Enhanced Skills Program: Emergency Medicine

The Enhanced Skills training in Emergency Medicine at the University of Toronto is designed to:

  • provide family physicians with competencies in critical care skills necessary to manage acute illness and injuries.
  • provide physicians with strong foundational understanding of clinical emergency medicine along with leadership, research, and teaching skills to be able to practice in any type of setting.

This one-year program is based in both academic and community teaching centres across the city with the opportunities to complete rural rotations.

Core rotations include emergency medicine (5 months, including 2 months paediatric emergency medicine), trauma at St. Michael’s Hospital (Unity Health), anaesthesia, plastics/orthopaedics, ICU (2 months) CCU (1 month), POCUS (1 month) and one elective (1 month).

Tuesdays are academic days with case-based workshops, resident case presentations, and grand rounds. Residents are expected to design a research project/audit, which is due at the end of the year. There are monthly journal clubs, practice readiness sessions, and a structured mock exam process. The program has a strong simulation program along with several procedural and hands-on boot camps.

The CCFP-EM Toronto Simulation program is run longitudinally throughout the year, and integrates high-fidelity simulation with the latest technology, embedded standardized patients, and high yield content. Both medical objectives and crisis resource management skills are core to each session. Many of our instructors have advanced training in simulation and participate in regular faculty development to ensure our teaching is evidence-based and encompasses adult learning theories.

Program Director: Dr. Amna Karabegovic
Program Assistant Director: Dr. Carly Ng
Contact the Program Assistant here.

Program and Application Eligibility

Trainees currently enrolled in a Family Medicine accredited program, who hold a postgraduate education certificate of registration or equivalent in their province are eligible for the Match. N.B.: Those enrolled in a PGY3 Enhanced Skills Program at the time of application are NOT eligible to apply to another PGY3 Enhanced Skills position.

Practicing Family Physicians are not eligible for the PGY3 FM Emergency Medicine Match but may access PGY3 FM Emergency Medicine training via the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's Re-Entry program. Re-Entry Program information is available at the following website: Re-Entry Program Information

Off-cycle applicants: PGY2 residents with completion dates between July 1 and December 31, 2025 are also eligible but must declare their completion date on the application form and request a late start.  They may only apply to the match one time. Off-cycle applicants will remain eligible to apply to the following year's match recognizing that they may have obtained an independent practice license in the interim period.

Residents currently enrolled in ACGME accredited Family Medicine residency programs in the U.S. who are Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents may apply to the PGY3 FM Emergency Medicine Match if they meet the CFPC requirements outlined on the College of Family Physicians of Canada website.

For further information please contact the program director or program assistant (see contact details listed above).

Application Information:

General Curriculum Considerations

  • Incoming residents should have a familiarity with basic ED ultrasound prior to the start of the program.
  • Involvement in cardiac arrests should be part of each resident's responsibilities during the rotations in the Adult Emergency Department, as well as during the Pediatric Emergency and CCU rotations.
  • Several options are available for the required scholarly project including collaborating in clinical research/QI projects and participating in a leadership course.
  • Each resident should be involved in journal reviews, seminar presentations and teaching of interns and medical students.
  • During the year, each resident should attend at least one CME program in emergency medicine (maximum of 5 days).
  • Each resident will be expected to attend weekly core Tuesday morning teaching sessions.
  • Each resident may have a regular half day per week throughout the year during which he/she returns to work in his/her base hospital Family Practice Unit.
  • An EDE Ultrasound bootcamp will be offered.
  • Patient simulation laboratory sessions occur monthly on Tuesday afternoons.

Rotations

  • General Emergency Department: 12 weeks
  • Paediatric Emergency Department: 8 weeks
  • Anaesthesia (Adult and Paediatric): 4 weeks
  • Orthopaedics and Plastics: 4 weeks
  • Elective: 4 weeks
  • Intensive Care Unit: 8 weeks
  • Coronary Care Unit: 4 weeks
  • Trauma: 4 weeks
  • ED Ultrasound: 4 weeks

For complete details, please read the program goals and objectives.

Other areas such as ENT, ophthalmology, radiology, psychiatry, etc., may be incorporated into these rotations.

Evaluations

POstgraduate Web Evaluation and Registration System (POWER): POWER is an Internet based registration and evaluation service for Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Trainees enrolled or enrolling for training through the University of Toronto, Temerty Faculty of Medicine and its associated training hospitals.

Residents can log in the system by using their PIN and Password provided by the PGME Office at the time of registration. Residents can also get their PIN and Password by clicking on the Forgot your Password link on the website login page.

Registration

For registration purposes, residents are asked to do the following:

  • Complete registration form
  • Resolve outstanding registration requirements (there will be a warning)
  • Make payment(s)
  • Maintain personal data (address and contact information)

Residents' Evaluation of Services

For evaluation purposes, residents are required to login and click on Evaluation Forms and complete the following for each rotation:

  • Outstanding Teacher Evaluation
  • Outstanding Rotation Evaluation
  • Sign off and/or comment on evaluations submitted by rotation supervisor(s)

Residents are also able to view/print their rotation schedule by clicking on Rotation Schedule. If any rotation information is incorrect, for i.e. the rotation name, training site and/or training dates residents should contact the PGY3 enhanced skills administrator as soon as possible.

Online Electives Catalogue

Residents can log on to POWER click on Search Electives. To arrange for an elective, residents need to contact the elective supervisor as shown in the catalogue and arrange their elective. In order to update their rotation schedule, residents are required to provide their divisional program assistant with the name, training site and dates of their electives at least 1 month prior to the start of their elective rotation. No education system is complete without a commitment to comprehensive evaluation of the trainees, the training program and the teachers. Full participation by residents in the entire evaluation process is necessary to maintain the continued excellence of the teaching program.

Final Assessments

  • Program director will conduct a final assessment with the resident.
  • Certificate of Added Competence in Emergency Medicine via the College of Family Physicians of Canada.

Supporting Documentation

  • Personal letter in AWS: A personal statement of your reasons for wanting to do an emergency medicine fellowship year (300 words maximum).
  • Reference letters: Three references are required. At least two references must be from an emergency physician.
  • Assessment by program director: One (1) letter from your family medicine program director which must be accompanied by the "Family Medicine Program Director's Assessment of Applicant."
  • Curriculum Vitae (with list of work/research experience, including titles of publications)

Interview Information

  • Selected applicants will be invited for an interview by October 3, 2024.
  • Applicants will be notified by e-mail of the date, time and location of the interview. 
  • Interviews will run for 30 minutes. Interview dates: November 11 & 12, 2024.
  • The interview panel will consist of the program director, two emergency physicians and a resident.

Please note that our program is unable to provide application feedback to applicants.

Certification

Successful completion of the program would lead to eligibility to sit the CCFP Certification Examination in Emergency Medicine.

Specialty Hospitals Directors

Intensive Care Unit

Humber River Hospital

Credit Valley Hospital

Dr. Sanjay Manucha

Dr. Akash Girn

Coronary Care Unit

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Southlake Regional Hospital

Scarborough Health Network

Dr. Jeffrey Pang

Dr. Peter Lugomirski

Dr. Nisha D'Mello

Anaesthesia

Various locations across the GTA

N/A

Paediatrics

Credit Valley Hospital

St. Joseph's Health Centre

Michael Garron Hospital

Dr. Eric Letovsky

Dr. John Sollazzo

Dr. George Porfiris

Orthopedics

Michael Garron Hospital

Collingwood General & Marine Hospital

Dr. George Porfiris 

Dr. Chris Chisholm

Trauma

St. Michael's Hospital

Dr. David Mackinnon