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Kitchener-Waterloo

Kitchener-Waterloo site overview

The Kitchener-Waterloo and Area (KW) site incorporates excellent learning opportunities in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Guelph and Wellesley. Our site has a reputation for being innovative, progressive and highly supportive.

Sharing a campus and hospital sites with the Waterloo Regional Campus of McMaster University’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine provides many teaching opportunities for interested residents, including teaching clinical skills, clerkship orientation, and clinical teaching on specialty rotations.

Our curriculum uses a partially integrated format to optimize learning for residents. Over 20 clinics have been built specifically to teach residents knowledge, skills and competencies relevant to becoming excellent family physicians in areas including obstetrics, children’s care, sports medicine, refugee health, women’s health, mental health and many others. Family medicine rotations are conducted in Family Health Team settings.

We have many enhanced skills and research opportunities for interested residents. Many graduates of the site program also come back to give current residents career advice. We are committed to assisting each individual resident in the program!

Site Website: McMaster KW & Area Family Medicine Residency Program

Program Highlights

  • Emphasis on each resident’s personal goals/interest, with ability to focus your learning by utilizing horizontal electives, as well as multiple elective and selective blocks in second year. Customizable program with integrated blocks in 1st & 2nd year to incorporate these interests. 
  • Diverse opportunities in clinics that were created with the intent to further residency learning including FM obstetrics, outpatient pediatric clinic, anticoagulation clinic, hypertension clinic, sports medicine, women’s health, mental health, refugee health, memory clinic and more. 
  • One-to-one, consistent preceptor for the two years of residency.
  • Inter-professional team-based care and education.
  • Clinical teaching opportunities with undergraduate medical students.
  • Our program and administrative staff are flexible, and committed to assisting each individual resident in the program.

Education Experience

  • Enthusiastic preceptors providing one to one learning in the clinic, who are also active members in the community sites, providing additional opportunities to learn alongside them in multiple settings including inpatient hospital, long term care, ER setting and many more.
  • Preceptors have a variety of areas of interest, including: primary memory care, new models of primary care, primary care research, digital health & eHealth, care of the elderly
  • As the primary residency learner group at our associated hospital sites, residents have the unique time and opportunity to build interprofessional relationships with our specialists. 
  • Weekly academics sessions covering the CFPC priority plus topics, mental health and behavioural science, as well as quality improvement initiatives.
  • Many clinics have multidisciplinary providers working within a family health team offering the opportunity to work with nurse practitioners, social workers, dietitians, pharmacists, and physician assistants.

Key info

CaRMS Positions

CMG CaRMS Positions: 16

IMG CaRMS Positions: 2

Academic hub

McMaster Waterloo Regional Campus
10B Victoria Street South
Kitchener, ON, N2G 1C5
Directions

Practice sites

  • Preceptors: 33
  • Practice sites: 7 Family Health Teams and 2 Family Health Organizations
  • Number of patients per practice: 800 to 2,000
  • Number of patients per Family Health Team: 20,000 to 100,000
  • Grand River Hospital: 73,000 emergency visits per year and 7,300 births per year

Curriculum Information

PGY1

20 weeks Family Medicine in an urban setting
8 weeks each of Internal Medicine/Hospitalist and Emergency Medicine
8 weeks of Integrated Women’s Health and Care of Children
4 weeks each of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Pediatrics in-patient and out-patient

PGY2

20 weeks of Family Medicine (same practice as PGY1 year improves continuity and building independence across settings)
12 weeks of Electives
8 weeks of Rural Family Medicine
4 weeks of Palliative Care
4 weeks of Integrated Care of the Elderly
4 weeks of Selective (Internal Medicine, Emergency Medicine, ICU, etc.)

Resident Perspectives

“The KW & Area site is a very welcoming program and I couldn’t be happier as a resident here. Not only are my co-residents amazing, but the preceptors and education team have created such a friendly and supportive environment that has allowed me to focus on my learning and personal goals. Having so much one on one time with preceptors has given me surplus time to hone skills and push myself academically. The flexibility to focus on special interest is very unique and much appreciated!”

“Guelph is a wonderful place to be a resident! The variety and volume of learning opportunities is great, and preceptors are welcoming and keen to teach. As a site with very few residents, scheduling is quite flexible and I love having the ability to tailor rotations to my own interests. To top it off, Guelph is a beautiful community to call home, with lots of recreational opportunities to enjoy during time off!”

Contacts

Marc Sawyer

MD, CCFP

Assistant Clinical Professor

KW and Area Site Director

Heidi Hallman

Education Associate

Larysa Soroka

Education Associate

Becky Thom

Education Associate