Why UBC?

Exam Preparation

• Starting in R1, residents write a nationally standardized practice exam that mimics the Royal College exam. This allows you to track your progress throughout the years and get an idea of what your future preparation needs might be.
• Practice oral exams that mimic the Royal College exam also take place several times a year. R1s are given the opportunity to observe their seniors participate in the orals before attempting it themselves from R2 on.
• Each resident receives a curriculum fund that covers the costs of textbooks, podcasts, medical apps and conferences in order to enhance your learning experience.

Emergency

• We do a lot of EM from day 1. You get 5-6 months of EM in 1st year and 5-6 months in 2nd and 3rd year. This means that you don’t spend large amounts of time off-service without coming back to your home service.
• We usually only have one learner per shift, which means that it is just you and the staff working one on one. You will not only get a feel for department flow, but you’ll have an optimal teaching/learning environment that is centered around your learning objectives.
• Our ER shifts are designed to be overlapping, which guarantees you’ll always see smiling faces of your fellow residents around the department for added encouragement.

Academic Full Day

• We will say it loud and clear – Academic FULL Day! We have dedicated ECG, radiology, Patient Safety and Quality Rounds, pharmacology and trauma rounds in addition to our Rosen’s sessions.
• R1s have their own seminars, entitled ‘Foundations,’ that allow us to grasp the basics of EM. R2s to R5s participate in ‘Core’ seminars that are designed to prepare them for the Royal College Exam.
• Each seminar is designed to be interactive and provide clinical pearls that you simply cannot get from merely reading a textbook.
• Each week, we have 2-3 residents and a staff present interesting cases/topics during rounds. R1s start with a 10 minute presentation that allows us to practice our presentation skills before moving on to Grand Rounds presentations in the later years.

Teaching Skills

• Each resident will have several opportunities to present over the year at journal club, grand rounds, academic rounds and M&M rounds, with senior residents also having the opportunity to teach a Foundations seminars to first years.
• As an off-service junior, you will have the opportunity to teach medical students directly under your supervision. We have various opportunities for you be involved in extra-curriculars such as leading suturing sessions.
• Senior residents have the opportunity to request shifts with junior learners so that they can practice managing the department and teaching simultaneously – a critical skill that is needed as a future staff member.

Ultrasound

Mentorship & Coaching

• Despite our large number of residents, we are an especially tight—knit group. From weekly sushi lunches during Academic Days to our annual UBC EM retreat, seniors are juniors regularly share their experiences and provide guidance to one another.
• In R1, each site has different ways of pairing you up with mentors or coaches to help track your development during residency and support your learning goals.
• In R2, you are encouraged to select a staff mentor whom you can turn to for invaluable professional and personal advice (and they usually pick up the beverage tab!)

Simulation

• Each site has a dedicated Simulation Training Centre. All UBC EM residents will participate in several formal high-fidelity SIM sessions throughout the year.
• R1s also participate in a 2 day POEM course – a SIM session with all the Surgery and Anesthesia R1 residents. This is an exciting way to get to know your colleagues and share different skill sets.
• The VGH Emergency Department will host weekly interdisciplinary simulation codes in the ED Trauma Bay which residents will participate in during their EM blocks.

EHS Block

• Who doesn’t want to ride along in an ambulance with its lights and sirens blazing? In R2, you will have a dedicated EMS block that will allow you to practice medicine in the field, alongside your EMS colleagues.
• This allows you to practice medicine without all the resources of the ED behind you and promotes quick thinking and adaptation skills in order to best care for your patients.

Support

• Residency is full of ups and downs (with many more ups than downs!) and it is important to know you’ll have supportive staff and faculty. Here at UBC, we have a light-hearted group of staff and residents who also happen to have a lot of fun doing what we love.
• This is evident in the many incriminating photos from conferences, holiday videos, and even rounds. In all seriousness, the staff at all four sites are incredibly invested in resident well-being and safety. Though difficult to describe in words, it’s worth experiencing. At the end of the day, there’s no shortage of support.