COVID-19 Impact on Electives and Clerkships

[divinecomedy]

The AFMC Board has made the following decisions regarding the 2021 R-1 Match:

• Interviews will be in a virtual format including those for local candidates.
• The match timeline will be:
  • The Last Day of the Application Period: February 7, 2021
  • The File Review Period: February 8 to March 5, 2021
  • The Virtual Interview Period: March 8 to March 28, 2021
  • The Second Iteration Match Day being no later than: May 18, 2021.

 

Visiting Electives suspended until September 26, 2020

Visiting electives are suspended until September 26, 2020. Currently, students are unable to submit applications on the AFMC Student Portal. No decision has been made on when the portal will re-open. It will reopen 16 weeks before visiting electives are offered by the faculties. We understand the concern these disruptions may cause, and we ask that students regularly check the AFMC Student Portal for updates as they become available.

 

UPDATED LIST OF CANCELLATIONS (AS OF 04/03/20):

All students are not allowed to submit new applications via AFMC at this time.

Ottawa - cancellations of all electives (CMG and IMG) confirmed on AFMC

Montreal - cancellation of all electives (CMG and IMG) until further notice

McGill - cancellation of all electives (CMG and IMG) until further notice

Toronto - cancellation of all electives (CMG and IMG) until September 25th

UBC - cancellation of all electives (CMG and IMG) until September 28th

Dalhousie - cancellation of all confirmed electives and pending applications (IMG only)

Western - cancellation of all electives (CMG and IMG) until August 23rd

McMaster - cancellation of all electives (CMG and IMG) until April 30th (CMG) or August 31st (IMG)

Queen's - cancellation of all electives (IMG only) until May 1st

Northern Ontario - cancellation of all electives (IMG only) until further notice

Manitoba - not accepting applications from IMG at this time

Saskatchewan - suspension of all learners from emergency department

Alberta - cancellation of all electives (IMG only), all electives outside Alberta have been cancelled (CMG and IMG)

MUN - cancellation of all electives (IMG only) until further notice, CMG electives subject to change

 

UBC: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

UofA: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

UofC: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

USask: Clerks pulled from clinical activity. (Tentative restart date is April 14th, subject to change.)

UofM: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

UWO: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

Mac: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

UofT: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

Queens: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

UOttawa: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

NOSM: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

McGill: Clerks pulled from clinical activity

Laval: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

Sherbrooke: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

UdeMontreal: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

Dalhousie: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

MUN: Clerks pulled from clinical activity.

 

 

What a mess!

[GH0ST]

Is there any evidence from others to show electives are being cancelled at different universities? 

Are you an IMG? or from an endemic region? is the particular place you're supposedly heading to having concerns? (Just think of this in your mind, you don't have to publicly answer any of these questions). 

Based on the number of cases and correlating that with the reduction of electives... I actually think a proactive approach in containment and preparedness is quite refreshing. 

Naturally it's appropriate to be upset about this, but it's also important that the necessary measures be placed to reduce transmission and also your own safety. 

Good luck regardless. Take care of yourself. 

- G 

[ChemPetE]

Some universities in the states are cancelling travel for physicians/cancelling conferences. One resident here already had a conference cancelled in Prague.

I would be questioning oral exams for the graduating residents this year as well.

[divinecomedy]

(Please see update in the original post.)

[sangria]

51 minutes ago, divinecomedy said:

UPDATE: Just received the confirmation that all electives up to June 29th have been axed at U of T. Future electives could also be affected pending further development.

I have an elective coming up later this month in downtown Toronto (post CaRMS, thankfully). Where did you get this? I looked on AFMC portal and their info page doesn't have any updates so far. 

[divinecomedy]

2 minutes ago, sangria said:

I have an elective coming up later this month in downtown Toronto (post CaRMS, thankfully). Where did you get this? I looked on AFMC portal and their info page doesn't have any updates so far. 

I emailed them after getting an abrupt notification telling me my elective was cancelled. Nothing on the AFMC portal.

Hope the upcoming CaRMS will be somewhat forgiving for having fewer electives than usual.

[ellorie]

I got an email from U of T this morning informing that all IMG electives have been cancelled. Nothing in their update to us suggested cancellation of CMG electives but the situation is obviously evolving. 
 

Honestly if my Royal College exam gets cancelled after this last hell year of non stop stressing and studying and all the money I paid them, I will literally vomit blood. 

[rmorelan]

32 minutes ago, ellorie said:

I got an email from U of T this morning informing that all IMG electives have been cancelled. Nothing in their update to us suggested cancellation of CMG electives but the situation is obviously evolving. 
 

Honestly if my Royal College exam gets cancelled after this last hell year of non stop stressing and studying and all the money I paid them, I will literally vomit blood. 

that would be understandable ha. The very idea of playing games with the exam date is painful. 

Edited March 5, 2020 by rmorelan

[ellorie]

37 minutes ago, rmorelan said:

that would be understandable ha. The very idea of playing games with the exam date is painful. 

I am literally stressing so hard right now I cannot even. 

[LittleDaisy]

3 hours ago, ellorie said:

I am literally stressing so hard right now I cannot even. 

You can do this Ellorie!

To OT, I've heard that UofT officially only put IMG electives on hold, I wasn't aware that they cancel CMG electives too? 

[ellorie]

8 minutes ago, LittleDaisy said:

You can do this Ellorie!

To OT, I've heard that UofT officially only put IMG electives on hold, I wasn't aware that they cancel CMG electives too? 

Yeah I'm pretty sure they've only cancelled IMG at the moment.

[shady]

This is silly. I'm not an IMG but I don't understand the rationale of targeting IMGs specifically. I would expect decisions made by medical schools to be more evidence based than this.

[ellorie]

15 minutes ago, shady said:

This is silly. I'm not an IMG but I don't understand the rationale of targeting IMGs specifically. I would expect decisions made by medical schools to be more evidence based than this.

The travel restrictions have become very very broad here - they just don't want anybody coming from or going to any other country who is working in the hospital system.  One of the hospitals where I work has cancelled all work-related trips (trainings, conferences, etc) for all employees without exception, including those who were only going to the US.  It seems like a weird combination of a) excessive and b) closing the barn door after the horse is gone, but what do I know.

[LittleDaisy]

25 minutes ago, ellorie said:

The travel restrictions have become very very broad here - they just don't want anybody coming from or going to any other country who is working in the hospital system.  One of the hospitals where I work has cancelled all work-related trips (trainings, conferences, etc) for all employees without exception, including those who were only going to the US.  It seems like a weird combination of a) excessive and b) closing the barn door after the horse is gone, but what do I know.

It seems really excessive; if more people are obliged to take time off work to self-quarantee because they travelled abroad, that's putting the strain on the healthcare system. but what do I know? 

[GH0ST]

10 hours ago, ellorie said:

The travel restrictions have become very very broad here - they just don't want anybody coming from or going to any other country who is working in the hospital system.  One of the hospitals where I work has cancelled all work-related trips (trainings, conferences, etc) for all employees without exception, including those who were only going to the US.  It seems like a weird combination of a) excessive and b) closing the barn door after the horse is gone, but what do I know.

 

10 hours ago, shady said:

This is silly. I'm not an IMG but I don't understand the rationale of targeting IMGs specifically. I would expect decisions made by medical schools to be more evidence based than this.

I preface this by saying this is my opinion and not that of any specific government nor public health agency. 

--------------------------------

I do think this is an appropriate action because as the epidemiology and progression of COVID19 develops, history questions such as "recent travel to China" will become less relevant. With new cases developing and the international differences in emergency preparedness and testing capacity, it is a risk to accept students internationally to then work in a hospital setting. The blanket statement is likely because it's difficult to specify at this point which areas are endemic regions because the COVID19 outbreak is still in the early stages relatively speaking. 

From a political standpoint, it wouldn't look good for a school or government to bring individuals who may have been exposed and spread the infection to their hospital. In the reverse argument, if the student somehow becomes sick with COVID19 from Canada there would be fallout. 

If we take a step back, there has been significant work done already in such a short time frame in the context of identifying the genetic sequences for research, developing an emergency preparedness strategy, sharing of scientific information internationally,  as well as working on vaccine development. To put it into perspective...with the SARS outbreak, it took over 6 months for the first genetic sequence to come out. 

I'm sure there are lots of work in the background re: criteria for the release of suspected cases (think particularly of those who've been quarantined on the cruise), limitations on international type events, and coordination with government + medical facilities to ensure satisfactory amounts of equipment and testing procedures. This is setting aside the other secondary effects COVID19 has had on the economy, as well as xenophobia + other misinformation being spread. 

I do hope that no one's training will be significantly impaired because of this situation  

- G 

[Snowmen]

Here I am, stuck with about a week to decide whether or not to cancel the elective I was supposed to do in France so I don't end up without one if things go south (because France is good at shutting things down). Do you guys think I should cancel my elective so I can make sure I secure one here?

 

City I'm going to already has a dozen confirmed cases and a death. Some events being postponed.

[ellorie]

Honestly I personally would not travel outside of Canada right now. Not so much out of fear of contracting the virus, because you can clearly do that here, but moreso just out of fear of what governments will start doing in terms of closing borders and quarantines. I also wouldn’t want to be a medical learner in a strange health care system during a pandemic. 

[ChemPetE]

1 hour ago, Snowmen said:

Here I am, stuck with about a week to decide whether or not to cancel the elective I was supposed to do in France so I don't end up without one if things go south (because France is good at shutting things down). Do you guys think I should cancel my elective so I can make sure I secure one here?

 

City I'm going to already has a dozen confirmed cases and a death. Some events being postponed.

is it directly tied to career goals? If not, I would err on cancelling...

[NLengr]

11 hours ago, Snowmen said:

Here I am, stuck with about a week to decide whether or not to cancel the elective I was supposed to do in France so I don't end up without one if things go south (because France is good at shutting things down). Do you guys think I should cancel my elective so I can make sure I secure one here?

 

City I'm going to already has a dozen confirmed cases and a death. Some events being postponed.

Cancel. Europe is going to shit and will get worse. Plus if you get sick at all within 14 days of your return, you'll have to self quarantine.

[Snowmen]

Yeah, that's the other factor I've just thought of: I don't want to be in mandatory "voluntary isolation" during the start of residency.

[ellorie]

3 hours ago, Snowmen said:

Yeah, that's the other factor I've just thought of: I don't want to be in mandatory "voluntary isolation" during the start of residency.

To be fair "mandatory voluntary" is a phrase that basically encapsulates all of residency in a nutshell - so it might be a great "learning opportunity" and chance to hit the ground running emotionally.

Can you tell how salty I am rn?

[rmorelan]

57 minutes ago, ellorie said:

To be fair "mandatory voluntary" is a phrase that basically encapsulates all of residency in a nutshell - so it might be a great "learning opportunity" and chance to hit the ground running emotionally.

Can you tell how salty I am rn?

PGY5 level of salty. 

[Hanmari]

3 hours ago, ellorie said:

"mandatory voluntary"

Should be the title for a book on med ed

[rogerroger]

My view from the trenches of a place with local community spread of COVID19 is that this policy makes sense. If things progress along Italy’s trajectory I could see many medical education activities placed into suspended animation for 2020. 
 

Sucks all around. But sadly it’s an occupational hazard to experience such things. 

[rmorelan]

On 3/5/2020 at 10:19 AM, ChemPetE said:

Some universities in the states are cancelling travel for physicians/cancelling conferences. One resident here already had a conference cancelled in Prague.

I would be questioning oral exams for the graduating residents this year as well.

at my university in the US basically everything is shut down. In theory I cannot even return to canada and then go back to the US without running into issues. 

It is all up in the air so we will just have to see how it plays out.