Western Regional Site for FM Residency

[MaryClaire]

Is there anyone who is at any of the Western regional sites for FM residency? I am wondering about the quality of training, if they enjoy living in the region, amount of commuting, etc.

Thanks in advance!

[akrobatik]

hey @MaryClaire, wondering about the same question for Western and Mac regional sites. any luck finding information about them?

[hbmed]

Having just gone through CaRMS I can say most of my info about site specifics came from the program websites, info sessions with PDs/residents, and talking to students who've been to those schools/sites (as a Western student I did have more intel about each site just by being a student here). I'm assuming OG poster probably has already been through Match day now, but happy to answer what I can about Western and Mac sites based on my med school experience and carms research

[akrobatik]

@hbmed thank you!

how different are the regional vs urban sites at Western? I see that almost all the seats at the London sites went unfilled this year. A lot were unfilled last year too. The regional sites seem more popular (mount brydges, strathroy, ilderton). Do you by any chance know why that is? Is there something wrong with the London sites? Or is this simply reflecting the fact that FM applicants are increasingly more interested in rural/EM type FM and less interested in urban comprehensive FM practise which I imagine a lot of the urban sites are geared towards?

Another way to ask/look at this; are you able to describe what makes the different regional sites unique? between mount brydges, strathroy and ilderton? also, if i were to rank some of the urban London sites too, are some better than others? by better I mean, offer more hands on experience, higher acuity, more diverse population and staff interests etc or are all sites more or less the same?

Same for Mac. The Hamilton site had a lot of unfilled seats but not so much Kitchener or the smaller sites. Any insider info about what makes each site unique?

Thanks so much,

 

[hbmed]

@akrobatik

There definitely are some big differences between the regional & urban! The big draw of regional is that it's a great mix of urban and rural that does prep you for comprehensive practice anywhere. The PD also works out of a regional site, and she (owning her bias) speaks super highly of the programs. The regional staff are known to be great, and yes, you tend to get a more comprehensive family training on your family blocks, since you're doing more EM and hospitalist (and previously OB) work during your family blocks. In urban, you have a bit more off-service and electives (all the curriculum is posted on their website under each stream). The regional sites also market that you can live in London and work in these "rural" areas, so you really get the best of both worlds. And finally, I know a lot of people from Western who liked that the regional sites tend to do more off-service rotations in St. Thomas/Stratford/ outside London proper. London rotations for surgery and medicine and OB, while great learning, can be very very busy, which may not appeal for those desiring the more chill fam med life aha. 

Mt Brydges/Strathroy are fairly similar, especially now that Strathroy's OB program has closed. Ilderton does a bit less EM than the regional west sites, and they have a FANTASTIC FM Derm. Two docs there did a lot of teaching for pre-clerkship, and another is just really well liked by students. I think at least 5/6 seats in Ilderton all went to Western grads this year because they rotated there and loved it. (We either do an urban site or a regional site as our family core training in clerkship). 

I don't think there's anything wrong with Urban in London; let's just say I ranked to match, so that's my bias here lol... There is a catch that you can't rank your specific Urban site until after the match, which some people may not love. Again, there are great preceptors at all the sites, and they generally have diverse interests. I've seen grads match FM-EM no problem, lots go into palli, OB, COE etc. The FM OB experience is probably now the best in London with an FM OB preceptor of the western sites. I know several staff that still practice rurally afterward, appreciating that while off-service you do get to see to more rare and high acuity patients at the tertiary hospitals, which certainly has its own benefits. You may at times get less hands on theoretically in a bigger teaching center, but after talking to my classmates, none of us found that an issue here - we have plenty of opportunities to get hands on and feel we get really great clinical training at Western. Patient population does vary a bit - Byron tends to have a bit of a higher SES/suburban/rural population, while Vic's population is described as "culturally and ethnically diverse with a significant focus on care for vulnerable and marginalized populations." and a bit more addictions work. St. Joe's has a good mix to my knowledge. 

I think there's probably a similar pattern with the Mac sites where yeah, the smaller/community sites tend to be popular for getting more opportunities, close relationships with preceptors and co-residents, and getting that comprehensive training. And part of it possibly is just that a number of people wanting FM aren't wanting to live/work in as big of cities, and probably are less interested in as high acuity patients/high patient loads as you would get in off service in urban areas. Plus, there is a huge push for rural/comprehensive FM now with the FM crisis, and there's a lot of money and incentives if you work rurally, and you tend to get to do more things yourself rather than have to refer out/be limited by having a ton of specialists more readily available/close to your patients. 

sorry that was super rambly lol, lmk if there are any more questions/things I left out

 

[akrobatik]

@hbmed not rambly at all, super helpful actually, thank you so much!

which of these programs did you match to? curious what your electives strategy was in med 4 and how you made yourself competitive for your site of choice. i am planning on doing an elective at one of the regional sites at western but as you know electives aren't guaranteed. did you have a spread across a number of primary care related specialties? how many FM electives did you do? happy to take this chat off the forum or privately if you prefer