Program Contacts

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Important Information

Prospective residents should refer to the Family Medicine Residency Selection website for ongoing updates, deadlines and detailed information.

FMProC: Important timelines

For the 2025 residency selection cycle ALL FM residency programs in Canada require applicants to sit FMProC for those applying in both rounds of CaRMS. 

 

FMProC test window for CaRMS first Iteration is from October 28 (8AM ET) to November 11, 2024 (10AM ET). 

Registration opens from September 11 (12 noon ET) and closes on November 07, 2024 (10AM ET). 

 

To register and find out more about the test please go to www.fmproc.com. All test related updates will be posted on the website. 

Requests to register or to sit the test outside of the posted deadlines will not be considered. 

 

Upon completion of FMProC, you must upload your FMProC result letter to CaRMS for your application to be considered complete.

 

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

Resident selection for the UBC Family Medicine program is a collaborative process between all of our sites. Logistics and administration of resident selection is managed by our central program office in Vancouver, located at the UBC Point Grey Campus.

As the UBC Family Medicine Program is distributed into 23 unique sites and locations, candidates should apply to each site they are interested in. 
Applicants must submit same application package to all sites to which they apply.  

Regardless of the number of sites applicants apply to and rank, only one interview will be conducted. 

A variety of virtual information sessions will be held to provide prospective residents with the opportunity to learn more about the programs and discuss the training experience with faculty and current residents. Please visit Program Events for upcoming events. 

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Supporting Documentation / Information

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Review Process

Applications submitted after file review has opened on November 29, 2024

Supporting documents (excluding letters of reference) that arrive after file review has opened  on  November 29, 2024

Letters of reference that arrive after the unmasking date on November 29, 2024

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Interviews

Dates:

• January 18, 2025
• January 19, 2025
• January 20, 2025
• January 21, 2025
• January 22, 2025
• January 23, 2025
• January 24, 2025
• January 25, 2025
• January 26, 2025
• January 27, 2025
• January 28, 2025

Selection Criteria

Applicants must submit an application to each site they are interested in and should assign the same set of documents to each site. Selection is based on file review and one set of MMI interviews. Each file is reviewed and given a score. This file review score determines whether a candidate is offered an interview. The file review score is then combined with the interview score and FMPROC score to create a total score for each applicant. The file review score will contribute to 20%, interview score will contribute to 75%, and FMProC will contribute to 5% of the overall global score. A recommended rank list based on the total score is submitted to each site for consideration. The sites retain discretion to adjust the recommended rank list based on local site selection committee input.

Program goals

1. To graduate residents who have developed the competencies needed to begin independent family practice in diverse community settings
2. To deliver an effective academic, clinical and scholarly educational program
3. To graduate residents who are inspired, resilient, and balanced
4. To graduate residents who demonstrate evidence-based and reflective practice
5. To provide working and learning environments that ensure residents, faculty and staff feel respected and supported

Selection process goals

1. Identify individuals with an aptitude for family medicine who are most likely to thrive in our diverse residency sites and in the unique context of British Columbia communities
2. Identify individuals with a demonstrated solid foundation of clinical skills and clinical approach which equips them for Postgraduate Education training.
3. Identify individuals who have consistent professional behavior; who interact appropriately with patients, colleagues and staff.
4. Identify mature, motivated individuals with a broad range of life experience which they can draw upon to adapt to the demands of residency training.

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 : -File demonstrates strong team-based and collegial skills.
-File demonstrates clear interest in practicing rural family medicine.
- Interactions at CaRMS or other social interactions, unsolicited references including verbal or email from colleagues, preceptors.

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   
Other : • File does not support interest in family medicine
• Interview suggests lack of non-cognitive family medicine skills

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Program Highlights

Uniquely B.C:  UBC Family Medicine

Family Medicine training in BC presents you with many unique opportunities. We are a fully accredited distributed program with 23 training sites and multiple training communities. In an effort to meet the evolving needs of our society, each site provides a solid foundation in the knowledge and clinical skills of Family Medicine so that our graduates are prepared to practice in a variety of settings. While our program offers diversity of training, it is based on common goals, learning objectives, and assessment standards.

All residents are required to do a mandatory 2-month rural rotation in Family Medicine in their second year. Residents in the Coastal, or rural programs in the Okanagan or the North complete longer rural placements. Residents can also apply to participate in Enhanced Rural training for a total of 4-6 months in rural communities.

There is extensive academic and administrative support for the entire residency program. Our central program administrative team is based in Vancouver on UBC campus. At the site level, leadership teams are made up of a Site Director, Site Faculty, Lead Residents and administrators. Lead Program Faculty provide provincial education support in the areas of curriculum, assessment, faculty development, scholarship and behavioral medicine.

The Family Practice Postgraduate Education Committee has representation from all sites to ensure a connected, distributed program that fully meets accreditation standards. Residents are represented at all levels of governance.

A wide range of amazing recreational and cultural opportunities are at your doorstep, as well as a collegial community of residents and physicians with whom you can learn, grow, and play. We want your experience to be in BC to be a positive and enjoyable one.

Training Sites: Overview

Visit the UBC Family Medicine Postgraduate website for a detailed overview of each of the 23 sites and their surrounding communities.  Each site provides opportunities to experience Family Medicine in their unique context, offering special opportunities to gain experience and skills unique to the area where you are training.

The following is a list of our sites and their base community/hospital. Each site serves the surrounding community (see training sites for full details):

 

Greater Vancouver / Lower Mainland

• Abbotsford-Mission
• Coastal (North Vancouver, Lion’s Gate Hospital)
• Chilliwack
• Indigenous (Greater Vancouver and rural Indigenous communities)
• St. Paul's (Downtown Vancouver, Inner City)
• Surrey South Fraser (Surrey Memorial Hospital)
• Vancouver Fraser (New Westminster, Royal Columbian)

 

Interior Region

• Kootenay Boundary (Trail, Nelson, Rossland, Castlegar)
• Kelowna Rural (Kelowna R1 year; rural communities across BC in R2 year)
• Kelowna Regional
• North Okanagan (Vernon)
• Okanagan South (Penticton)
• Kamloops

 

Vancouver Island

• Indigenous (Victoria, Ladysmith and rural Indigenous communities including Pacheedaht, Penelakut, ‘Namgis)
• Quw'utsun (Duncan)
• Nanaimo 
• Strathcona (Comox, Campbell River and Courtenay)
• Victoria

 

Northern

• Fort St. John (Northeast)
• Northern Rural (Prince George R1 year; rural communities across BC in R2 year)
• Prince George
• Rural Immersion (Hazelton, Smithers, Vanderhoof, Mackenzie, Valemount/McBride, Chetwynd/Tumbler Ridge)
• Terrace (Rural Northwest)

 

IMG positions are offered at the following sites:

• Abbotsford-Mission
• Chilliwack
• Coastal
• Fort St. John
• Kamloops
• Kootenay Boundary
• Nanaimo
• North Okanagan
• Okanagan South
• Kelowna Rural
• Kelowna Regional
• Prince George
• Strathcona
• St. Paul’s
• Surrey South Fraser
• Vancouver Fraser
• Victoria

Resident Support

Resident resilience and wellness is our top priority. Important resources have been developed by our program to support our residents throughout the course of the training.

All UBC programs are allocated a fixed amount of funding per resident for Resident Activities.  This funding is used to provide educational support to residents during their 2 years of training. This includes funding for residents to attend program-wide courses and events. Additionally, residents may identify conferences and educational materials that would supplement their training experience. A discretionary, per resident funding will also be allocated to the sites for a similar purpose at the site level.

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Program Curriculum

This residency program is for 2 years.

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

Introduction

The Okanagan South Family Practice Residency Program started in 2016. We are a medium-sized rural program with a focus on graduating physicians ready for independent practice in rural areas. We are looking for residents who are motivated, self-directed learners willing to excel in rural medicine.  We serve the South Okanagan, with residents placed in Penticton, Summerland, Oliver/Osoyoos, and Princeton.  We also serve the Okanagan indigenous nation, the Sy’ilx-speaking peoples, and acknowledge the unceded territory on which we live and work.

The South Okanagan is an engaged collegial medical community. The program is strongly anchored by family physicians — in their offices, in rural, remote, and regional hospital settings, and in community clinics and facilities. The specialty rotations are delivered by a supportive group of specialists who work directly with family physicians.  The family physicians are well-organized with our Division of Family Practice, an active Medical Staff Association, and a community-run walk-in clinic.  We are based out of Penticton Regional Hospital, a 242-bed (including 102 long-term care beds) newly built in 2018.

Our program is delivered in block rotations, but with a longitudinal attachment to a home family practice clinic. We focus on rural training, with 5 months total of rural rotations. PGY1 training is done mostly in a regional setting providing access to specialist teaching and resources, while PGY2 is rural placements and electives.  There is a site emphasis on Emergency Medicine which has a block but is also scheduled longitudinally.

 

PGY1 Rotation Overview

This year focuses on consolidating competencies/skills in a professional medical environment.  R1s rotate through family practice and specialties while doing training in SIMs, POCUS, and certifications in ACLS, ATLS, ALARM, PALS, NRP, and OAT.

 

PGY1 Core Rotations	Rotation Length
Orientation	2 weeks
Family Medicine	10 weeks
Community Inpatient Service	4 weeks
Psychiatry	2 weeks
BC Children’s Emergency Medicine	2 weeks
General Internal Medicine & ICU	5 weeks
Internal Medicine Sub-Specialty	4 weeks
Emergency Medicine	2 weeks
Pediatrics	4 weeks
Care of Underserved	2 weeks
BC Women’s Hospital OBS	2 weeks
OBS GYN	4 weeks
Princeton Rural	4 weeks
General Surgery & Subspecialty	5 weeks

 

PGY2 Rotation Overview

This year has four months of rural rotation, chosen by R2s through UBC’s rural match process, and three months of electives which allows R2s to direct their learning interests.  R2s continue weekly in their home office when local and are encouraged to develop a panel of patients.  R2 do enhanced rural skills training and attend rural medicine conferences.

PGY2 Core Rotations	Rotation Length
Emergency Medicine	4 weeks
OBS GYN	2 weeks
RACE Clinic (Rapid Access Cardiac Evaluation)	2 weeks
Internal Medicine Sub-Specialty	2 weeks
Procedural Skills	2 weeks
Family Medicine	4 weeks
Palliative Care	2 weeks
Local Elective	4 weeks
Away Elective	8 weeks
Care of Underserved	4 weeks
Rural Rotation	16 weeks
Transition to Practice	4 weeks

 

Academic Curriculum

Academic Half Day is taught weekly, in-person and interactive.  Content is focused on practical tips and skills.  Mostly local specialists/family physicians/nurses/physio/etc. deliver the academic sessions.  We have an excellent UBC teaching space, with video connections to include residents away on rural rotations.  Resident wellness activities — created by residents — are also scheduled during AHD.  We also offer:

• Procedural skills sessions (casting, IUD insertions, suturing)
• Point of Care Ultrasound Curriculum
• 5-6 SIM Days are arranged per academic year and bimonthly SIM Codes are also arranged
• Indigenous cultural competency is provided by San’yas and placements in Band clinics.

 

Research

Evidence-based medicine is taught in both academic and clinical areas with our Scholar Faculty.  R1s complete a quality improvement project with their family practice preceptor.  R2s complete a scholar project and present their work at UBC Regional Scholar Day.  Residents learn presentation skills by teaching self-chosen topics to their peers at AHDs. Residents develop collateral references of preferred external databases and rural POC aids (like MaBAL and RUDi), to help quickly in clinical questions that come up in real-time and remote.  Residents provide evaluations of academic sessions that will perform an instrumental role in shaping the educational experience for future residents at the site.

 

International Electives

Residents can do one month of interprovincial or international electives during their training.

 

Further Training

Third year training positions are available in the area of Emergency Medicine, Care of The Elderly, Anesthesia, Palliative Medicine, Sports and Exercise Medicine, Clinician Scholars program and a wide range of other category 2 Enhanced Skills programs.

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Training Sites

The Okanagan South Family Practice Residency Program is in the sought-after Okanagan Valley. Together with 14 suburban and rural communities, the centrally located urban area of Penticton has a population of approximately 90,000 people.

Where most people vacation is where we call home. Situated between 113-km long Lake Okanagan and Skaha Lake, and surrounded by highlands and mountains, Penticton is a draw for outdoor recreation, including swimming, boating, windsurfing, kiteboarding, golf, rock climbing, hiking, cycling most of the year, and downhill skiing and snowboarding, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. With over 2,100 hours of sunshine and only 15 inches of rain annually, the area has a comfortable climate year-round.

Agriculture and viticulture are important to the economy, and food and wine festivals abound. Penticton is at the centre of the Okanagan wine country, with over 110 wineries in the surrounding Okanagan Valley and Similkameen Valley communities of Summerland, Naramata, Okanagan Falls, Oliver, Osoyoos and Keremeos, many recognized among the world’s best in international competition.

Penticton and the south-central region are easily accessible from major urban centres by highway and by air. We are approximately 4.5 hours driving time from Vancouver and 8 hours from Calgary, with the nearest larger urban centre located 1 hour away in Kelowna. Penticton is served by a local regional airport, while Kelowna is served by an international airport.