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The College of Medicine, while physically located in Saskatoon, is a provincial resource in attitude and in practice. Postgraduate medical education at the University of Saskatchewan takes seriously its role in supporting quality health care to all people of the province. This means training physicians to meet the needs of, not only urban populations, but also those of rural and remote populations. In so doing, the College of Medicine has developed, and continues to develop, rotations in Regina and other communities. These rotations are designed to provide educational experiences to enhance the resident’s knowledge and skills, and take maximum advantage of unique educational opportunities in a diversity of communities. All postgraduate programs are expected to develop and incorporate into their curriculum, rotations in communities other than Saskatoon. The manner in which each program does this is not strictly prescribed by the College of Medicine — but is determined by the Residency Program Committee, taking into consideration the needs of their residents, and the excellent opportunities available in other locations. These rotations continue to evolve as we seek to build stronger and better programs. We currently have mandatory rotations in Regina in the first and third years of training.
Support is available for rotations completed at other sites in the province if needed. The exact nature of this support varies with location and program. The communities involved, individual programs, the College of Medicine, and the Ministry of Health work collaboratively to ensure residents are not financially disadvantaged by the need to relocate. Temporary housing is available at no expense to residents who leave their home site to complete short term mandatory rotations at distributed sites in Saskatchewan. Please review the PGME Housing Guidelines for more detailed information.
While all residents are strongly encouraged to take advantage of educational experiences in other communities to ensure a well-rounded education, the amount and format of such time is determined by the program committee.
Our Program has a strong academic curriculum which is presented in a flexible format according to the evolving needs of healthcare education. In addition to a comprehensive approach to general internal medicine, the academic curriculum also includes bioethics, evidence-based medicine, critical appraisal and communication skills. TIPS (Teaching Improvement Project System) is a mandatory course that develops communication and teaching skills. While our teaching staff is relatively small there is a wide range of academic and research interest represented and the small size of our program provides for close contact between staff and residents.
The first three years of the residency program are considered core training. The purpose of these three years is to build a firm foundation in the practice of internal medicine that will be supplemented by either: a) subspecialty training or b) an additional year of training in internal medicine in preparation for a community or academic practice in general internal medicine.
Clinical rotations are scheduled in 13 four-week blocks per year. Rotations will vary in length from 1/2 to 1 block, depending on the rotation.
Ambulatory care experience is available on most subspecialty rotations and is also available as a “2 half block rotations” during first and third year. During the block rotation, residents pre-schedule half-day or full-day clinics weekly with preceptors of their choice. Additional time on the ambulatory care rotation is used for follow-up of investigations, reviewing dictations and communicating with referring physicians, and to pursue evidence based answers to clinical problems seen in the clinic. Evaluation of residents on the ambulatory care rotation is encounter-based, with opportunity for formative feedback to be provided as patients are reviewed with the attending physician.
The current PGY-1 curriculum, has undergone revision recently for the transition to CBD which started on July 1, 2019. For further information on Competency by Design, please refer to this website.
The PGY-1 year focuses on the development of strong clinical examination skills and patient management skills. It also provides for extensive experience in emergency assessment and management of medical problems. Junior residents are responsible for the primary assessment of patients referred to Internal Medicine from the Emergency Department when on call. A typical PGY-1 year is structured as follows:
The second core year is designed to provide a wide range of experience in subspecialty areas as well as Sr. roles of Internal medicine such as CTU Sr. Two blocks of ICU will primarily be scheduled in PGY 2 year, and 7-8 blocks of subspecialty selectives or preceptorships. Three elective blocks will be primarily scheduled in the PGY 2 and PGY 3 year.
The third core year, residents will continue to gain experience and continue to improve their consultancy skills through a number of opportunities including CTU Sr., outpatient department, emergency room consults and subpsecialty rotations. These rotations occur at both Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon and the Regina General Hospital in Regina. One block of CCU is mandatory during the PGY-3 year.
This year is designed to prepare the resident for the practice of Internal Medicine in all its aspects. The PGY-4 year offers a reasonably flexible rotation schedule which will be tailored to meet the interests, career goals, and the CBD EPA’s for completion of training. The PGY-4 year is geared towards completing training in community-based Internal Medicine.
Subspecialty fellowships are currently offered in Cardiology, GIM, Respirology, Rheumatology and Nephrology. Residents trained in our program have had extremely good success in obtaining out-of-province fellowships in the subspecialty of their choice. Chief Residents at both sites can offer guidance to gain resident perspective due to no electives this year.
Each resident is entitled to 20 regular working days plus 6 consecutive days at either Christmas or New Year’s. At least two weeks of holidays will be taken as a scheduled block and the dates must be chosen at the time the resident schedule for the year is created. The remaining 2 weeks of holiday time may be taken during the course of the year upon approval by the rotation supervisor and Program Director. If residents prefer, all 4 weeks of holidays may be taken as a scheduled block or as two 2 week blocks.
Residents are entitled to up to 7 days of paid leave annually to attend approved educational events (includes travel time). Each resident is provided with annual conference funding. Additional funding may be available to support travel costs with priority being given to residents traveling to present papers or research.
Regular examinations are an essential component of our training program — both to allow assessment of the resident’s progress in knowledge acquisition and to assist residents in preparing for certification examinations. Examinations take a variety of formats, including:
AMBOSS (formerly the New England Journal of Medicine) is recognized as the world’s leading medical journal and website. AMBOSS delivers high-quality, peer-reviewed research and interactive clinical content to the global medical community. Our program has a subscription for AMBOSS for the residents. This includes access to a question database and a yearly mandatory exam. The exam scores offer the residents a complete breakdown of their results. This examination is not used for promotion or evaluation purposes in the program but is used as a self-assessment modality.
In addition to formal examinations, evaluations of clinical performance are completed by preceptors at the end of each rotation. Overall, resident performance is reviewed and summarized by the Competency Committee as outlined by Royal College requirements.
The goals of our resident research program are:
PGY-1 Year:
First year residents are expected to identify an instructive clinical case and complete a verbal presentation of the case as part of Resident Research Days. Faculty mentors provide guidance in choosing and writing up cases. Prizes are awarded for the best three case reports and residents are encouraged to submit case reports for presentation at regional or national meetings.
PGY-2 Year:
PGY-2 year residents are expected to complete a quality assurance project and to present their work as a poster presentation or podium presentation during Resident Research Days. Collaboration with other residents is encouraged. Prizes are awarded for the top three poster presentations.
PGY-3 Year:
PGY 3 The completion of a research project during the PGY3 is optional.
A research facilitator with specific skills and interests in research and biostatistics is available to assist residents in identifying potential research projects and identifying appropriate mentors. Limited funding is available to support selected research projects by application to the Department of Medicine Research Committee.
