Program Contacts

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Important Information

Please visit our website for more information on the program.

NOSM U-Family Medicine (http://www.nosm.ca/familymedicine)

You will find:

• Interactive and multimedia information on our Program
• Curated information to help you in your program selection, given the virtual nature of the CaRMS selection process and absence of an in-person visit to our program
• Schedule of our promotion and information sessions
• Information on how to get your questions answered

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General Instructions

Program application language: English

NOSM University offers Family Medicine training in several streams: 

• Larger urban streams (pop. greater than 100,000)
• Sudbury
• Thunder Bay
• Smaller urban streams (pop. 50,000-80,000)
• North Bay
• Sault Ste. Marie
• Timmins
• Rural/Remote/Distributed streams (pop. <20,000, often much smaller)
• Remote First Nation (RFN)
• Rural West - Dryden, Fort Frances, Kenora, Nipigon, Sioux Lookout
• Rural South - Bracebridge, Gravenhurst, Huntsville, Parry Sound
• Rural East - Blind River, Elliott Lake, Espanola, Hearst, Kapuskasing, Manitoulin Island, Sturgeon Falls, Temiskaming Shores
• Other rural northern Ontario communities (excluding the other Family Medicine streams/communities – Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Timmins, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie) may also be considered as potential home-base locations, subject to preceptor availability/as site capacity allows.
• Integrated Family Medicine/Emergency Medicine (iFMEM)
• Sault Ste. Marie

 

Please note: If applying to more than one NOSM U Family Medicine urban stream, the same supporting documents may be used for each application. The Rural streams and the iFMEM stream require additional documentation.

Rural streams (East, South, West): an additional document (the NOSM U FM Rural Addendum/Questionnaire) with specific questions pertaining to suitability for rural training is required. 

Integrated Family Medicine/Emergency Medicine stream: an additional document (the NOSM U iFMEM Addendum/Questionnaire) with specific questions pertaining to suitability for integrated EM training is required.

 

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Supporting Documentation / Information

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Interviews

Selection Criteria

In keeping with the CanMEDs roles, please note that throughout the entire application and selection process, your interactions with NOSM University personnel may be taken into consideration by the program in their selection process and ranking decisions.

The NOSM University Family Medicine Residency Program will review candidate’s applications based on:

• demonstrated interest in Family Medicine
• ability to fulfill all CanMEDS-FM roles
• demonstrated interest in clinical practice in northern Ontario and/or rural medicine
• strong academic record
• strength of references
• excellent interpersonal and collaboration skills
• evidence of self-directed learning and reflective practice
• desire to train in variety of clinical practices and community settings
• connection to northern Ontario educationally, professionally, and/ or personally

Program goals

NOSM University (NOSM U) is committed to the education of high-quality physicians and health professionals, and to international recognition as a leader in distributed, learning-centred, community-engaged education and research.

The NOSM U Family Medicine Residency Program's vision is to educate physicians based on the CanMEDS-FM roles to develop the skills and attitudes necessary to deliver excellent, culturally respectful health care to the communities of northern Ontario, including rural and remote areas.

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 family medicine (e.g. FM rotations, electives, scholarly activities, conference involvement and/or other related work or life experiences). We are seeking candidates who possess superior clinical and 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 behaviour -- inclusive of responsibility, respect, and self-awareness.

Our selection process has been developed to identify candidates well suited to our program. As a socially accountable medical university, accountable to the needs and the diversity of the populations of northern Ontario, candidates best suited to the NOSM U Family Medicine Residency Program are those with a vested interest in rural medicine, who can adapt and thrive in a hands-on, distributed residency program that requires flexibility and some travel away from their primary location of residence. At times, you will train in environments with fewer learners, which affords excellent first-in-line, hands-on experiences.

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 residency 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 U team members may be taken into consideration by the selection committee and 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

The Sault Ste Marie three-year integrated Family Medicine/Emergency Medicine program (iFMEM) builds on the strengths of Sault Ste Marie as a Family Medicine (FM) stream. This community already delivers a robust curriculum that provides residents with the competencies required to complete the two-year FM program. By using an integrated approach, residents who match to this rigorous three-year integrated stream will also receive training to help them achieve the competencies required for CCFM (EM) certification. The clinical curriculum for both certifications will be delivered longitudinally allowing earlier intensive emergency medicine exposure and ongoing family medicine training throughout the three years of the program. 

This exciting PGY1 entry, three-year program is designed to train family physicians to deliver comprehensive patient care while developing the confidence and skills necessary to manage and work in a high acuity emergency room setting. Recognizing that the current physician shortage in smaller communities has led to emergency room closures, residents who match to this stream will spend time in rural communities with family physicians who work both in community clinics and emergency departments. In doing so, we expect that this will help shape the resident’s professional identity. During all three years of the program, residents will train in the emergency department regularly, and experience comprehensive family medicine.  Highlights of this program include training in core and resuscitative POCUS, HALO procedural training and longitudinal simulation experiences.

Sault Ste. Marie is a smaller urban community in Northern Ontario with a population of approximately 78,000 people. It is located on the St. Mary’s River, approximately 300 kms west of Sudbury, and just north of the United States border. It is in the traditional territory of the Anishnaabeg, specifically Garden River First Nation and Batchewana First Nation, as well as the Métis people. A well established teaching site for NOSM University, Sault Ste. Marie offers Family Medicine residents an opportunity to train in Ontario’s largest multi-specialty/multi-disciplinary health care organization, Group Health Centre, as well as various Family Health Teams. There is excellent learner support locally through its site administrative coordinator and dedicated, enthusiastic preceptors. Sault Ste. Marie hosts NOSM University clinical clerks for 8 months of the year and many elective learners, providing opportunities for layered learning with Family Medicine residents actively participating in the teaching of medical students.  

The Sault Area Hospital (SAH) is a one-site hospital, which opened its doors in 2012. With approximately 300 beds, it provides primary, secondary, and select tertiary services to residents in Sault Ste. Marie and the district of Algoma. SAH provides core services in Emergency and Critical Care; Cardiac; Medicine; Surgery; Obstetrics, Maternity and Pediatrics; Mental Health and Addictions; Complex Continuing Care; and Rehabilitation. With this complement of services, all FM core rotations are available locally in addition to numerous elective opportunities. There are few specialty residents in the Sault and therefore FM residents have ample opportunity to be first call during off service rotations and get great exposure and learning in clinics, procedures and surgeries. To promote continuity of care in FM, in addition to the 32 weeks (8 blocks) of FM exposure, residents return to their assigned FM clinic for 2 half days back per 4-week off service block (while in their home base), for the duration of their training.

The SAH has a busy, community Emergency Department and currently functions as a community training site for the NOSM University FM/EM program.  The hospital has a 43 bed emergency department that sees 120-140 visits per day and a wide variety of cases from CTAS1 to CTAS5.  The ED experiences a high acuity of patients with excellent specialist support and a low number of specialty residents ensuring excellent hands-on exposure to procedures and CTAS1 patients while maintaining a low learner to preceptor ratio. To achieve continuous exposure to EM over the duration of the 3 year program, residents can expect to have regularly scheduled EM shifts over the course of their 8 FM blocks, averaging 1-2 per week, in addition to their 28 weeks (7 blocks) in Emergency Medicine.

 

Additional highlights include:

• Early integration as a key member of an interdisciplinary healthcare team dedicated to professionalism, high-quality patient care and excellent medical education
• 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
• Opportunities to participate in scholarly activity under expert guidance
• Housing support for core rotations away from home base/primary residence for up to 6 months per academic year
• Funding available for scholarly activity, professional development and conference participation
• Initial block of training focused on transition to residency to ensure successful progression through the three years of training
• An academic curriculum with protected time for academic sessions mapped to the CFPC Priority Topics
• Access to POCUS bootcamp training and procedural skills labs
• Access to formative, interactive Simulation Series throughout the program, in addition to three separate two-day simulation events during year 3
• The NOSM U FM/EM program is a national leader in Point of Care Ultrasound training.  Emergency Ultrasound training includes the EDE course as well as CPOCUS Core IP and Resuscitation track training. 
• Funding to access ACLS and NRP, and one other CME accredited advanced resuscitation course such as ATLS or PALS
• Access to advanced technology and informatics that allows 24/7 access to electronic search engines, and 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 3 years.

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

Program Overview 

The NOSM University (NOSM U) Family Medicine program is an accredited program of the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC). We follow the Triple C competency-based curriculum in all of our training streams. Utilizing the CanMEDS-FM competencies, along with the CFPC's Priority Topics and Skills Dimensions, our curriculum is built with community Family Medicine in mind. All of our rotations are largely community based, with several opportunities within our hospitals. The vast majority of teaching is provided by family physicians. Comprehensiveness of practice, along with continuity of care and education are central to our work. All residents will receive ongoing coaching and feedback, both informally and formally through our workplace-based assessment methods. Regularly scheduled periodic reviews provide an opportunity for self-reflection and coaching from a Competency Coach. Candidates who are self-directed and engage in reflective practice are particularly suited to our residency program.

 

Clinical Curriculum

As much as possible, rotation experiences will be provided in Sault Ste Marie (SSM). To improve the diversity and richness of clinical experiences, residents will spend 8 weeks per year in each of the three years in a rural setting with an emergency department and will be paired with community preceptors providing both primary care and emergent/urgent care. These are mandatory experiences with housing to be provided by the program. Other rotations requiring travel will include Trauma, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, and a tertiary block of ICU. 

 

PGY1 Rotations (Subject to change)

Rotation	Duration (weeks)	Additional Information
Community Family Medicine (FM)	12	This rotation will provide the resident with exposure to comprehensive community family medicine. Time will be protected to provide exposure to emergency department shifts (1-2 per week, likely evening/weekend shifts).
Emergency Medicine (EM)	4	This rotation will provide the resident with regular shifts in the emergency department. Residents will return to their home FM clinic one half day every 2 weeks.
Internal medicine/Hospitalist medicine	8	To be completed in SSM. These experiences will build skills around managing acutely unwell patients.
Rural FM/EM	8	These experiences will occur outside of SSM, in a community identified by the program as providing wholesome experiences in both FM and EM.
Obstetrics/gynecology	4	To be completed in SSM, as determined by capacity.
Surgical selective (eg. Gen surgery, Orthopedics, Plastics)	4	To be completed in SSM, with an option of securing a selective outside of the community, as requested by the learner.
Pediatrics	4	To be completed in SSM
Mental Health	4	To be completed in SSM
Elective	4	To be completed in or out of SSM

 

 PGY2 Rotations (Subject to change)

Rotation	Duration (weeks)	Additional information
Community Family medicine (FM)	16	This rotation will provide the resident with exposure to comprehensive community family medicine. Time will be protected to provide exposure to emergency department shifts (1-2 per week).
Emergency medicine (EM)	8	These blocks will provide the resident with regular shifts in the emergency department. Residents will return to their home FM clinic one half day every 2 weeks.
Rural FM/EM	8	These experiences will occur outside of SSM, in a community identified by the program as providing wholesome experiences in both FM and EM.
Intensive Care	4	To be completed in SSM, as capacity allows.
Pediatrics	4	To be completed in SSM.
Anesthesiology	4	To be completed in SSM.
Obstetrics/gynecology	4	To be completed in SSM, as determined by capacity.
Elective	4	To be completed in or out of SSM.

 

PGY3 Rotations (subject to change)

Rotation	Duration (weeks)	Additional information
Community Family medicine (FM)	4	This rotation will provide the resident with exposure to comprehensive community family medicine.
Emergency medicine (EM)	16	This rotation will provide the resident with regular shifts in the emergency department. Residents will return to their home FM clinic one half day every 2 weeks.
Rural FM/EM	8	These experiences will occur outside of SSM, in a community identified by the program as providing wholesome experiences in both FM and EM.
Intensive care	8	4 weeks will be completed in SSM and an additional 4 weeks will be completed in a tertiary centre (either Sudbury or Thunder Bay).
Ortho/plastics	4	To be completed in SSM, based on capacity.
Trauma	4	To be completed in Toronto.
Pediatric Emergency	4	To be completed in Ottawa.
Elective	4	To be completed in or out of SSM.

 

Academic Program

The Family Medicine academic program consists of academic sessions, courses, and a transition to residency block. Residents regularly have protected time for virtual teaching, separate from clinical duties. Additionally, there are in person sessions at the end of blocks periodically through the year. These sessions will cover the vast majority of CFPC's Priority Topics, along with some hands-on skills including simulations, procedural skills and other small group learning. In person academics occur on campus in Sudbury or Thunder Bay and are mandatory. 

In the first year of residency, all residents will participate in the Core Curriculum offered to all NOSM U residents, across all specialties, which will cover key topics such as the Resident as Teacher, Indigenous health, medical errors and patient safety, etc. In addition, specific sessions in second year will be tailored to preparation for CFPC examination. In the third year of the program, residents will have access to POCUS bootcamp training and enhanced procedural skills labs, and will participate in formative, interactive two-day simulation events. 

The NOSM U Family Medicine Residency program also provides financial support for residents to obtain certification in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) and Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP).  Residents are also provided with some financial support through the Resident Reimbursement Fund (RRF) to attend other courses or conferences such as Family Medicine Forum (FMF) and Society of Rural Physicians Rural and Remote Medicine Conference (SRPC).

Other learning sessions, virtual or in-person, are scattered throughout the year to address learning needs.

We value the importance of wellness and encourage protected time for residents to gather and dialogue with each other on a regular basis.

Resident Wellness

The mission of the Wellness Program is to assist our residents in achieving the knowledge and skills to develop healthy and productive professional identities during this important transitional time. The framework of the program includes occupational/academic health, physical health, emotional health and social health.

Our highest priority is providing and coordinating supports for residents who have specific health needs, whether pre-existing or arising during residency. Wellness Program personnel will assist residents with finding and coordinating health resources, as well as working with residency programs to accommodate the learning and training environment if needed. The program also includes proactive components for all residents such as: a wellness curriculum, promoting safe housing and transportation, ensuring your duty hour and leave protections are respected, cultural supports, and guidance with developing a healthy and productive professional identity.

Scholarly Activity

While the role of scholar will evolve throughout the three-year program, a number of activities are planned in the program:

• Scholarly activity, including research and quality improvement (QI), supported by a Tutor
• Ongoing didactic and small group sessions focused on Evidence-Based Medicine, Research and Quality Improvement
• The opportunity to participate in Resident Research Day, where everyone will share their scholarly activity with peers.

These activities contribute to the development of effective teaching practices, formulating and investigating scholarly questions, and disseminating and communicating knowledge to professional audiences.  Residents also contribute to the quality improvement of the Family medicine program by providing feedback on the clinical experiences and academic curriculum; this data is collected and utilized by the program to augment the overall program curriculum.  

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Additional Information

To learn more about northern Ontario, please visit the "Wider Campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine" webpage. 

To learn more about our Program - visit us at http://www.nosm.ca/familymedicine and https://wanted.nosm.ca/

Video: A Powerful Voice for Primary Care in Canada - Family Medicine at NOSM University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQuiAvpPZJk