Images from CaRMS 2013 slideshow. Part 3.

And last, but not least, here are some pictures of our simulation facilities in use at the LHEARN Centre this past summer.

The briefing room.

A Nightmares FM scene.

NRP.

To all of this year's applicants, I hope everybody has safe travels over the CaRMS period and best of luck in finding the right matches for yourselves!

Images from CaRMS 2013 slideshow. Part 2.

And here are some images from our self defence course.  It provided some team-building fun as well as some information / skills that are good to have in mind (even though you hope never to have to use them).

A little bit of hair pulling.

Getting it out of our systems?

Harder to explain - I call it, "What to do if you are attacked by a chorus line."

Images from CaRMS 2013 slideshow. Part 1.

We are just in the midst of our CaRMS interview dates this year.  It has been humbling to see people braving the cold (- 27 C last week!) and the snow, rain, and black ice (last night) to find out more about our sites and program.  And as always, it is a wonderful privilege to get to meet so many interesting people and find out the various paths that brought them to the point of having a CaRMS interview with us.

I am just going to take this opportunity to post some photos that you might have seen in this year's CaRMS slides.  I don't seem to be able to get the photos to behave if I post more than three or four at a time so let's just break things up in to bite sized chunks.

Here are some photos from last summer's scavenger hunt.

The starting bench at the front of LHB.

Striking a movie pose at the theatre.  Any guesses as to the  film?

One of the buildings of the downtown campus of UOIT.

2012 FMF: Toronto!

Off to a great start at this year's FMF Education Forum learning about challenges medical learners and new graduates face as they progress through personal and professional transitions and "microtransitions".  Great discussion and hope to incorporate some of today's ideas into our QBOL program.

The times (on call) are a'changing.

Just a quick update today prompted by an article I read in the Medical Post (here's the link - hope it works but I had to log in to get to this article) describing how the CMA passed a motion to limit resident call to 16 hours or less.

The idea of decreasing from 24 hour call seems to be gaining traction across Canada but I know it's a "hot button" topic where effects can range from the obvious (like changes to call schedules) to the more unexpected (e.g. will fewer hours on call in training lead to a change in the duration of training?).

I would not say I have strong feelings either way but am very interested in how this develops as it will affect our curriculum.  This article also mentions that some of the Quebec programs that were early adopters of this type of policy are not that happy with the results so far.

Please leave a comment if you have any insight to share about this.

Camp Oconto - September 2012

Well, last week marked my first visit to Camp Oconto and it was a wonderful experience.  It really was the first chance for the current crop of Queen's FM residents from all sites and all years to mingle as a group.  This was facilitated by the 75% cooperative weather (not counting the program director-powered "hurricane" the first day), the beautiful backdrop of Eagle Lake, engaging speakers, and many enjoyable team-building / communication-enhancing / medical knowledge-testing activities.  Thanks again to the organizing committee - your planning efforts were certainly noticed and appreciated!

I'll attach a few photos here to give a taste of the activities but the photos really don't do justice to the experience.  Or the memories.  It was truly humbling to see how many future family physicians we are helping to prepare.

I can't wait for next year's wilderness medicine experience in Temagami!

Receiving instructions while itching for "lake-time".

A great "classroom" to learn about work-life balance.

High strung teamwork?

An impressive group.

Back to nature.

Resident Perspective

Hello Everyone!
    I am periodically going to be updating the blog as one of the brave pioneer residents of this exciting program. We are currently well in to the swing of things and have all been learning lots along the way. This week we're heading to Camp Oconto for our annual family medicine resident retreat to bond with our fellow Queen's residents. I will give you a more indepth post upon our return along with some pictures of our crew enjoying the great outdoors...Stay tuned!

Also, don't hesitate to reply if there's anything you're particularly curious about!

Cheers
- Stephanie