Program Contacts

---

Important Information

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

In order to apply for a residency position in the CaRMS match, International Medical Graduates (IMG’s) must be selected through the UBC Clinical Assessment Program (CAP). The IMG BC website provides key information regarding this process.

IMG residents matched into a UBC program are required to attend a mandatory multi-day orientation prior to the start of their residency.

 

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.

 

---

Return of Service

The IMG stream is subject to a Return of Service (ROS). Successfully matched applicants are required to sign a contract with the Ministry of Health as a condition of accepting a medical residency position. Templates of the ROS contract and allocation details can be reviewed on the MOH ROS website here: International Medical Graduates - BC

---

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. 

---

Supporting Documentation / Information

---

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

---

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 50%, interview score will contribute to 45%, and FMProC score will contribute to 5% of the overall global score. This total score informs the creation of a rank list which is submitted to each site for consideration. Some sites will use this as the final rank list while some sites will apply their own adjustments to this 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

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

---

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.

---

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

As a Family Physician community, we provide care to around 100,000 people from Campbell River to the Comox Valley. Our community is rural, diverse, and rich with recreational and cultural opportunities. The rewards for living and working here are huge. Strathcona Park is one of the most beautiful back yards. Summer or winter, mountain or ocean, the choice of activity is immense. Our Site can support your drive to learn and become a complete rural Family Physician and supports the opportunity to go out and have fun with family and friends providing harmony to the challenge of work/life balance.

Campbell River is approx. 50km north of the Comox Valley (comprising the communities of Courtenay & Comox). Our hospital care is based in the North Island Hospital of Campbell River General Hospital (CRGH) and Comox Valley Hospital (CVH).

When matched to our Site, we ask you to provide a short “bio”. This information helps us match you to a community that supports your desires and needs and becomes your “home community” for the next two years. We cannot guarantee to meet requests to be placed in a particular community.

The majority of your clinical activity will occur within your “home community” with some travel required for some specialist rotations, Academic Half Day SIM sessions and other Academic Events.

‘Home’ Clinics & Preceptors

You are placed with a Primary Preceptor who takes responsibility to collaborate with you on planning your schedule and your evaluations.  You may also be attached to a secondary Preceptor(s) either in the same clinic or a nearby clinic.

An expectation is for you is to develop competence in all aspects of Family Medicine care, from womb to tomb. It is unlikely that a preceptor practice alone is able to provide that need and so we encourage a shared preceptor model to achieve all the experiences required to develop competence in all domains of care by design rather than by chance.  This multi preceptor model also provides the opportunity to experience differing styles of preceptorship, diverse office EMR familiarity, variety of staff and models of practice including running an office and the ‘Business of medicine’.

Site Ethos

We offer a lot of flexibility to help create an experience which is unique within the overarching program structure. We want you to realize your potential as a Family Physician by identifying your leaning gaps and addressing those needs locally through rotations and longitudinal experiences. If we cannot deliver your needs locally, we identify together how and where they may be met and utilize this through elective time.

We want you to embrace your medical passions to develop competence and excellence. We want you to create strong foundations for your professional identity as you progress from medical student to independent practitioner. We want you to have fun learning by engaging in and defining your learning experience.

Our Clinical Teaching Faculty are role models for rural family practice and inspire our learners with the joys of community care. Our teachers create the safe and rich learning environment in which you and our learners may flourish. You are placed at the heart of your experience.

The shared goal of our Site and Teachers is to help you discover and develop the best version of you as a rural Family Doctor.

Embrace the opportunity and enjoy the journey.

We Are Strathcona!

PGY 1 Overview

There are opportunities for you to manage your own patient population from the beginning of residency training and to support the development of your professional identity.

In July, when possible, you begin with a month in your home clinic and then begin specialist rotations which occupies the majority of R1. Specialist rotations include OB (8wks), Child and adolescent health (4 weeks), Mental Health (4 weeks), Surgery (6 weeks), Addictions Medicine (2 weeks). Hospital Medicine (12 weeks - 8 weeks IM and 4 weeks Hospitalist) ER (5 weeks and longitudinal sessions) and Family Medicine (13 weeks). 

Each rotation begins with a goal setting conversation with your rotation lead to help define your specialist experience. Each specialist experience is unique for each learner, guided by your needs and CCFP curriculum expectations. An example of this is Surgery. If you have plenty of experience in general surgery for example and little in orthopedics, plastics and ophthalmology, we encourage you to create a surgery rotation schedule to reflect those needs. We wish for you to identify your needs and learning gaps, so we may help you progress them to competence. During the majority of specialist rotations, you will have a day back in your “home” clinic to support your longitudinal FM experience. 

PGY2 Overview

The whole of R2 is dedicated to Family Medicine and can include an optional up to 4 months Rural FP Rotations and 8 weeks of (optional) elective time. You also have the opportunity to integrate longitudinal experiences into your FM week including ER, OB, MSK, Dermatology, Addictions Medicine, Palliative Medicine and Indigenous Health clinics.

The majority of your two years is spent in the Family Medicine office. In the last few weeks of residency, Residents may have the opportunity to cover their FM preceptor office (GP Practicum) for a maximum of 2 weeks.

Indigenous Health

We have a meaningful and rich Site Curriculum which includes a local Indigenous Health education Program followed in late R1 and R2 with Resident led on-Reserve Clinics on Friday mornings.

Academic Days

Academic teaching takes place each Friday afternoon in Comox Valley or Campbell River. When non-virtual – this means travel for half of our Residents from one teaching community to the other. The AHD comprises three one-hour teaching topics, ideally two sessions led by a specialist physician and one led by residents and facilitated by a Family Physician. The Resident session supports our learners on their teaching journeys and shares learning around clinical experiences to help prepare for CCFP and independent Practice.

We cover the 99 topics, hot topics, guidelines, McMaster Modules, Behavioral Medicine and whatever your passion or need may be. We hope to keep these sessions active and learner-centered.

Each week you will have a dedicated Resident-only meeting led by the Site Resident Leads prior to AHD to promote wellness and connection through near-peer support.

We have our extremely popular Simulation sessions every 4-6 weeks, with teaching and hands -on experience around a Simulation curriculum topic.

Research

In R1, residents complete a quality improvement project.

In R2 residents complete a scholar project

In May/June of each year, Residents come together for a Site Scholarship Day and present their scholarly work to our local community

Electives

We have up to 8 weeks optional elective time available. All electives are discussed and agreed with the Site Director at Periodic Review and Primary Preceptor to help align them with your educational needs and learning gaps.  Although Strathcona is considered a rural site, residents can opt to participate in the central program rural selective if they wish.

After the CCFP exam in R2, elective time may include ‘transition to practice’ time e.g. intensive OB experience prior to commencing independent practice that includes OB. 

International Electives

Residents may take up to one month of Out of Province or international electives as part of their elective time. This has to meet the standards required by Central Program.

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.

---

Training Sites

The Strathcona Site is located midway on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island and is named in honor of the beautiful Strathcona Provincial Park that forms the backdrop and unites the communities of the Comox Valley and Campbell River. The culture is rich and diverse with music, art and recreation.

Residents will have the majority of the clinical work in the local communities and living in the area would be both beneficial and expected. Driving is essential to commute between communities. 

---

Additional Information

Number of Residents: 7 CMG, 2 IMG
Location: Campbell River, Courtenay, Comox
Communities: Campbell River 35,000, Comox Valley 65,000
Hospitals: North Island Hospital: Comox Valley Hospital and Campbell River & District General Hospital

Curriculum Type: Partial Integrated
R2 Elective Time: 8 Weeks

Contacts: Site Director - Dr. Peter Gee peter.gee@ubc.ca

Site Resident Leads: Dr. Lisa Szostek lisasz@student.ubc.ca & Sarah Wong sjwong@student.ubc.ca

Site Coordinator: Pam Blake pamblake@mail.ubc.ca