Rural Program Curriculum
Doctor-Patient Relationship, Palliative Care and Care of the Elderly are integrated within the program using models of shared care and Telehealth. Academic course delivery for Doctor Patient Relationship is given in two workshops focusing on communication skills. A four week selective in Care of the Elderly is available as an alternative to integration within Family Medicine rotations as is a two week selective in Palliative Care in Red Deer. In Grande Prairie, palliative care is integrated into the emergency medicine block.
There will be a requirement for research activity in both years of the program, including Evidence Based Medicine projects and a practice quality improvement project.
PGY1
THE FIRST YEAR...
Starts with 12 weeks in the Regional Centre, comprising four weeks of Family Medicine within the Regional Centre itself and an eight-week specialty rotation. This allows an orientation to regional family medicine and to the community as a whole. The regional family medicine practice then becomes the practice for continuity throughout the first year.
The remainder of the year consists of specialty rotations at the Regional Centre and an eight week rotation at one of the core rural sites. Weekly clinical half-day back sessions to the regional family medicine practice maintain the context of Family Medicine during the specialty rotations. Since rural family physicians often use a wider range of procedural techniques than their urban colleagues, the rotations have been designed to facilitate exposure to a wide variety of acute conditions and to the acquisition of procedural skills. The resident will have one to one preceptor based experience in most rotations ensuring access to clinical cases combined with individualized teaching. Clinical services at the regional centres are not dependant on the presence of house staff, with the agreeable consequence that on-call for most rotations is from home and is focused on the educational experience.
PGY2
THE SECOND YEAR...
Focuses on rural family medicine, spending 28 weeks in rural practices. A 20-week rotation allows time for continuity of care and for integrated programming. Residents use a further eight-week rural rotation to experience a different flavor of rural family practice. Some choose practices close to home; however, a rotation in any rural setting within Alberta or in the Territories will be considered. The year is supplemented with eight weeks of Emergency Medicine and four weeks of Psychiatry in the home base, together with 12 weeks of elective time.
