Comparing Family sites

[toki]

I am really having a hard time ranking the family sites, I keep rearranging my top 10 esp with mac, Ufot, and Queen's sites! 

Would somebody be able to comment on their experiences at any particular sites for those schools such as

- Queen's Oshawa and/or Peterborough site! The presentations were amazing, especially Oshawa!

- Mac's peripheral sites like Niagra, Halton, Kitchener-waterloo etc.  

- UofT's newmarket and Barrie, and some GTA non-downtown sites 

If anybody has any insight or could speak to their experiences in terms of learning to service ratio, customizability, calls, the city/town etc.  I would really appreciate some help with ranking (and probably others in this forum that are also in the same boat!) 

Thanks so much! 

[magneto]

My advice is that location is the most important factor for family medicine. Go where you will be happy. Go where you will have family and friends you would like to hang out with. Family medicine can be a challenging residency and you will need good support system close by.

Another advice, don't worry too much about the quality of the program. I feel that many programs only highlights the positives during the interview tour. In reality, there is no single perfect program. Each program has its advantages and disadvantages. And disadvantages only become visible once you start your residency.

UofT has a great family medicine program. You will get good academic teaching. But sometimes if you are in a big hospital, you may not get the individual attention that you might get in the smaller program. 

McMaster is also a great family medicine program. Hamilton (central program) is more academic whereas peripheral sites are a bit less academic. Regardless, they are all great sites. 

Queen's also has a decent family medicine program. 

At the end of the day, regardless of the program, as a resident you will need to be responsible for your own learning and use the 2 year residency to work towards becoming an independent practitioner. If you are motivated and willing to learn and can deal with challenges then you will do great regardless of how good or bad the program is. If you are not motivated, not willing to learn and cannot deal with challenges then unfortunately things may not work out regardless of how good or bad the program is. In addition, most family medicine residents regardless of how good or bad they are will go on to write and pass the CFPC exam and become independent practitioners. 

I hope that helps. I don't have any more specific answers to the specific sites you mentioned. You can PM me if you have any other questions. 

[TrustYourself]

.

[dreamcometrue]

On 2/2/2019 at 1:06 PM, TrustYourself said:

Hey there,

I am also kind of confused as to how to rank Ottawa, Mac, Western, UofT and Queens Family Medicine programs. I am not super familiar with Ottawa or Queens as a whole but I really liked their programs.

Any insight would be awesome.

Appreciate it in advance.

Would also like some insight! 

[Dreamer10]

Heyy guys!

Any thoughts about McGill Teaching sites in Montreal ?

[dreamcometrue]

Can anyone comment on Queens vs Ottawa vs Toronto? 

Thanks!!

[98789]

On 2/3/2019 at 4:29 PM, Dreamer10 said:

Heyy guys!

Any thoughts about McGill Teaching sites in Montreal ?

Any specific questions about the teaching sites?

[LittleDaisy]

On 1/31/2019 at 9:08 PM, magneto said:

My advice is that location is the most important factor for family medicine. Go where you will be happy. Go where you will have family and friends you would like to hang out with. Family medicine can be a challenging residency and you will need good support system close by.

Another advice, don't worry too much about the quality of the program. I feel that many programs only highlights the positives during the interview tour. In reality, there is no single perfect program. Each program has its advantages and disadvantages. And disadvantages only become visible once you start your residency.

UofT has a great family medicine program. You will get good academic teaching. But sometimes if you are in a big hospital, you may not get the individual attention that you might get in the smaller program. 

McMaster is also a great family medicine program. Hamilton (central program) is more academic whereas peripheral sites are a bit less academic. Regardless, they are all great sites. 

Queen's also has a decent family medicine program. 

At the end of the day, regardless of the program, as a resident you will need to be responsible for your own learning and use the 2 year residency to work towards becoming an independent practitioner. If you are motivated and willing to learn and can deal with challenges then you will do great regardless of how good or bad the program is. If you are not motivated, not willing to learn and cannot deal with challenges then unfortunately things may not work out regardless of how good or bad the program is. In addition, most family medicine residents regardless of how good or bad they are will go on to write and pass the CFPC exam and become independent practitioners. 

I hope that helps. I don't have any more specific answers to the specific sites you mentioned. You can PM me if you have any other questions. 

I agree with Magneto. All family medicine programs in Canada are strong and train excellent family physicians.

Go where you will be happy, having family and friends supporting you help you through the long hours and countless sleepless nights. 

[Dreamer10]

5 hours ago, 98789 said:

Any specific questions about the teaching sites?

Thank you!

Well, I was wondering what is the difference between JGH snd st Mary's ?

I heard that there is more hands in experience at st Mary's but I guess the Jewish General is busier!

So what do you think ?

And if I speak french but not fluently, will it hinder my learning exprience you think ?

Thanks again !

[98789]

On 2/10/2019 at 7:42 PM, Dreamer10 said:

Thank you!

Well, I was wondering what is the difference between JGH snd st Mary's ?

I heard that there is more hands in experience at st Mary's but I guess the Jewish General is busier!

So what do you think ?

And if I speak french but not fluently, will it hinder my learning exprience you think ?

Thanks again !

 

Sorry for the delay!

You don't need to be fluent in French, but you need to be able to communicate your thoughts clearly and understand the patient well enough to do a proper history and physical. The JGH may have proportionally more anglophone patients, but all anglophone hospitals in Montreal have francophone patients. So it's impossible to escape the French. In hospital, you might be able to ask a nurse/orderly/etc to help you translate, but in clinic it would be more difficult to do as you're often the only one with the patient (staff will not have time to come translate for you).

JGH is a tertiary center, so you will see more complex cases which may not always be relevant to a future family MD practice (more specifically for rotations like internal medicine, ICU, obstetrics). It may also be the only time you'll see a (insert rare disease here). However, many rotations will still be very pertinent to a family medicine trainee even at JGH (e.g. ER, family medicine wards, family medicine obstetrics). JGH is a very high volume hospital. However, given that there are more specialty residents, they may be first in line for procedures on off-service rotations. St-Mary's is a community hospital in the city, meaning there are very few specialty residents and you'll have more chance of working one-on-one with the staff. Family medicine physicians also work in the ICU. SMH may be a better hospital to train at if you want to be a non-tertiary center family MD. However, I am not based at SMH so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

At the end of the day, as long as you are a motivated resident, pretty much any site will be a good site and train you well!

[Dreamer10]

20 hours ago, 98789 said:

 

Sorry for the delay!

You don't need to be fluent in French, but you need to be able to communicate your thoughts clearly and understand the patient well enough to do a proper history and physical. The JGH may have proportionally more anglophone patients, but all anglophone hospitals in Montreal have francophone patients. So it's impossible to escape the French. In hospital, you might be able to ask a nurse/orderly/etc to help you translate, but in clinic it would be more difficult to do as you're often the only one with the patient (staff will not have time to come translate for you).

JGH is a tertiary center, so you will see more complex cases which may not always be relevant to a future family MD practice (more specifically for rotations like internal medicine, ICU, obstetrics). It may also be the only time you'll see a (insert rare disease here). However, many rotations will still be very pertinent to a family medicine trainee even at JGH (e.g. ER, family medicine wards, family medicine obstetrics). JGH is a very high volume hospital. However, given that there are more specialty residents, they may be first in line for procedures on off-service rotations. St-Mary's is a community hospital in the city, meaning there are very few specialty residents and you'll have more chance of working one-on-one with the staff. Family medicine physicians also work in the ICU. SMH may be a better hospital to train at if you want to be a non-tertiary center family MD. However, I am not based at SMH so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

At the end of the day, as long as you are a motivated resident, pretty much any site will be a good site and train you well!

Thank you very much !!

That was informative !

Best of luck to all in the match day