Do I have to have my own car as a Rural FM resident?

It is expected that Residents will utilize their own transport when travelling to and from teaching sites, both within their home site, and for rotations outside the city. A current driver’s license and access to a vehicle are mandatory in the U of C Rural Family Medicine Program due to the distances between teaching sites.

Who are my resident leaders when I match to the Program?

Your chief resident is your first point of contact when it comes to concerns, questions, or issues. Chief residents sit on all Program Committees (e.g. Resident Program Committee-RPC, Curriculum and Evaluation Committee-CEC, Postgraduate Executive Committee-PGEC, etc.) to ensure the resident perspective is always heard and appreciated.

University of Calgary - Family Medicine - Lethbridge and Medicine Hat

Q: How can I meet your Program and learn more before the CaRMS deadline to submit my applications?

Our program recognizes that it has been a very challenging for senior medical students due to the Pandemic. We want to ensure that you have accurate information about our program and various opportunities to meet our residents, faculty, and leadership team. We strongly encourage applicants to check out the following to learn more about the University of Calgary FM programs: Program website Department of Family Medicine’s Instagram and Twitter accounts Virtual Meet and Greets (advertised on the AFMC National Web Calendar)

Q: How many residency positions does the Rural Family Medicine program have?

For the 2023 Selection process, Rural Family Medicine will have 7 CMG positions in the Medicine Hat site, 9 CMG positions in the Lethbridge site. Although the Rural Programs in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge function together as one program, candidates must submit an application to both sites if they are interested in both sites. An application to add onto the other site may be considered during the interview period.

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University of Calgary – Family Medicine – Lethbridge and Medicine Hat

Family Medicine

Contact

Dr. Lindsay Jantzie

Program Director

Cassy Sinclair/Melissa Hoppe

Rural Site Coordinator

Application Details

Canadian Medical Graduates

16 Available Spots

Events Calendar

Upcoming Events

There are no events at this time.

Upcoming Events From

University of Calgary

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Program Highlights

This Program provides amazing opportunities for one-to-one learning in hospital rotations, Emergency Medicine and Family Medicine clinics across Southern Alberta as well as Northern locations when feasible (Yellowknife and Whitehorse).

The core of the Program is based on extended rotations in Rural Family Medicine settings providing 16 weeks of Rural Family Medicine in first year and 24 weeks of Rural Family Medicine in second year.

Residents experience full scope, comprehensive care with a high, but appropriate level of independence, and significant opportunities for training in procedural skills and acute care.

Residents in the program have the opportunity to obtain experience and teaching in critical care and the ICU rotation in Calgary has been particularly well evaluated and appreciated over the last few years.

High quality teaching is delivered by experienced rural regional preceptors in Southern Alberta.

Financial support is provided by the program through the University of Calgary. Resident accommodation is arranged and paid for outside their home base of Medicine Hat or Lethbridge. There is also reimbursement for travel expenses to academic workshops and out-of-town rotations. The Family Medicine experience includes a total of 40 weeks in different rural community-based Family Medicine practices. Most sites have accommodation suitable for couples and some for small families.

General Information

The Rural Family Medicine Residency Program in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge are a stream of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Calgary. The emphasis in the rural program is on providing learning opportunities that will enable the resident to successfully practice in a rural centre at graduation. This occurs in a context and practice environment that, as much as possible, reflects the real world of Rural Practice. Following our philosophy that future Rural Physicians should train in the setting in which they practice, Residents choose rotations in regional and rural sites across southern and central Alberta.

This small, decentralized program allows a focus on the individual’s training requirements. To ensure high quality training, the Medicine Hat and Lethbridge sites function as a unit of the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Calgary, allowing access to the full academic resources of the parent institution.

R1 Year

Throughout the first year, two 8-week rotations are scheduled at one of our core rural sites. Each 8-week rotation is completed in a different site so residents can experience a different flavor of rural family medicine. The year consists of specialty rotations primarily at the regional base hospital, maintaining the sense of family medicine context with weekly full day sessions in a community family practice clinic. The Family Medicine rotations have been designed to facilitate exposure to a wide variety of acute conditions and to the acquisition of procedural skills. Often the Resident is the only learner on the team ensuring access to clinical cases combined with individualized teaching. The regional hospitals are not dependent on the presence of house staff, with the agreeable consequence that on-call for most rotations is from home.

R2 Year

The main thrust of the R2 year is to develop the Resident as a rural Family Physician, building on the skills and attitudes acquired in the first year. The key feature of the second year is 24 weeks of experience in Rural Family Medicine. Most of these sites have busy emergency rooms and active surgical and obstetrical programs reflecting the full range of rural family practice. This lengthy family medicine exposure in the second year provide opportunities to experience continuity of care and the time to accomplish the requirements of the integrated programs in care of the elderly, psychiatry, and palliative care.

Electives

Eight weeks are available for electives in the first year and six weeks in the second year, allowing Residents to tailor the postgraduate experience to meet their individual needs and interests. Interprovincial and international electives are available for 2 blocks in the 2 years, with the permission of your home base Site Director and the Program Director. Interprovincial and international electives will not be paid for by the UofC.

Program Conferences and Scholarship Day

Two conferences (Fall and Spring) are held each year in conjunction with the Calgary-based Family Medicine residents. The Conferences provide opportunities for team building as well as providing more time to cover topics and themes relevant to Family Medicine with invited speakers. Costs for the conferences are covered by the Program.

Salary Information

Post graduate salaries and benefits differ by province and are determined by two things: your training year, and the province you work in. See below the salaries and benefits for University of Calgary - Family Medicine - Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

Alberta
Pay Level 1	$58,934
Pay Level 2	$65,232
Pay Level 3	$70,259
Pay Level 4	$75,291
Pay Level 5	$81,584
Pay Level 6	$86,615
Pay Level 7	$93,577
Pay Level 8	$101,114


Educational Leave	14 days paid leave
Annual Vacation	4 weeks/yr
Call Stipends	Weekday in-house – $118.02 Weekend in-house / holiday – $178.72 Weekday home call – $59.01 Weekend home call / holiday – $89.35
Frequency of Calls	In-house call: 7/28. 2/4 weekend call. Home call: 9/28. 2/4 weekend call **A Resident scheduled on Home call but who is required to work more than four hours in hospital during the call period, of which more than one full hour is past 12:00 a.m. and before 6:00 a.m., or more than six (6) hours in hospital during the call period, shall be remunerated at the rate for In-House call.$100 per day for each scheduled weekend day of patient rounds when not on-call
Practice Stipend	$1,500
Extended Health Insurance	75% premium paid $1000 per year Flexible Spending Account*
Provincial Dues (% of salary)	.95%
Dental Plan	75% premium paid
CMPA Dues Paid	$1,500
Life Insurance	100% towards $150,000 coverage
Life Support Course Costs (Program Approved)	100% paid
Long-Term Disability Insurance	100% paid for 75% gross income
Statutory Holidays	Paid days. Additional days off are given if resident works the day before and part of a named holiday.
Parental Leave	2 weeks leave with full pay and benefits; 52 weeks (inclusive of Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leaves) – unpaid leave
Sick leave	Up to 3 months or to end contract paid leave, whichever occurs first
Maternity Leave	18 weeks total (17 weeks paid to match 90% of salary when combined with EI)

Updated September 2024

Resident Physicians shall advance to the next pay level upon completion of twelve (12) months of service at each level. (PARA Agreement – Article 35)

*Terms of Agreement January 2022 – June 2024
https://www.para-ab.ca/agreement/

Lethbridge

Lethbridge is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to the city’s warm summers, mild winters, and windy climate.

Medicine Hat

Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately 169 km east of Lethbridge and 295 km southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are within Cypress County.

Resident Experience

Zach Heinricks

R2

Well rounded training is one of the big highlights — because we have the opportunity to travel to several rural sites, we become well exposed to a variety of different styles of physician work, different communities, and demographics. There are two other main highlights that go along with this that are unique to a rural residency: the first is that being a rural resident, you get to be the go-to learner. You get to see, do, and be a part of everything. Second, all the skills and approaches we learn on out off service rotations become extremely applicable when you travel to rural sites because some of those resources aren’t there so you actually get opportunities to implement the things you are learning, not just see something done once and then never use it again. This helps make you into a fantastic physician!

The preceptors in this program are top notch — they are very VERY committed to having you as a learner, and will typically meet you at wherever you are at comfort wise with being a doctor, and build from there. Aside from this, wellness is a big part of the experience in our program. It’s a mindset that gets cultivated early, and with a large amount of fun outdoor activities in Southern Alberta, this has made for some fantastic moments as a resident.

The group of residents in our program is small, but has been extremely supportive of one another. We get together as a group for 2 days, once per block for academic days which typically also involves resident bonding activities later in the evenings. Additionally, there are a variety of courses and conferences during residency that will bring the group of residents together which is always enjoyable. The sense of community is real, and it is also fostered by the program facilitators who are top-notch and will bend over backwards to support you.

Life inside and outside of residency is awesome in our program. All those extra curricular are strongly encouraged to keep going during residency (personally I’m a huge snowboarder and have found plenty, if not more time, to keep this up during residency). Traveling to rural sites really spurs the sense of adventure as well — for example while in Crowsnest Pass I decided to immerse myself in the “local” activities there and began picking up fly fishing. The moments like these really help make residency special. Additionally, some can be a bit worried about the amount of travel, or ability to spend time with family, in this program because you can be away a bit, but I’ve found there is a lot of support, flexibility, and ability to be with your family, even though you are a rural resident. A large amount of residents in this program have families of their own and are able to make it work quite well. Life in residency is great, and life outside of residency continues to be a focus and is awesome. Lastly, we are a group of residents, just like any other, and we love to get together for social activities and have fun. Plenty of dinner, drinks, get-togethers, and the mountains are always calling in Southern Alberta keeping it fun.

Frequent wellness sessions during academics are important, as well as a social committee that plans various hang out times, weekend trips, and socials is how this program often fosters wellness. There is an all around culture of acceptance, support, and encouragement that is quite evident in the program and this also really encourages wellness. As residents, we have a fair amount of pressure to learn what we need to know, but the support all the way through this process, and the reminder that we are all human is frequent, and at the end of the day our wellness continues to be a focus to help each of us be our best selves.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our program recognizes that it has been a very challenging for senior medical students due to the Pandemic. We want to ensure that you have accurate information about our program and various opportunities to meet our residents, faculty, and leadership team. We strongly encourage applicants to check out the following to learn more about the University of Calgary FM programs:

Program website

Department of Family Medicine’s Instagram and Twitter accounts

Virtual Meet and Greets (advertised on the AFMC National Web Calendar)