COVID-19 Impact on Electives and Clerkships

[omentum]

20 minutes ago, ToxicMegacolon said:

Update from UBC. There is s tentative plan to get us back on July 6th for the rest of our core rotation and then we will start electives in September. Electives will run from Sept to end of Jan.

I'm really curious what is going on im the other schools and how the number/distribution of electives is changing for you

Interesting. UBC already had 24 weeks of electives so guess starting electives in September isn't a surprise. It's looking like Ontario schools will start electives around November

[Darkchrono]

9 hours ago, ToxicMegacolon said:

Update from UBC. There is s tentative plan to get us back on July 6th for the rest of our core rotation and then we will start electives in September. Electives will run from Sept to end of Jan.

I'm really curious what is going on im the other schools and how the number/distribution of electives is changing for you

Thanks for the update! Indeed, I'm also curious to know what is the current situation with other universities. 

Currently, university of Montreal has told us that we are suspended till 1st June. However situation in hospitals don't seems suitable for teaching/security so I don't know if this date of return is realistic. 

We are currently doing online courses including Pharmacology which we should have done 1 week next May and November. This way we are "gaining back" 2-3 weeks. We haven't received any follow up from administration since 1-2 weeks :p

[Haribo7173]

Sherbrooke:

Plans for us to go back on May 25th. Accommodations will likely have to be made for certain rotations (ie geri).

We’re also currently doing online courses originally planned for December. 

We have 10 weeks of 3rd year electives (because reasons) and “only” have 12 weeks of electives pre-CaRMS (so only 2 in 4th year). Our 9th and 10th weeks were cancelled due to COVID. They’re hoping to give us another two weeks sometime in the fall to make up for those missed weeks. 
Probably the one time where having electives in 3rd year might be an advantage lol.

[bellejolie]

McGill is still scheduled to go back June 1 into core rotations. For the month of May we are doing a 4th year, end of year post-carms course so we have the extra time. No idea if june 1 is feasible, given that Montreal is a hot spot (like UdeM). We're having a town hall on Monday so will be able to provide more info then. I genuinely don't want to go back in a month ugh. 

[RepresentativeSalad]

Dal's tentative return date has been pushed until June 8.  Finishing cores upon return, but no details about electives timeline, etc. yet. 

[crossfit94]

UManitoba planning to go back May 25. Planned for them to finish core rotations and then do electives like the typical timeline. 

[Sauna]

Queen’s;

“We are planning to provide you with an on-line orientation curriculum, beginning the week of Monday, June 1, 2020. That will include orientation about your rotations, the hospital environment, Public Health requirements, and our overall plans for the remainder of your clerkship.

 

• We are planning for you to re-start clinical placements Monday, June 8, 2020.

 

• The MOH requires that upon returning to Kingston, you each remain quarantined within your homes for two weeks before entering clinical placements. We’ll be meeting and clarifying with them soon what’s exactly meant by that and will advise you further when we hear. However, the main message is that you will need to be back in your Kingston homes no later than Monday, May 25th, 2020.“

[omentum]

43 minutes ago, Sauna said:

Queen’s;

“We are planning to provide you with an on-line orientation curriculum, beginning the week of Monday, June 1, 2020. That will include orientation about your rotations, the hospital environment, Public Health requirements, and our overall plans for the remainder of your clerkship.

 

• We are planning for you to re-start clinical placements Monday, June 8, 2020.

 

• The MOH requires that upon returning to Kingston, you each remain quarantined within your homes for two weeks before entering clinical placements. We’ll be meeting and clarifying with them soon what’s exactly meant by that and will advise you further when we hear. However, the main message is that you will need to be back in your Kingston homes no later than Monday, May 25th, 2020.“

I thought all Ontario schools agreed to a minimum July 6th return date?!

[gangliocytoma]

29 minutes ago, omentum said:

I thought all Ontario schools agreed to a minimum July 6th return date?!

That was never what they were saying at Queen's. It was supposed to be June 1st before this most recent update.

[omentum]

25 minutes ago, gangliocytoma said:

That was never what they were saying at Queen's. It was supposed to be June 1st before this most recent update.

Interesting - https://med.uottawa.ca/undergraduate/node/1062

According to Ottawa's page, "Schools in Ontario committed to July 6, 2020 as tentative date to resume clinical rotations" but maybe that's changed 

[Sauna]

1 hour ago, omentum said:

Interesting - https://med.uottawa.ca/undergraduate/node/1062

According to Ottawa's page, "Schools in Ontario committed to July 6, 2020 as tentative date to resume clinical rotations" but maybe that's changed 

There’s only 60 cases in Kingston compared to other cities which have way more, so I think that probably played a role in this. 

[omentum]

2 minutes ago, Sauna said:

There’s only 60 cases in Kingston compared to other cities which have way more, so I think that probably played a role in this. 

I see. Makes sense!

[PulsusParadoxus]

It also looks as though MUN clerks will be tentatively returning July 6th as well. We've been told we will be given 4 weeks notice in order to arrange travel and comply with any potential mandatory quarantines. Unsure as to what the timeline for completing Core will be.

[X Æ A-12]

https://afmc.ca/en/node/357

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.

[Haribo7173]

That’s quite the delay for the application deadline. Guess it makes sense though.

[bellejolie]

We had a townhall session yesterday (for McGill) and they are still claiming they don't know whether June 1 is realistic or not. It seems like for some rotations it might be, and others it might not be, so some students may be going back while others may not (how is this fair?? who knows). Also depends on site availability/logistics/capacity. They also claim they had no knowledge on the carms timeline and then an hour later it was published by AFMC so hard to know what to believe lol. but at least we know they have to tell us by next week end of week whether we're going back or not to give us sufficient planning/quarantine time. Montreal is such a hot spot though, i have no idea how they'll accommodate us. 

[WinterCanon]

Saskatchewan CC3s are going back to core rotations May 25th.  This is quite reasonable if things stay as they are - very few active cases in either Regina or Saskatoon.

[X Æ A-12]

Up-to-date list of returns:

UBC: July 6

UofA:

UofC: 

Sask: May 25

UofM: May 25

UWO: July 6

Mac: July 6

UofT: July 6

NOSM: July 6

Queens: June 8

Ottawa: July 6

McGill: June 1

Sherbrooke: May 25

Laval: June 1

UdeM: June 15

Dal: June 8

MUN: July 6

[X Æ A-12]

Just now, swoman said:

Up-to-date list of returns:

UBC: July 6

UofA:

UofC: 

Sask: May 25

UofM: May 25

UWO: July 6

Mac: July 6

UofT: July 6

NOSM: July 6

Queens: June 8

Ottawa: July 6

McGill: June 1

Sherbrooke: May 25

Laval:

UdeM: 

Dal: June 8

MUN: July 6

I wonder if schools will have the same length of electives or not... truly terrifying thought to be applying for the same program as someone with many more electives than you esp now that interviews are online, on-site electives will be that much more high-yield

[bellejolie]

I think udeM is also June 1! and laval is June 30th 

[Haribo7173]

Oh Laval delayed until June 30th? Interesting. I remember they were the first Quebec school to extend clerkship suspension until June 1.

[frenchpress]

58 minutes ago, swoman said:

I wonder if schools will have the same length of electives or not... truly terrifying thought to be applying for the same program as someone with many more electives than you esp now that interviews are online, on-site electives will be that much more high-yield

UBC’s proposed schedule somehow managed to actually gain a couple of weeks of pre-CARMS electives time, as the CARMS application deadline is now at the very end of our last electives block instead of partway through It  - so a total of 20 weeks now. 4th year usually starts July 6, but they’ve had to make space to finish 2 months of condensed clerkship. So to make this work about 2 months worth of other 4th year courses are condensed or moved forward (3rd years are working on some of the 4th year material right now).  

I suspect that the loss of electives is part of why some schools are pushing to get back so soon. Although I’ll be surprised if we get OOP electives before the end of the year. So all those electives might be IP.

That ubc schedule all assumes we go back July 6 of course. But given how well things are going compared to some other parts of Canada, I can’t see them holding out too much longer if everyone else if going back. 

Edited May 6, 2020 by frenchpress
20 weeks not 20 months of elective time ;)

[HappyAndHopeful]

2 hours ago, swoman said:

I wonder if schools will have the same length of electives or not... truly terrifying thought to be applying for the same program as someone with many more electives than you esp now that interviews are online, on-site electives will be that much more high-yield

Our faculty has stated that they are strongly advocating for equity in elective time across all Canadian schools. Definitely tough to tell what will happen, especially with the possibility of more waves and uncertainty regarding travel recommendations. 

[Darkchrono]

2 hours ago, swoman said:

Up-to-date list of returns:

UBC: July 6

UofA:

UofC: 

Sask: May 25

UofM: May 25

UWO: July 6

Mac: July 6

UofT: July 6

NOSM: July 6

Queens: June 8

Ottawa: July 6

McGill: June 1

Sherbrooke: May 25

Laval: June 30

UdeM: June 1 

Dal: June 8

MUN: July 6

Just received this afternoon that university of Montreal is delayed till June 15. 

[bellejolie]

27 minutes ago, Darkchrono said:

Just received this afternoon that university of Montreal is delayed till June 15. 

HIGH YIELD - thank you for this info!