Northern Rural – Prince George

Northern Rural – Prince George

Site Information

Number of Residents: 5 CMG Northern Rural  (plus 6 CMG and 4 IMG at the Prince George site)
Location: Prince George, BC
Community: 72,000
Hospital: The University Hospital of Northern British Columbia
Curriculum Type: Block
R2 Elective Time: 16 Weeks

Site Director Message

Hi, welcome to the Northern Rural site. We are passionate about rural medicine with a northern context. If you are interested in the north, and in full service rural practice, please read on…

Our site is for you if:

  • You are interested in full-service Family Practice which includes office, hospital care, ER, and/or obstetrics.
  • You are interested in rural medicine
  • You are interested in rural locums
  • You want to develop a solid foundation of acute care and ER Family Practice skills to apply for an R3 ER or GPA program (we have 4 weeks of ER and 4 weeks of ICU during R1)
  • You want a rigorous, diverse, and relevant clinical experience with lots of rural influence.

This site is probably not for you if:

  • You want to work in a Family Practice office only setting
  • You want to sub-specialize into a narrow scope of Family Practice [we do have numerous specialty clinic experiences available but our overall focus is on family practice]
  • You enjoy traffic and unaffordable housing

So what makes us unique?

Lots!

  • We have a strong focus on northern and rural medicine. This involves heavy on call responsibility and lots of training in emergency and acute care medicine to have you ready to run that rural ER and hospital once you are done.
  • We believe in resident autonomy. Whenever possible, we try and tailor the rotations and experiences to meet the needs of our residents. Autonomy = wellness!
  • We offer optional rural experiences during some of our core R1 rotations. This will take advantage of smaller communities with more one-on-one time with specialists and Family Physicians in an enthusiastic atmosphere. This will be balanced with the volume and experience of the preceptors in Prince George, one of UBC’s most established residency sites.
  • We are currently offering mentorship in rural committee work and policy development for those interested in involvement with provincial rural networks.
  • We are incorporating frequent SIM lab sessions and ultrasound teaching (COVID restrictions depending) throughout the residency.

Who am I?

I am James Card, the site director for the Prince George and the Northern Rural Family Practice Programs. I am a UBC Northern Medical Program graduate and a graduate of the Prince George Family Practice Residency Program. I am currently a rural physician with my clinical practice in Valemount. I am passionate about full-service family practice and Rural medicine. It is my goal to create a program that excels in transitioning residents into competent and confident physicians for Northern and Rural British Columbia and Canada.

Who are we?

The Prince George and Northern Rural site is one of the largest and most established of the UBC Family Practice residency sites. We have been training residents in Prince George since 1995.

Our hospital is unique for a community this size as most inpatients are still managed by their family physician. We do not have a hospitalist model here. The focus is on full-service Family Practice. Numerous community-based Family Physicians also work in emergency and many do obstetrics, including many of our graduates.

Historically we are known for extensive hands-on training from enthusiastic preceptors. There is also ample opportunity for teaching as Prince George is home to the Northern Medical Program.

I’ll be honest, our site has also been known for hard work. The call here is heavy, with diverse experiences. We are paying close attention to the volume and diversity of clinical experiences to ensure that our residents are appropriately prepared for independent practice. We produce strong residents (…and strong physicians)! I have heard this from numerous other rural Physicians and I have seen this personally as a rural preceptor, working with residents from all over the province.

The community:

There’s a frequent saying in Prince George, “I came here on a 2-year plan”. As a transplant from the Vancouver area myself, my 2-year plan is now going on 20. There are many reasons for this. This is truly a multicultural and diverse community of friendly people and ample opportunities.

  • Medical community – most of the family physicians here are graduates of our program, there is a reason they stick around!
  • Housing – affordable. Many residents buy. Enough said.
  • Amenities – the community is just big enough for a Costco, two indoor swimming pools and multiple other recreational facilities
  • Opportunity – many opportunities for spouses, children and family including a community college and a university.
  • The outdoors – truly amazing. I could go on for hours, please ask. If you are into it, chances are you can do it here. This includes things you would not expect. Sailing? I had a boat here for six years. Diving? Yes, that too. Really, anything!
  • Student loan forgiveness! – yes, you get that too as a resident here.

As is probably obvious by now, I believe Prince George and our program has much to offer the Resident who is interested in hands on hard work with the goal of becoming an excellent, independent, full service, fulfilled Family Physician who can practice competently anywhere.

If you are interested, please reach out to either myself or our residents.

Lead Residents – pg.fm.leads@gmail.com

R1 Reps – pg.fm.reps@gmail.com

I hope to chat with you soon!

Dr. James Card MD, CCFP

About

Contact:
james.card@unbc.ca

CaRMS Page

Click here to view the site presentation.

Learn more about the City of Prince George here. Further details on Northern Health are here.

Lead Resident Message

Welcome to the Northern Rural program!

We are a recently expanded program who are adventurous, don’t mind a little bit of winter, and are passionate about rural medicine. Our program, now offering five residency positions, strives to train residents to be fully prepared to practice full scope rural medicine, in addition to whatever future setting you might imagine yourself in. Many of our grads are locuming across rural BC, pursuing FM-EM or GPA training, working in rural and semi-urban emergency departments, or are focusing in Addictions medicine or Women’s Health. The Northern Rural program is overall a strong and challenging program, offering opportunity for lots of adventure, a fun year amongst your Prince George co-residents in R1, and the opportunity to create ties to some fairly amazing rural communities across BC.

The Northern Rural program consists of two distinct years, with block based learning in R1, and largely rural and elective time in R2. The R1 year is spent in Prince George, the major hub and referral centre in northern BC. PG has a population of approximately 75,000, with a large catchment area of approximately 320,000. The medical community in PG is warm and inviting, composed of many grads from the PG and Northern Rural family medicine programs. R1 is made up of two blocks of Family Medicine (combined time in your primary clinic and the Native Health Centre), with the remaining time spent on core specialty rotations in hospital including: Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Orthopedic Surgery, Pediatrics, General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and ICU. If you wish for more rural exposure, there is also the option of completing some of these rotations in Quesnel or Williams Lake. There are occasionally specialty residents that rotate through Prince George – usually R3s and R4s – which means next to no competition for learning opportunities and lots of hands-on learning. The call schedule can be heavy, with one-in-four call on most rotations, and one day every other weekend. The R1 year is at times intense but very enjoyable, the latter largely as a result of the really cohesive group of residents who help make the experience lots of fun.

The R1 year also features call-free Fridays, which offer a great chance to get to know your fellow PG residents, to spend some extra time with your family, or to get a head start on your weekend camping or ski trip. There are ample outdoor activities to keep you busy, with innumerable hikes that you can enjoy all to yourself within an hour’s drive. There is a ski hill and backcountry skiing nearby, a number of rivers and lakes to paddle and enjoy, and rocks to climb just outside of PG. The city itself offers nice walking paths, and excellent mountain biking and cross-country ski trails located 15 minutes from the hospital.  There is also an abundance of great restaurants, two breweries, a winery, and a number of nice cafes to frequent during your year here. There is often zero traffic, and so it’s not challenging to incorporate many of the listed activities in a single day after a hard day’s work.

The R2 year includes two 4-block (8 months total) rural family rotations, four blocks of electives, and one block back in your R1 family clinic during the last month of residency. For the rural rotations, you get first choice out of a select number of great rural communities across BC and NWT. Your weeks during these rural blocks vary, but often involve Family clinic, ED, anesthesia, GP assist, GP obstetrics, Addictions Medicine, Sports Medicine, and whatever else might be offered by the GPs in the community. The preceptors during these rotations are often very flexible, and help tailor the rotations to your needs. The rural rotations offer a lot of independence and hands-on learning, and help consolidate everything that you have learned during your specialty rotations in R1. The elective blocks include one block of either ED or Trauma, and there are a great number of electives offered both in and out of Province that our residents pursue. Finally, you return back to Prince George for the 13th block of R2 to spend time in your family clinic from your R1 year.

If you’re adventurous, passionate about rural medicine, and enjoy the outdoors, the Northern Rural program just might be for you! We look forward to meeting you at the virtual open house.

Dr. Max Pang