FRCPC Residency Program

About the Program

In 1972, McGill University was the first Canadian University and the third in North America to offer specialty training in Emergency Medicine.  The five-year program is designed to graduate expert clinicians who will lead the field in research, education, and administration.

Our Hospitals

The program is affiliated primarily with five teaching hospitals.

  • Royal Victoria Hospital, a quaternary care center, acts as Quebec's primary solid organ transplant facility and serves the McGill student body and the downtown core.
  • Montreal General Hospital serves as the regional trauma center, and home of the first medical school in Canada.
  • Jewish General Hospital is Quebec's busiest emergency department, with 95,000 emergency visits annually. It is among the most productive and important emergency research units in Canada, with brand new state-of-the-art facilities since 2014 (Pavilion K).
  • Montreal Children's Hospital boasts one of the most modern and well-appointed emergency departments in the country, as well as its own Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship.
  • Montreal Neurological Institute is considered one of the premier neurological referral centers in North America.

Additionally, we maintain a relationship with several smaller local hospitals to offer unique training for residents, including the Lakeshore General Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital, and the Montreal Chest Institute. Finally, residents rotate through remote hospitals for specialized exposure not available in Montreal.

Academic Rotations

Each academic year consists of 13 four-week blocks. The core units include three to four months of adult and one month of pediatric emergency room service per year. Residents also rotate through medical, surgical, neurological, cardiac, and pediatric intensive care units. Blocks are also devoted to obstetrics, gynecology, internal medicine, geriatrics, neurology, and cardiology; plastic, orthopedic, and trauma surgery; anesthesia, psychiatry, sports medicine, emergency medical services, and emergency department administration. One to two blocks per year are set aside for electives, and a total of six months is allotted for research.

Residents spend a month in New York studying clinical toxicology with some of the premier practitioners in the world. In addition, residents have the opportunity to do two months of trauma outside of Canada, in locations such as Miami, Chicago and South Africa. 

Near the end of the fifth year, residents sit for the Royal College written and oral examination in emergency medicine. In the preceding months, senior residents enjoy a lighter clinical workload while receiving intensive specially-tailored review sessions and mock oral exams directed specifically at exam preparation.

Academic Rounds

In keeping with the Royal College mission, residents devote considerable time and energy toward academic emergency medicine pursuits. Our weekly academic half-day rounds bring emergency-specific lectures from staff across all specialties, and serves as the venue for each resident to deliver yearly case presentations and grand rounds. The second Wednesday of each block is reserved for resident interactive sessions, where attending staff facilitate a systematic, complete review of emergency medicine principles in a small group setting. Every fourth Wednesday is reserved for Journal Club, where residents team up to present and critically appraise an article from the emergency medicine literature.

Research

Residents are expected to bring at least one clinical research project to publication-ready status; fully six four-week blocks are reserved during residency training for this end. Residents take advantage of the extensive resources available within and outside the emergency department to formulate and carry out their research projects.

Training at McGill

Residency training at McGill offers a number of unique advantages. Residents are considered full-time students, and thus enjoy the myriad academic, cultural, social, athletic, and administrative services available through the university. All residents who train in Quebec benefit from the representation of the Federation of Quebec Residents. The negotiated contract with the government provides favourable terms for residents' working conditions, including strict limitations on weekend and post-call duty, as well as generous provisions for vacation, sick and study leave. Lastly, McGill is located in the heart of the greatest city in North America, guaranteeing that time spent away from work is time well spent.

 

We encourage potential applicants to advance inquiries to any of our representatives, below. We wish you luck and success in your travels through the extraordinary specialty of Emergency Medicine.

Vincent Poirier
FRCP Emergency Medicine Program Director
 

Back to top

Back to top