POSTGRADUATE RESIDENCY TRAINING PROGRAM

• Fully Accredited Program with the next regular survey by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 2028.
• Our Program follows a distributed model with equivalent learning opportunities at each site.
• Learners have opportunities to complete rural, outreach, or out-of-province/country electives during their residency, if interested.
• Our Program has a dedicated Research track for those who’d like to pursue Research. Research track residents have protected time to work on their Research Project(s).
• All residents have one protected day every week (except for the PGY1’s who have one day per month) for a Full Academic Day.
• Our program offers a significantly increased number of mock OSCE’s throughout PGY5 to help prepare our residents for the oral component of the Royal College Exam.
• For the last two years, all our PGY5’s have passed their Royal College Exam.
• There are opportunities to pursue interprovincial or international electives
• Opportunity and funding for two trips to rural communities in BC to provide Outreach care (PGY2-5)
• Fellowships available in Neuropsychiatry, Reproductive Mental Health, Schizophrenia, Neurostimulation, Addiction Psychiatry/Medicine, and Mood Disorders
• Subspecialty programs in Child, Geriatric, and Forensic Psychiatry

The Department of Psychiatry currently offers training throughout its distributed residency tracks. The following positions are available through CaRMS:

• Vancouver Program (12 positions, including 2 IMG positions and 2 Research positions)
• Fraser Health Greater Vancouver Program (7 positions)
• Vancouver Island Program (3 positions)
• Prince George Program (2 positions)
• Interior Program (2 position beginning July 2023)

All programs are administered through the UBC Department of Psychiatry. The standards and training requirements are uniform across all distributed sites.

Clinical training takes place on hospital inpatient wards, at outpatient departments, at community mental health centres and subspecialty clinics. Mandatory rotations include: general hospital inpatient/outpatient, child, chronic care, addiction, consultation-liaison, emergency, geriatric, and community psychiatry. There is provision for 14 months of elective time.

General Hospitals

Rural Sites

Special Training Sites

As of July 1, 2020, all Psychiatry Residency Programs in Canada have launched Competence Based Medical Education. The Royal College's CBD Residents Guide is designed to help the medical students understand what CBD in Postgraduate Education is all about.

Below is a summary of what residency will look like at UBC for all incoming cohorts. Note that all changes were made to satisfy the new Royal College requirements.

WHAT WILL RESIDENCY FOR THE CBD COHORT LOOK LIKE?

There are four stages of the residency program each with designated numbers of Entrustable Professional Activities that must be met. An Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA) is a task in the clinical setting that may be delegated to a resident by their supervisor once sufficient competence has been demonstrated. The number of EPAs for each stage is listed below.

Transition to Discipline (PGY1) (2 EPAs)

• One month of Psychiatry, including a new didactic Psychiatry “Bootcamp" to bring all residents to the same level of competency.

Foundations of Discipline (PGY1 + PGY2) (5 EPAs)

• Medical & Psychiatry rotations in PGY1
• Inpatient & Outpatient Psychiatry in PGY

Core of Discipline (PGY3 + PGY4) (10 EPAs)

• Child & Geriatric Psychiatry in PGY3
• Chronic Care, Addictions, Emergency, Consult-Liaison, Electives in PGY4

ROYAL COLLEGE EXAM

Transition to Practice (PGY5) (3 EPAs)

• Electives/Selectives

WHAT’S STAYING THE SAME?

• Academic Full Days
• Mock OSCEs
• Psychotherapy (timing may change, but core training experiences remain the same

WHAT’S CHANGING?

• First Month: The first month of training will be in psychiatry for all new residents to complete initial two EPA’s.
• Psychiatry Bootcamp: During the first month of training, the entire cohort, including residents from distributed sites, will be attending a four- to five-day Psychiatry “Bootcamp” in Vancouver to bring all residents to the same level of knowledge competency. This will include orientation to CBD, orientation to the basics of psychiatry, psychiatric interviewing and management, documentation, risk assessment and the legal aspects of psychiatry.
• Royal College Exams: Have been decoupled such that they are separated by a few months, and passing the written exam is required in order to challenge the OSCE exam. The exams have also been moved to the end of Core (Spring of PGY4).
• EPAs: Moving to competency-based learning rather than time-based.
• PGY1: Less Internal Medicine, more Psychiatry, adding Addictions.
• PGY4: Emergency Psychiatry instead of Shared Care.

WHAT DO OUR RESIDENTS THINK ABOUT OUR PROGRAM?

Learn all about life and training in the UBC Psychiatry Postgraduate Program from those who know it best: our residents!

MEHAR KANG, MD PGY1, Fraser Track Find out what Dr. Kang has to say about our program! Read more →

CHRISTINE KENNEDY, MD PGY3, Prince George Track Find out what Dr. Kennedy has to say about our program! Read more →

DANIEL LU, MD PGY1, Vancouver Track Find out what Dr. Lu has to say about our program! Read more →

ROBERT NATHAN, MD PGY2, Vancouver Island Track Find out what Dr. Nathan has to say about our program! Read more →

VALERIE NICHOLLS, MD PGY5, Vancouver Island Track Find out what Dr. Nicholls has to say about our program! Read more →

KAIWEN SONG, MD PGY1, Fraser Track Find out what Dr. Song has to say about our program! Read more →

We welcome applicants to contact the following people if they want to learn more about the Program:

Irfan Khanbhai, Interim Program Director: Irfan.khanbhai@ubc.ca

Residents from CaRMS Welcome Committee: ubc.psych.residents@gmail.com

Linda Chang, PGME Programs Manager: linda.chang@ubc.ca

Psychiatry Summer Immersion Program

If you are a first year medical undergraduate student at a Canadian university and are considering a career in psychiatry, the Psychiatry Summer Immersion Program (PSIP) was created for you! Visit our web page to learn more!

Mental Health Resources For Clinicians & Patients

Please check out the Mental Health Resources For Clinicians & Patients website that was developed by our residents, Dr. Lingsa Jia and Dr. Raman Srivastava. The website acts a central resource repository centre for learners, clinicians and patients to look up helpful information around Psychiatry.

Rural Outreach Program

If your preceptor is a specialist providing outreach services to a smaller community in B.C. (either through NITAOP, the Rural Specialist Locum Program, or an academic agreement with a health authority) or if you have interest in accompanying one of these clinicians – you may be eligible for REAP funding to accompany him/her to rural communities. Through the Postgraduate Rural Rotation Support, you can receive up to $1,000/month for travel and accommodation expenses. This program is eligible to all residents.

To learn more about this program, e-mail REAPStudents@familymed.ubc.ca or call 604 822-2675.

Related Links

• List of Outreach Services run from Vancouver and Vancouver Island
• Psychiatry Outreach Program funded by REAP
• Rural BC Community Map