FAQ: New Residents

The Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Office coordinates and oversees postgraduate medical education for all programs (Specialties, Fellowships and Family Medicine included), at the University of Toronto. The PGME office is your first point of contact as a new resident to the University of Toronto with the following main activities and functions:

1. Registration i.e., appointments, visas, CPSO, immunization, payroll, transfers, UHIP, CMPA, mask fitting
2. Policy and Analysis i.e., quotas, POWER, performance indicators, exit surveys system, annual reports
3. Wellness i.e., counselling, referral, work-life balance, stress buster workshops, culture of wellness
4. Education and Research i.e., PGCorED, internal review, accreditation, board of examiners, remedial services, program director support

Medical graduates and newly matched residents register with the Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Office as residency trainees. Any questions regarding the four organizational areas above and PGME's activities and functions should be directed to PGME for further clarification. Please see the administrative PGME staff directory for contact information.

The Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM) supports clinical, educational and research excellence. The Postgraduate Program at DFCM is our residency training program and associated supports, focused on core learning experiences in family medicine and preparing future family physicians in primary care. The main activities and functions of the DFCM – Postgraduate Program include:

1. Admissions
2. Supporting curriculum, evaluations, remediation and assessments for our hospital teaching sites in all three geographic streams
3. Co-ordinating the Teaching Practices in PGY-2
4. Admissions, and support for the PGY-3 Enhanced Skills Programs
5. Additional learning initiatives and events including procedural skills, counselling skills, Advances in Labour and Risk Management (ALARM), FM-MAP Family Medicine Mandatory Assessment of Progress

Please visit our Resident Guidelines page.

ACLS Certification is not required to start residency but it is strongly encouraged to complete within the first month of training. ACLS recertification training is not a requirement during residency. First-time ACLS course costs are subsidized for PGY-1 postgraduate medical trainees. For eligibility and reimbursement information, please contact Gerard Nagalingam at gerard.nagalingam@utoronto.ca or 416-978-8328. You can obtain a list of ACLS course providers at the ACLS PGME page .

Yes, it is valid.

A letter of employment can be obtained from the Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Office. Please contact the PGME office at pgme.payroll@utoronto.ca or 416-978-6976.

An advocacy letter can be obtained from the Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Office. Please contact the PGME office at  pgme.team@utoronto.ca or 416-798-6976.

Your student number is the same as trainee number; if you have a ROSI number (those that have completed medical school at the University of Toronto) please use your ROSI number.

You are required to start your residency on July 1. Once assigned to your teaching hospital site (mid-April), you will be contacted by your assigned teaching hospital site administrator with details on your orientation/information session date and exact start date. Please note that orientation may take place before or after the anticipated July 1 start date depending on your assigned teaching hospital site. It is not required that you attend if prior to July 1; however, it is strongly recommended.

The date is usually set for the first working day after July 1.

Once your registration is complete with the Postgraduate Medical Education Office, you will have access to UpToDate. UpToDate is part of your library access here.

In order to obtain a University of Toronto student card, the PGME office needs to register all new residents into the Postgraduate Web Evaluation and Registration system (POWER). All Canadian Medical Graduates (CMG) residents should be registered by end of April. The processes may be different for International Medical Graduates (IMGs), as a pre-residency period and Assessment Verification Period must be successfully passed prior to being registered as official students, and thus, IMGs may not be eligible for T-Cards until the successful completion of their AVP. Please visit the UTORID and library cards page for more information.

Vacation or time off requests need to be booked with your assigned hospital teaching site administrator. Once you have been assigned to your hospital teaching site (mid-April), you can contact your site administrator.

Please see site contact details.

Please contact the CMPA reimbursement program to speak to a CMPA representative for further details. 

If you are having difficulty uploading files, please contact the CPSO Applications and Credentialing at 416-967-2600, extension 221, so that they can help fix the problem.

University Family Housing at U of T (formerly Student Family Housing and Faculty & Residential Housing) offers apartments for student families and faculty in the heart of downtown Toronto. The majority of student families live in our buildings at 30 and 35 Charles Street West. These buildings feature a rooftop garden, recreation rooms, family drop-in centre, in-person and virtual activities and events for the whole family, underground parking, and an onsite childcare centre. Our Huron-Sussex neighbourhood is a collection of apartments in historic homes at the west end of campus for new faculty and a small number of student families.  

If this sounds like a place you and your family would like to call home while you study at U of T, check out our website for more information and to apply at www.universityfamilyhousing.utoronto.ca,. 

All Family Medicine residents are required to complete the San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Online Training Modules as part of the residency program certification.  If you have completed the San'yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Online Training Modules in medical school, you must show proof of certification to your assigned hospital teaching site administrator.

NRP is required to be completed by end of residency. Your hospital teaching site administrator will arrange for this training.