Surrey South Fraser
Site Information
Number of Residents: 12 CMG, 7 IMG
Location: Surrey and Langley
Community: 509,000
Hospitals: Surrey Memorial Hospital, Langley Memorial Hospital, Peach Arch Hospital, Delta Hospital
Curriculum Type: Longitudinal and Block Rotations
R2 Elective Time: 12 weeks
Lead Residents: Dr. Justin Fernandes and Dr. David Luu
Site Director Message
Welcome to the Surrey South Fraser Site of the UBC Family Medicine Residency Program!
On July 1, 2011, six residents began their training in the then-newly launched training site based out of Surrey Memorial Hospital. This site has grown to become the second largest one in the UBC Family Medicine Residency Program. This year, there are 36 R1 and R2 learners, with both CMGs and IMGs integrated together.
Our residents are embedded into community family practices in Surrey, Langley and White Rock for two years. In between family medicine rotations, residents will complete rotations in surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, emergency medicine, psychiatry, addictions medicine, etc. at Surrey Memorial Hospital, Langley Memorial Hospital, Delta Hospital and Peace Arch Hospital. Even while on these other rotations, residents return to their “home clinic” every 1st, 3rd and 5th Thursday of the month in order to provide longitudinal care for their family practice patients. And on the 2nd and 4th Thursday, residents come together as a group at Surrey Memorial Hospital for their academic day, where there will be faculty lectures, clinical skills exercises, sessions focused on the CFPC priority topics and some social time to bond with each other. Exam preparation such as practice SAMPs and mock SOOs are run two to three times a year to round out residents’ readiness for certification and independent practice.
Our preceptors are tasked with providing teaching based on the CFPC Triple C competency-based curriculum that is comprehensive, centered in family medicine, and focused on continuity in patient care and resident education. All our preceptors have access to teaching resources and support through UBC site faculty or their local Division of Family Practice to help them help residents get the most out of their training.
Our patients are diverse. Surrey is home to 580,000 people and rapidly growing, currently ranking 4th among Canada’s 25 largest municipalities. 59% of Surrey’s population are visible minorities: South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean, Japanese and more. Langley’s population is approximately 166,000, of which 19% are visible minorities. White Rock has 21,900 residents of which 10% are visible minorities.
Our hospitals are busy. Surrey Memorial Hospital, located on the unceded and traditional shared territories of the Katzie (kate-zee), Semiahmoo (semi-ah-moo), Kwantlen (kwant-len), Kwikwetlem (kwee-kwet-lum), Tsawwassen (tsa-wah-sen) and Coast Salish First Nations, opened in 1959 and has grown to become the largest hospital in the Fraser Health Authority, providing primary, secondary and tertiary care. It is a regional hospital with 624 acute care beds and 36 NICU bassinets. In 2016/17 Surrey Memorial Hospital saw 157,711 emergency room visits, provided care to 30,075 inpatient and 12,020 surgical day care cases, delivered 4,461 newborns, and had 165,331 visits to ambulatory care.
Langley Memorial Hospital, located on the unceded and traditional shared territories of the Kwantlen (kwant-len), Matsqui (mats-sqwee) and Katzie (kate-zee) First Nations, was built in 1948 and is currently undergoing renovations and expansion. It is a community hospital that provides primary care, secondary care, and some specialty services. There are 188 acute care beds. In 2016/17, Langley Memorial Hospital saw 47,272 emergency room visits, provided care to 10,542 inpatients and 10,510 surgical daycare cases, delivered 1,487 newborns, and had 76,792 visits to ambulatory care.
Delta Hospital, located on the unceded and traditional shared territories of the Tsawwassen (tsa-wah-sen) and Musqueam (mus-kwee-um) First Nations, was founded in 1980. It is a community hospital that provides primary care and some secondary acute care and specialty services. There are 58 acute care beds. In 2016/17, Delta Hospital saw 32,895 emergency room visits, provided care to 3,445 inpatient and 8,904 surgical daycare cases, and had 41,238 visits to ambulatory care.
Peace Arch Hospital, located on the unceded and traditional lands of the Coast Salish people, particularly the Semiahmoo (semi-ah-moo) First Nation, opened in 1954. It is a community hospital that according to 2018-2019 statistics, has 146 acute care beds, treated 53,194 patients in ER, delivered 1,263 babies, performed 112,317 imaging exams, completed 8,284 surgeries and admitted 8,843 patients.
Our recreational and cultural opportunities are plentiful. Surrey, Langley, White Rock and Delta host many family-friendly events throughout the year: food truck festivals, community festivals, antique car shows, summer music concerts, tree lighting festival, the multicultural Fusion Festival – just to name a few. The community centers, playgrounds, and local museums are modern and accessible gems. There are also farmer’s markets, berry farms, award winning wineries, microbreweries, and numerous restaurants offering an array of authentic ethnic foods. We’re home to beautiful beaches, many parks and hiking trails, hatcheries, animal sanctuaries, and so much more.
In summary, the Surrey South Fraser site is about growth and opportunities. Our family practice residents receive competency-based training that fosters growth in their skills, expertise and confidence to practice full-service family medicine independently. The communities they care for are increasing in population and diversity. Our hospitals are busy, with existing ones expanding and new ones being built. There are plenty of recreational and cultural opportunities to provide work-life balance to keep us healthy in mind and body.
We look forward to meeting you and hope you will choose to train with us. Please feel free to email us with questions and we’ll be happy to answer.
Sincerely,
Dr. Sandra Derkach
About
Contact: Sandra.Derkach@fraserhealth.ca
CaRMS Page
Click here to view the site presentation.
Learn more about the City of Surrey here. Further details on recreation activities are here.
Lead Resident Message
To all future residents,
As you near completion of your career as a medical student we would like to congratulate you on all of your hard work and success over the past few years and, moreover, welcome you to the CaRMS tour. We have had an incredibly positive experience with warm welcomes from our preceptors, physician colleagues, allied health professionals, and patients over the years. We are an integrated site and welcome international medical graduates from all backgrounds who bring forth their experiences and diversity.
The communities of Surrey and Langley have a number of highly skilled, full service family physicians. In office you will be exposed to the ‘bread and butter’ of family medicine in addition to the work up of complex patients and a variety of office procedures. With approximately 4 000 deliveries and over 100 000 emergency department visits per year (the busiest in Canada) you will also be a member of the health care team at one of the highest volume hospitals in the country. Whether you are following your own family practice patients in hospital or working as hospitalist, for example, the variety of case presentations you will see is astounding.
Unique properties and strengths of our site include excellent preparation for emergency medicine, obstetrics or hospitalist medicine as a part of your practice. Complementary to the variety and complexity of cases comes a low physician-learner ratio and a strong focus on education. The development of a new UBC medical education floor in the brand-new critical care tower serves as a great space for continued learning and plays host to our academic days during residency. While there are visiting elective students and residents at Surrey, we are the only residency program to currently call Surrey ‘home’. You will be working in direct contact with your attending and often first in line for interesting cases in the OR, ER, or on the ward. Further, as mentioned, our preceptors are keen to teach and education is a top priority. Academic days are interactive and oriented towards our learning needs. Presenters and faculty are always open to feedback and suggestions for alternative learning objectives.
While we work hard, we are encouraged to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Our resident group is extremely close knit and we plan routine resident gatherings as well as other extracurricular activities such as kayaking, snowshoeing and white-water rafting. We believe the closeness of our group is a significant strength to our program in comparison to other larger family practice residency programs. Many of us commute to work and/or have spouses and children. As such, our faculty has been extremely supportive in helping us find an appropriate work-life balance.
So, in short, if you are looking for a program that will help develop your competence as a full-service family physician in an urban, remote, or rural setting, Surrey-South Fraser is the place to be! If you are looking for a program with numerous leadership opportunities on committees and in molding a new residency site curriculum, Surrey-South Fraser is the place to be! If you’re looking for a close-knit group of colleagues, skilled, intelligent, welcoming preceptors and hospital staff, Surrey-South Fraser is the place to be!
Thanks so much for your interest, best of luck, and we look forward to meeting you on the CaRMS tour.
Dr. David Luu and Dr. Justin Fernandes