact of the social determinants of health are dominant.

The learning opportunities are broad, including many areas of content expertise, advocacy, public communications, developing management skills and participating in strategic planning.  The environmental issues and communicable disease challenges are often unique compared with those in the southern parts of the province.

A placement in either a northern or rural health region is mandatory, usually as a 3 month placement in the R4 year.

Population Health Branch, Ministry of Health

This site is the public health component of the Ministry of Health.  The placement here, usually 3 months in the R4 year, will provide an experience of the provincial role of a specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and an opportunity to learn about the role of a provincial government and its processes.

Population Health Branch includes staff who focus on environmental health, health promotion, communicable disease control and epidemiology. The typical functions of the provincial level branch include development of policies, standards and legislation, as well a coordination of regional health authorities, interacting with other branches of government, and liaison with other provincial and territorial jurisdictions. There will of course be the opportunity to learn about the provincial role in directing the health system as a whole by specifying system priorities, engaging in strategic planning, and effective  management through the budget cycle.

Saskatchewan Health Quality Council

The Saskatchewan Health Quality Council is a provincially funded organization based in Saskatoon whose mandate is to support quality improvement throughout the health care system by focussing on priority areas.

A placement here will provide a chance to learn about quality improvement in the health care system and also provide an opportunity to use health data.

A health data placement, either here or in the Public Health Observatory of the Saskatoon Health Region, is mandatory in the residency, usually as a 3 month experience in the R4 year.

Public Health Agency of Canada

While there are no mandatory placements at the Public Health Agency of Canada, there are numerous opportunities for elective placements at PHAC detailed in a catalogue which can provide learning opportunities relevant for residents. Electives at PHAC will also provide a view of the role of the federal public health agency, of federal government processes and of the roles of other federal ministries.

Housing for Distributed Rotations

Extensive support is available for out of town rotations. The exact nature of this support varies with location and program. The communities involved, individual programs, the College of Medicine, and the Ministry of Health work collaboratively to ensure residents are not financially disadvantaged by the need to relocate for short term mandatory rotations. Private housing is provided for residents completing short term rotations away from their home site within the province. Family friendly and pet friendly housing is available in Regina.