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Frcpc/ccfp-Em


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Hi everyone,

 

I am honestly one of those fools who thinks he has an idea of what to do in medicine before even starting studying medicine. Okay, I cleared that up, so now I was wondering if anyone could share their knowledge about the Royal College or the College of Family Physicians EM residency programs. I was reading this article by CAEP (http://caep.ca/node/803) that made me wonder if any of the two venues is safe to get involved with in terms of later job opportunities.

I mean, if one can do the job of an RRCP Emergency Practitioner with a CCFP-EM, why not? But what if that won't be possible in the future?

On the other hand, what if one becomes RRCP EM certified and that loses its credibility due to too much funding for a program that basically just has 2 added years in the eyes of bureaucracy.

 

Also, how competitive is each of these two these days?

 

I am planning on getting in at the UofC (3 year program), so I figured I wil go in as informed as I possibly can so that I do the best with the short time I have to be a good enough candidate for what I want.

 

Thanks!

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First of all it's not RRCP, it's FRCPC. 

 

Secondly, basically there is acknowledgment that there are two competitive training programs to become an ER physician. Speaking to practising ER physicians (both FRCPCand CCFP-EM), it will take the CCFP-EMs a few years of practice that by 5-10 years out, you won't be able to tell who is an FRCPC vs. CCFP-EM. In general, CCFP-EMs practice in community and smaller hospitals. Most large tertiary academic centres these days will preferentially (or only) hire FRCPC graduates.

 

I have no idea what your second question is asking for, but now that competency by design curriculum/education is rolling out to most FRCPC programs in the next couple of years, you will see that some people may be graduating and practising in 4 years. 

 

Once you have a certification, it won't be 'taken' from you and it won't lose credibility. Older physicians who grand-fathered into FRCPC without going through a FRCPC program or older physicians who have CCFP-EM and are practising at large tertiary academic centres (because they started practising at these centres when jobs weren't as competitive) - no administration is telling these people they need to go back and re-train or 'upgrade' their certification, or dismissing them because they are CCFP-EM and not FRCPC.

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"I have no idea what your second question is asking for, but now that competency by design curriculum/education is rolling out to most FRCPC programs in the next couple of years, you will see that some people may be graduating and practising in 4 years. "


Im highly skeptic of this part, I don't think it will actually come into play where they will allow people to graduate early - staffing issues and all that. More so i imagine you would just then have more time built into the 5 year curriculum, to further study or work on self-directed competencies.

I can see being able to take the royal college exams earlier for example, but the cynic in me thinks the programs wouldn't suddenly let people graduate and leave a whole year earlier, let along half a year earlier :S

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"I have no idea what your second question is asking for, but now that competency by design curriculum/education is rolling out to most FRCPC programs in the next couple of years, you will see that some people may be graduating and practising in 4 years. "

 

 

Im highly skeptic of this part, I don't think it will actually come into play where they will allow people to graduate early - staffing issues and all that. More so i imagine you would just then have more time built into the 5 year curriculum, to further study or work on self-directed competencies.

 

I can see being able to take the royal college exams earlier for example, but the cynic in me thinks the programs wouldn't suddenly let people graduate and leave a whole year earlier, let along half a year earlier :S

I agree here and what I've seen coming out of the RC lately seems pretty adament that there won't be a reduction in the number of years of training, no matter how fast you progress. Your RC exam is going to move to 4th year. Your 5th year will be something they are now calling "supervised practice".

 

One issue is the system (at least the academic centers) need residents to run. If people can graduate early you'd end up with manpower issues all over the place. Manpower issues are going to mean staff at those centers have to pick up the slack. They don't want to do that. Now, guess which type of staff have the largest role in the RC?

 

Cynical stuff aside, manpower issues would play too much havoc with the system so therefore don't expect the RC to support a system that results in the potential for widespread manpower problems.

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