McMaster Niagara Regional Campus
The Niagara region offers a diversity of family medicine sites, from small town communities to more urban centres. Core specialty training takes place at Niagara Health, St. Catharines Site.
Family medicine training in year one includes integrated blocks for most rotations, providing opportunities for increased continuity of care throughout the year, and for newfound knowledge from specialty rotations to be immediately applied in family practice settings. Integrated block rotations in year one include: Family Medicine + Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine + Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Family Medicine + Pediatrics. Block experiences that are exceptions to the integrated format in year one include the Internal Medicine and Pediatric clinical teaching units.
Family medicine training in year two is block-based, allowing for flexibility in scheduling core medicine surgery options and electives. Core medicine surgery options currently offered in Niagara are: palliative care, oncology, intensive care, surgery, and hospitalist.
Sharing a campus and hospital site with the Niagara 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. While residents enjoy a culture of learning, they are also the largest resident group in Niagara, with many hands-on and experiential learning opportunities, in addition to leadership and teaching opportunities, available on rotation.
For more information on the unique characteristics of the municipalities within Niagara, see Niagara Region Municipalities and click on the links to view more information. Current municipalities with resident placements in Niagara include: Lincoln, Niagara Falls, Port Colborne, St. Catharines, Thorold, and Welland.
Site Facilities & Resources
The largest hospital in the region is a tertiary center with high volumes and tons of specialties but no overcrowding of learners, which means lots of opportunity for procedures, learning and moulding your career how you want it to be.
Niagara has a SIM Lead that works with residents to create SIM sessions that meet their needs and interests.
Niagara also has plenty of opportunities to be part of research. A recent graduate of the residency program holds the Niagara Professorship in Family Medicine, created at the campus to recognize, encourage and grow family medical research and scholarship within the Niagara Region. They provide mentorship and leadership skills development for learners and faculty members alike.
Site education facilities: we are co-located within the campus of Brock University and as such, we share many of the resources of that facility including a state-of-the-art fitness centre and 50 m Olympic size pool. The McMaster specific area includes a kitchen and large gathering area surrounded by natural light, a shared med student/resident lounge and multi-faith room, and our 3 tutorial rooms, 1 auditorium, and 1 computer lab – all with the most up-to-date technology. We have a designed SIM lab at St. Catharines Hospital for organized simulation sessions.
Key info
CaRMS Positions
CMG CaRMS Positions: 7
IMG CaRMS Positions: 2
Academic hub
Niagara Regional Campus (NRC) located at Brock Campus in Cairns Complex 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines
Practice Information
Preceptors: 24+
Community practices in the following areas: Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Welland, Beamsville, Port Colborne, Fort Erie
Niagara Health operates the fourth largest Emergency Department in the province
- 172,000 emergency visits a year (April 2021 – March 2022)
- 3,500-4,000 births a year
Curriculum Information
PGY1
Fully integrated curriculum structure
- 4 blocks of integrated FM+OB
- 2 blocks non-integrated Internal Medicine
- 3 blocks of partially integrated Pediatrics & Pediatrics CTU & Family Medicine
- 3 blocks of integrated Emergency Medicine & Family Medicine
PGY2
Partially integrated curriculum structure
- 4 blocks of Family Medicine
- 1 block Care of Elderly
- 2 blocks rural Family Medicine
- 2 blocks of elective rotations
- 3 blocks of Core Med Surg
Resident Perspectives
“Living in Niagara, I love all the wineries – it makes it a great place for friends to visit. There’s the Bruce Trail and lots of places to hike nearby. Not as much traffic as Toronto! Like any community family medicine site, it can be a challenge to commute from your family medicine site to academic half day. There can be lots of driving sometimes. But I do not think that the opportunity piece can be understated. We are unique in that our size, volume and resources in Niagara provide so much possibility to tailor your career – e.g. do more emergency shifts and be the one to run the traumas, explore anesthesia, addictions medicine, spend time with specialists to fill knowledge gaps. There are so few other learners here that Niagara Family Medicine Residency truly is about you. It’s a great place to have fun, great place to learn. 10/10 would recommend!”
“The site is SO accommodating in your vacation, planning your electives and rotations, and giving you exposure to any special interests and/or learning gaps through horizontal electives (addictions, dermatology…you name it!). There are a lot of opportunities to teach – you’re automatically senior resident on some core rotations (pediatrics, internal medicine, etc.) and you can also teach medical students in their formal academic curriculum.”
Information Box Group
“Niagara offers residents a program focused on work-life balance that can translate into a career of balance as well. The program offers a truly integrated program with the emphasis on family medicine for the full duration of the program, while still providing robust clinical experiences in obstetrics/gynecology, internal medicine, pediatrics, and geriatrics. Niagara allows learners to experience the volume and demands of a tertiary care centre with the comprehensive full scope of more rural family physicians.”
– Anjali Kundi, Site Director
Contacts
Anjali Kundi
Assistant Clinical Professor
Niagara Site Director