An initiative of
Dr. Kevin Clark
Program Director
Velia Altamira Vazquez
The UBC RCPSC-EM Residency Program is the largest Emergency Medicine residency program in Canada.
Flexibility:
Our program consists of 4 unique program sites based in different regions throughout the province of British Columbia (Vancouver, Vancouver Island, the Interior, and Fraser). As a large provincial program, we have access to a significant amount of resources, faculty, and clinical experiences across British Columbia. Residents are able to arrange rotations at any of our program sites and beyond (including Vancouver General Hospital, Royal Columbian Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital, Kelowna General Hospital, Royal Jubilee Hospital, BC Women and Children’s Hospital) – each with different practice styles and unique patient populations.
Support & Community:
No matter your interests, we are a diverse, flexible, and supportive group that is dedicated to your personal and professional growth. Regardless of age, background or interests, once you match here, you become part of our family.
EDI:
UBC recognizes our duty to commit to principles of equity, diversity and inclusion. We are committed to furthering Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in our CaRMS selection process and our UBC Emergency Medicine program. We encourage applicants with lived experience of discrimination and from underrepresented groups in medicine, such as but not limited to, Black and Indigenous students, to apply to our program. We have a faculty & resident working group committed to implementing and improving EDI principles throughout our residency program and hospitals.
Mentorship:
Each resident is assigned an academic coach that meets regularly and works longitudinally on shift with you to improve all aspects of clinical and academic performance. Furthermore, for each block of emergency medicine, residents are assigned a preceptor for multiple shifts. Residents receive a diversity of feedback that incorporates learning over both the block and in a more longitudinal fashion. Residents are also paired with mentors in R2 that work to develop a partnership focused on both clinical, career, and life goals.
Simulation:
UBC takes pride in our comprehensive simulation program. Residents regularly take part in monthly simulation sessions as well as in-situ simulation sessions while on service led by trained staff with extensive simulation backgrounds. Our program also hosts annual procedure days and disaster simulation days to provide a comprehensive simulation experience and learn high-acuity, low opportunity procedures such as cricothyroidotomies, lateral canthotomies and thoracotomies. As a senior resident, a simulation elective is a great way to get involved with teaching, debriefing, and writing sim cases. We also offer a new area of focused competency in simulation .
Ultrasound:
Each year, our R1s have a full block of ultrasound with teaching from ultrasound fellowship trained staff, ultrasound fellows, or senior residents. This block is dedicated to learning basic ultrasound exams with a high degree of clinical utility. In senior years, residents have the opportunity to do a senior ultrasound block, echocardiogram elective, or an ultrasound fellowship.
Research:
UBC has a strong history of producing high-quality, evidence-based research. Our residents all take part as juniors in a month-long course unique to UBC that teaches them the basis of research and how to design a conduct their own research study. Our residents also participate in monthly journal club sessions, under the guidance of staff, to critically appraise peer-reviewed journal articles.
Pre-hospital:
As R2s, our residents all take part in a pre-hospital/EMS rotation, designed to give a comprehensive perspective of emergency medicine. Our residents have lectures from EMS and transport fellows, combined with a mixture of ride-along and clinical shifts to integrate knowledge.
International electives:
Our residents regularly work around the globe. From toxicology rotations in New York or Portland, wilderness medicine in Wyoming, trauma in South Africa, or global health electives, our program is designed to be flexible and accommodating in order to best serve our residents’ learning goals.
The Locations:
It’s no secret that BC is a beautiful province. Whether you are based in Victoria, Kelowna, New Westminster or Vancouver, you’ll be set amongst a stunning scenic backdrop; you will be amazed at the opportunities for you to choose your own adventures during your weekends/weekdays off.
The People:
Our resident group is social and they get the most out of what the program offers by being very engaged in their own learning. No matter your interests, we are a diverse, flexible, and supportive group that is dedicated to personal and professional growth.
Note:
We ask each candidate applying to the UBC Program to apply to each of the distributed Programs separately. The applications may be very similar, but as each of the four sites will be ranking candidates individually, we ask that each site also receives a complete application, including a personal letter — thank you! Candidates should take note that while there are 4 distinct UBC programs for EM at CaRMS, all 4 sites interview candidates together. CANDIDATES THAT DO NOT APPLY TO ALL 4 SITES ARE LESS LIKELY TO BE INVITED TO INTERVIEW.
One of the best aspects of the UBC RCPSC-EM Residency Program is the sense of community between residents, staff and admin. Despite having one of the biggest and distributed programs in the country, there is still a strong sense of community. Residents from all sites come together every year for multiple events such as Retreat, conferences, and certain rotations. Whether you like to mountain bike and ski or go for a relaxing spa and massage session on your days off, you will find others who share your interests. No matter where you are from, you will feel at home here at UBC.
While the Competency Based Design (CBD) curriculum has its challenges, UBC has risen to the challenge and works hard to make it the best learning experience possible for our residents. Each site has a CBD working group that gathers resident feedback about how to better improve the delivery of CBD for residents. Our residents are grateful that almost every staff member they work with recognizes the importance of giving learners specific and constructive feedback within the CBD framework.. At UBC, each resident will be partnered with a faculty coach. Your coach will work with you on and off shift to help you negotiate CBD and to be the best resident you can be.
Here at UBC, we welcome a diversity of people from all across the country as we believe that people from different backgrounds bring fresh perspectives and strengthen our program. We are looking for candidates that will become excellent Emergency Physicians and propel our great specialty forward. We do not require candidates to complete a local elective to be considered for the CARMS and interview process. If you are interested in our program, we encourage you to apply no matter where you have completed your electives or schooling. The successful candidate’s application demonstrates a well rounded background with an interest and success in emergency medicine and acute care specialty electives. Scholarly work and interests related to emergency medicine is highly valued. Successful applicants often have a history of varied extra-curricular activities which demonstrate the importance of work-life balance in medical education and training.
