The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce that 20 residents whose recent completion of training from NOSM’s Family Medicine Residents of the Canadian Shield (FM RoCS) program marked a first for the School, have achieved outstanding scores on their Medical Council of Canada (MCC) examinations. In fact, the scores received by this group of residents surpass those achieved by their peers across the country, and include demonstrated excellence in problem solving, patient interaction, and data acquisition.

The qualifying clinical examinations administered by the MCC are a requirement of physician certification.

Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean, describes the outcome as an outstanding achievement which is a cause for great celebration. “This successful outcome demonstrates once again the dedication of our learners and the commitment of our physician faculty in providing first-rate clinical training. We are very proud of our residents and appreciative of NOSM’s clinical physician teachers for their ongoing support,” he said.

Dr. Maureen Topps, NOSM’s Associate Dean of Postgraduate Education, is equally delighted by the first NOSM family medicine MCC examination results, and attributes them to both the high calibre of residents in the program and the program’s strong clinical focus. “We are extremely pleased by the performance of our outstanding residents. Our hands-on family medicine program is supported by health-care professionals across communities where our residents receive practical training. Our residents receive wide exposure to clinical teachers, medical procedures and environments which allows them to develop strong clinical skills in the culturally diverse settings of Northern Ontario.”

NOSM’s family medicine program is the newest in Canada. This year marks the first completion of residents from the program – now fully certified physicians with a particular understanding of Northern health challenges who are fully prepared for medical practice or additional training. From this moment on, a growing number of Northern-trained family physicians will complete the program each year.

With a focus on community-based training, residents live and learn in one of five primary residency sites as well as a growing number of communities distributed throughout the region. The unique features of NOSM’s family medicine program provide for residency training that is unmatched in variety of clinical exposure and exceptional lifestyle opportunity.

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) held its annual Board of Directors retreat in Dryden, Ontario from May 7 to May 9, 2009.

As part of the opening of the three-day Board retreat, Mr. Dominic Giroux, Laurentian University’s new President, was welcomed by the Board and to the role of Vice-Chair of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s Board of Directors.

This year’s retreat included several presentations and interactive sessions on the topics of NOSM’s Learner Affairs, Informatics, and Equity and Quality functions; Advancement and philanthropy at NOSM; strategic planning for the School; and, NOSM’s Family Medicine Residents of the Canadian Shield (FM RoCS) program. NOSM residents Drs. David VanderBurgh, Milvi Tiisler, and Tyler Christie were on hand to share their experiences in residency training in Northern Ontario.

NOSM Directors also enjoyed visits to the Dryden Regional Health Centre, the Dingwall Medical Clinic, the Dryden Regional Training Cultural Centre, and the Dryden and District Museum.

Deputy Mayor of Dryden, Brian Collins, attended the Friday evening portion of the Board retreat. In his remarks, he expressed his appreciation. “The community of Dryden is pleased to work closely with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine,” he said. “We are delighted to have the opportunity to host this year’s Board retreat, and look forward to welcoming two new NOSM undergraduate medical students in the fall. Having students and residents come to live and learn in Dryden is important to the development of future physicians who understand and appreciate Northern communities.”

At the formal Board meeting on the final day of the retreat, the Directors received reports from Board Committees, including the Finance and Audit, Board Executive, Quality Monitoring, Governance, Nominating, and Advancement Committees.

The Directors received a Financial Report for the 11 month period ending March 31, 2009 from the Finance and Audit Committee. The Board approved a recommendation from the Finance and Audit Committee that tuition fees for the 2009-2010 academic year be increased 4%, due to numerous factors including inflation, changes in the level of provincial funding, and a comparison made of tuition with other Ontario medical schools.

In addition, the Board approved the proposed balanced budget of $40 million for the Fiscal Year May 1, 2009 to April 30, 2010, as presented.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors is scheduled for September 16, 2009.

Contacts:

news@nosm.ca

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce that, following the final matching results of the Canadian Residency Matching Service (CaRMS), the School has filled all available residency positions. CaRMS matches medical students, based on both student and medical school preferences, to postgraduate residency programs across Canada. Students from medical schools across the country, including NOSM, will begin residency training at NOSM in July 2009.

A total of 38 residents will commence training this year in NOSM’s Family Medicine Residents of the Canadian Shield program. Training is offered in five main sites: North Bay, Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, and Sudbury, with distributed learning opportunities taking place in many other rural communities throughout Northern Ontario. Residents learn in a wide range of clinical settings under the supervision of practicing family physicians, specialist physicians, and other members of the allied health-care team who are committed to patient care and medical education.

The School will welcome a further eight residents starting in its accredited Northern training programs, offered in the specialties of Community Medicine, General Surgery, and Pediatrics. In addition, 12 residents will undertake training in Northern Ontario in the areas of Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine, Orthopedic Surgery, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, which are programs offered through affiliations between NOSM and the University of Ottawa and McMaster University. These residents spend a significant portion of their training time in Northern Ontario.

NOSM also offers enhanced skills training for Family Medicine residents and will have 13 residents completing training in areas such as Emergency Medicine, Anesthesia and Maternity Care, several of whom will join the School from other universities.

Dr. Maureen Topps, NOSM’s Associate Dean of Postgraduate Education, is delighted by the growth and success of the School’s residency programs. “It is both exciting and encouraging to see medical school graduates choosing their residency training in Northern Ontario. Our programs are very hands-on, with strong support from our clinical teachers. The residents who successfully complete training with NOSM finish as highly-skilled physicians with the confidence needed be able to practice in a wide variety of settings. We look forward to welcoming the incoming and continuing residents this summer.”

In March 2009, NOSM announced that all undergraduate medical students in its Charter Class successfully matched to Canadian residency programs on their first attempt, the first time this has happened at any Canadian medical school in over ten years.

July 2009 will also mark the completion of residency training for NOSM’s first group of Family Medicine residents in the FM RoCS program, with a celebration event to take place in Marathon, Ontario at the end of May 2009 to mark the milestone occasion.

For more information on NOSM’s postgraduate residency programs, visit www.nosm.ca/postgrad.