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The Division of General Internal Medicine offers a two-year subpecialty General Internal Medicine fellowship program that prepares graduates for a wide variety of careers ranging from community based practice to academic medicine. Our friendly program provides excellent opportunities and flexibility to meet the needs of the learners preparing them for FRCPC certification and beyond.

Program Highlights

Queen’s offers a RCPSC-accredited two year subspecialty training program in general internal medicine. Queen’s is well-known as a small and friendly training centre, however it offers tertiary/quaternary hospital services with a large community cachement area, to ensure that you see a breadth and volume of interesting cases. You will join the growing and collegial GIM division and will work closely with a core group of general internists who are invested in helping you develop into a strong clinician, pass your exams, and pursue your interests, whether in research or other academic pursuits, or to further develop advanced clinical or procedural skills.

Queen’s welcomes equally applicants interested in either an academic or community career, and offers a variety of options for the fifth year of training, according to the interests of the fellow. This fifth year may focus on academic pursuits with protected time for research or other advanced training, dedicated training in procedural skills, or extra training opportunities in clinical domains such as peri-operative medicine, obstetric medicine, or any other clinical area of focus. Many trainees choose to pursue a variety of different clinical rotations and educational experiences to develop a deep generalist skill set, with a view to community practice. We are happy to work with each fellow to develop a plan that will prepare them well for work in their chosen area of interest.

The Queen’s GIM program is notable as the first GIM program in the country to have implemented a competency-based medical education (CBME) training program. This officially began July 1, 2017 although elements were in place prior to the offical date, and we have continued to build and refine the program. We successfully passed a Royal College Accreditation in March 2018, with full accreditation, so you can be assured that the CBME "experiment" is working well!

We look forward to welcoming you to Queen’s for your interview, and would be happy to speak to any candidates interested in our program.

Admission

Admission to the General Internal Medicine program at Queen's University is through the Medicine Subspecialty Match, coordinated by the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS).

Interviewees will be scheduled for two back-to-back 15 minute interviews. Each interview is typically conducted by one faculty member and one resident. All interviewees are invited to attend an optionally questions and answer period hosted by the program director Dr. Montague, and current GIM trainees.

Curriculum and Educational Activities

Queen's offers a two year training program in general internal medicine, accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The program has transitioned to a competency-based medical education (CBME) model - this means that rather than measuring success by the completion of mandatory rotations, as in a traditional time-based model, success is measured by a resident's achievement of the competencies of GIM. This requires a novel approach to assessment and evaluation, which has been implemented with innovative scheduling and assessment strategies here at Queen's.

More information can be found on CBME on the PGME website: Queen's CBME
And on the Royal College's website: Competency by Design

Unsurprisingly, many of the rotations you would expect in a traditional time-based program are still part of a competency-based program. Residents will be expected to complete the following rotations - however, may have educational experiences adjusted based on career goals and personal learning needs.

1 Block of resident independant CTU-K (Done within first 4 months of PGY-4)

2 Blocks Junior Attending on regular CTU (one as PGY-4, one as PGY-5)

2 Blocks Junior Attending on CTU-E (ER/short-stay unit) (one as PGY-4, one as PGY-5)

2 Blocks Junior Attending on GIM Consults (one as PGY-4, one as PGY-5)

1 Block ICU (PGY-4)

1 Block Community GIM

2 Block rotation which includes concurrent longitudinal experience in peri-operative medicine and obstetrical medicine
1 Block of additional Obstetric Medicine in Toronto at Mount Sinai
1 Block Cardiac Diagnostics (ECG/Holter/Stress Testing)

1 Block Chronic Disease Rotation (clinics)

This leaves 12 blocks of elective time to pursue your interests. In particular, the PGY-5 year can be very flexible. Options include dedicated research time or academic time, or pursuing opportunities to develop strong clinical training in procedures, echocardiography, or other areas of special interest such as obstetric or peri-operative medicine. You may also choose not to have a focus of interest, but to pursue rotations and opportunities to further develop as a well-rounded general internist. Consider your career goals and speak with the program director about what opportunities may be available – we can craft a unique program of electives to help you develop into the type of general internist you want to be.

Weekly educational oppurtunities includes Tuesday GIM Rounds – Journal Club, Guidelines Review and Case Studies. Monday/Teusday/Thursday/Friday Sign-In Rounds (morning report). Wednesday morning Department of Medicine Medical Mortality Rounds. Thursday Morning Grand Rounds. Weekly GIM Academic Halfday.

Our academic halfday covers many medical expert roles such as puffer technique, transgender medicine, OB medicine, perioperative medicine, and addictions medicine. There are also many topics geared towards transition to practice (billing, resume, medico-legal), POCUS and simulation-based learning, indigenous health, .

Ambulatory Clinics

The GIM residents participate in a longitudinal GIM Fellows' Clinic where they act as MRP (most responsible physician) for their patient cohort, and the faculty rotate through. Referrals are all urgent referrals from the community or ER, so are generally more interesting than a standard general internal medicine clinic. The GIM Fellows' Clinic is also a venue for the residents to follow up patients they have seen in the emergency department, discharged from hospital or have seen on the GIM consultation service. In this way, over two years the residents develop important skills in ambulatory care, managing the clinic, their patient cohort, and the challenge of advocating and managing resources for their patients in an ambulatory setting.

Research

All trainees must complete a scholarly activity. Below are the titles from our most recent annual research day.

2024:

"Integration of Point of Care Ultrasound with Physical Examination Teaching for Internal Medicine Residents: A Pilot Study"

"Implementation of academic half days in Canadian General Internal Medicine programs: a desciptive study"'

"Point-of-care ultrasound education within Canadian internal medicine residency programs: results of a national survey"

Training Sites

Primary In-Patient Training Site = Kingston Health Sciences Centre (Kingston General Hospital Site)

Primary Out-Patient Training Site = Kingston Health Sciences Centre (Hotel Dieu Hospital Site). This is a 5 minute walk from Kingston General Hospital.

OB Medicine Training Sites = Two months of longitudinal OB Medicine at our primary site, supplemented with 1 block of OB Medicine in Toronto.

Community Medicine Training Site = Lakeridge Health, Oshawa site.

Critical Care Medicine Training Site = PGY-4 at Lakeridge Health, Oshawa site. PGY-5 is optional, and can occure at Kingston General Hospital, Belleville, or other sites upon approval.

Policies

GIM program-specific policies are available through Elentra.

Postgraduate Policies

Life in Kingston

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