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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.
The Coastal Family Practice Residency site evolved in a unique manner, with high aspirations. A group of physicians from the North Shore, Pemberton, Whistler, Squamish, Sunshine Coast, Powell River, and ‘the Bella’s’ planned this FP Residency, to develop exceptional clinical skills for rural, remote and urban environments, across a full spectrum of clinical care settings.
The Coastal site has been developed for Residents who are excited about becoming leaders in Family Practice. The site focuses on strong clinical skills and exposure to all aspects of Family Practice. This is a “rurally strong” program with excellent urban exposure, so our Residents work across the full range of Family Practice settings. They also gain awareness of ‘social determinants of health’ in different communities.
The first year, spent entirely on the North Shore, starts with a common time together, to learn fundamentals and create a support network. Second year includes a 4-month rotation in a rural Coastal community, plus 10 weeks of Electives, which can be tailored to suit individual interests. We create a strong academic learning environment, enabling Residents to gain skills and knowledge for success in all aspects of Family Practice. Our residents also develop strong collaborative relationships, supporting one another as learners, friends, and colleagues over the two years and beyond.
First year, on the North Shore, encompasses a wide range of urban Family Practice settings, along with acute care experience at Lions Gate Hospital. The new HOpe Center, situated beside LGH, provides teaching rooms, a simulation centre, library, call rooms, and a great deal more, to support resident learning needs.
In second year, Residents spend part of the year on the North Shore, 10 weeks in electives, and four months in a rural community, making our program “rurally strong”, and creating an excellent opportunity to work, learn and live in a rural environment. Each community offers a broad range of clinical experience with committed practitioners.
Residents attend mandatory academic activities — usually a half day per week. This includes academic teaching which is a mix of clinical case discussions and core topics. Residents are also expected to do presentations. Throughout the program, we stress “Evidence-Based Medicine” in both academic and clinical areas.
Once a year, residents from St Paul’s and Coastal get together for a Scholarship Day.
In the first year, residents will be expected to complete a quality improvement project. Throughout the two years, residents must complete a scholar project and present their work at Scholarship Day.
Residents can do one month of interprovincial or international electives during their 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.
North Shore: The North Shore, where the main training hospital is located, is 20 minutes from Vancouver. It boasts three local ski mountains, internationally acclaimed mountain biking trails, hiking, sailing, many local beaches and a vibrant urban core. Lions Gate Hospital has 238 acute care beds, serves the North Shore, and provides specialty services for all of Coastal (North Shore, Sea to Sky corridor, Sunshine Coast, Powell River, and the Central Coast). A recognized trauma centre, one of 5 BC Neuro surgery centres, it has a large orthopedic trauma service. LGH provides full maternity, pediatric, medicine, critical care, surgical and emergency services. It has one of the most advanced MRI’s in Canada, and is the 4th busiest hospital in the Lower Mainland. Family Practitioners are a strong presence, as Attending Physicians, and also as Hospitalists. In the community, there are many group and individual Family Practice offices providing both full-service care, and focused practices.
Pemberton: Pemberton is a strong and vibrant community, located 30 minutes North of Whistler, and 2.5 hours from Vancouver. There are many outdoor recreational opportunities, including mountain biking, hiking, river rafting, etc, plus many Provincial Parks, and hot springs to visit. The Pemberton Health Care Centre services a large geographic area at the north end of the Sea to Sky corridor, including Pemberton, Mount Currie, D’Arcy and the InShuck communities down the Lilloet Lake Road. The Centre provides 24/7 emergency care, palliative care, diagnostic imaging and laboratory services. A group (shared) Family Practice is co-located on site. All care is provided by a small group of physicians and a team of very skilled nurses. The ER sees all types of injuries and illnesses, maternity care, critical care, etc. Approximately 45% of the patients are First Nations. One GP visits remote First Nations communities weekly by helicopter. There are initiatives providing telehealth support to these communities.
Squamish: Celebrated as “The Outdoor Recreational Capital of Canada”, Squamish has an active population with an average age of 36, and a large proportion under age 10. Squamish is situated half way between Whistler and Vancouver, an enjoyable 45 minute drive either way. Squamish General Hospital is a 22 bed acute care facility with a 9 stretcher Emergency Room. Hospital services include general medicine, surgery, obstetrics, psychiatry, palliative care, physiotherapy, pharmacy, diagnostic imaging, laboratory, ambulatory care, chemotherapy and dialysis. Family Practitioners provide a variety of services including GP anesthesia, inpatient care, and maternity care, with support from a general surgeon and visiting specialists. Squamish General Hospital is the community hospital for the Sea to Sky corridor including Mount Currie and the First National’s communities along Lilloet Lake.
Gibsons/Sechelt: The Sunshine Coast runs approximately 180 kilometres from Langdale to Lund, with many beautiful small communities along the way, including Gibsons and Sechelt. The Sunshine Coast, a short 40 minute ferry ride from West Vancouver’s Horseshoe Bay, is home to the highest per capita population of artists, artisans and crafters in Canada. It boasts spectacular hiking, kayaking, diving, beach combing, and a myriad of other outdoor pursuits. St. Mary’s Hospital, a 42 bed acute care facility serving over 100 km of the Sunshine Coast, is located in Sechelt, and serves a number of communities along the coast. This facility was recently renovated and expanded with new acute care patient rooms, ER department, diagnostic imaging and a new special care unit for high acuity patients. There is a newly renovated ambulatory care area. Family Practitioners are an integral part of St. Mary’s, providing ER and inpatient care. While there are several consulting specialties available, including General Medicine, General Surgery, Psychiatry and Obstetrics, the Family Physician is always the most responsible physician.
Powell River: Powell River is located on the Northern Sunshine Coast at the gateway to Desolation Sound, has outstanding mountain biking, kayaking and hiking and is a destination for tourists from around the world because of its natural beauty, music and facilities. Powell River General Hospital is a modern self-sufficient 33 bed facility supporting many services including oncology, dialysis, cast clinic, endoscopy full time GP anesthesia, medicine, surgery, and OB Gyn coverage. Family physicians practice full service medicine, and are the most responsible physician for medical and obstetrical patients. Residents provide in-patient care, palliative care, extended care and nursing homes, and gain experience in sports medicine, geriatrics, and chronic disease management. The ER is moderately busy and a great venue to become increasingly comfortable with emergency care. There is excellent GP, specialist and anesthesia back up. Residents will be exposed to truly ‘full service’ family medicine in a friendly community where accommodation is readily available.
Bella Bella and Bella Coola: These small remote central coast communities are largely Indigenous (90-95%) and offer exceptional primary care learning
Family Medicine training in BC presents you with many unique opportunities. We are a fully accredited distributed program with 20 training sites. 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, Chief 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.
Visit the UBC Family Medicine Postgraduate website for a detailed overview of each of the 20 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
Interior Region
Vancouver Island
Northern
IMG positions are offered at the following sites:
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.
British Columbia | |
|---|---|
Gross Annual PGY-1 Salary | $57,064.62 |
Gross Annual PGY-2 Salary | $63,659.35 |
Gross Annual PGY-3 Salary | $69,370.68 |
Gross Annual PGY-4 Salary | $74,671.34 |
Gross Annual PGY-5 Salary | $80,302.33 |
Gross Annual PGY-6 Salary | $85,734.84 |
Gross Annual PGY-7 Salary | $91,367.31 |
Educational Leave | Yes |
Annual Vacation | 4 weeks |
Meal Allowance | No |
Frequency of Calls | 1 in 4 onsite/1 in 3 offsite |
Maternity Leave | 17 weeks, plus up to 78 weeks Parental Leave |
Provincial Health Insurance | 100% Premiums Paid |
Provincial Dues (% of salary) | 1.50% |
Extended Health Insurance | 90% Premiums Paid |
CMPA Dues Paid | Yes, mandatory |
Dental Plan | 90% Premiums Paid |
Statutory Holidays | 2x pay plus extra day with pay |
Long-Term Disability Insurance | Yes 100% Premiums Paid |
Sick Leave | Yes |
Life Insurance | 90% Premium Paid |
Updated June 20, 2022
Terms of Agreement April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2022
Resident Doctors of BC website
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The program information on this website is in the language that the program is offered in.
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