Any student wishing to register with the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in an undergraduate medical education program will be held to the standards outlined below:

Applicants to McGill University's Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences undergraduate medical education programs are evaluated and selected on the basis of academic, personal, and extracurricular dimensions. The Faculty admits those candidates who best demonstrate the potential to become excellent physicians. Applicants are therefore expected to demonstrate that they possess the intellectual, physical, and emotional capacities to meet the requirements of the curriculum without altering the essential program elements. Furthermore, the student must meet these requirements within a reasonable period of time. McGill seeks to provide its graduates with broad general knowledge in all fields of medicine and competence required to enter graduate medical training in a variety of specialties and subspecialties.

McGill University will consider for admission to its medical school any applicant who meets its academic and non-academic criteria. Once admitted the student must demonstrate the ability to perform the skills listed in this document. In conformity with McGill University's Equal Treatment Rights and the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms (R.S.Q., chapter C-12), eligible students will receive reasonable accommodations appropriate to their disability. Appropriate accommodations are defined and arranged by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in cooperation with the Student Accessibility and Achievement.

The essential skills required for matriculation, promotion, and graduation at McGill University are defined according to the objectives of our curriculum which in turn are based on the CanMEDS Roles framework of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Four Principles of Family Medicine of the College of Family Physicians of Canada. The CanMEDS roles are Medical Expert, Communicator, Collaborator, Manager, Health Advocate, Scholar, and Professional. The Four Principles of Family Medicine are “the family physician is a skilled clinician”, “family medicine is a community-based discipline”, “the family physician is a resource to a defined practice population”, and “the patient-physician relationship is central to the role of the family physician”. For more details see mcgill.ca/ugme/mdcm-curriculum-joint-programs/vision-mission-mdcm-program.

• As a Medical Expert and Communicator, the student must have abilities in the areas of observation, communication, motor, intellectual-conceptual, integration, and quantization.

  Adequate skills in observation require that the student be able to accurately observe a patient and acquire visual, auditory, and tactile information. The student must be able to decode written documents, use a stethoscope with or without aids, and observe near and distant objects.

  To communicate, the student must be able to speak, write, hear, and perceive non-verbal communication. A student must be able to communicate effectively and sensitively with patients, families, and any member of the health care team. A student must also be able to summarize coherently a patient's condition and management plan verbally and in writing.

  The student must possess the motor skills required to directly perform palpation, percussion, auscultation, and other diagnostic maneuvers in a timely manner. It is also desirable that the student be able to execute motor movements reasonably required to provide general and emergency medical care.

• As a Medical Expert and Scholar, the student must demonstrate the intellectual, conceptual, integrative, and quantitative abilities to measure, calculate, reason, analyze, and synthesize the information that is gathered, and to problem-solve in a timely fashion.
• As a Collaborator and Manager, the student must be able to communicate in an efficient and effective manner with patients, their families, members of the health care team, colleagues, and teachers. They should be able to develop mature, sensitive, and effective relationships with these individuals. The student should also be able to function in various environments including the ambulatory setting, the hospital and other health care facilities.
• As a Professional and Health Advocate, behavioural and social attributes are particularly important and must be mastered. These include the application of good judgment and the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, as well as an ability to adapt to changing environments and to function in the face of uncertainties. They must be able to tolerate the physical, emotional, and mental demands of the program and function appropriately under stress. They must consistently demonstrate the emotional health required for full utilization of their intellectual abilities.

Compassion, integrity, concern for others, interpersonal skills, interest, and motivation are all personal qualities that physicians must demonstrate and are expected qualities of students.

The student must conform to the Student Rights and Responsibilities of McGill University and the code de déontologie (code of ethics) of the Collège des médecins du Québec (CMQ).