Electives

Regular Electives Guidelines


Electives are structured into the curriculum to allow residents to:

  1. Pursue areas of interest
  2. Focus on areas requiring attention
  3. Meet Program Objectives through global or national experiences not easily available in BC (ie Trauma, Global Health)

Elective planning is best done as part of the Periodic Review Process.

The following process is to be used to arrange all elective experiences:

  1. The resident is primarily responsible for identifying/arranging their elective experiences. For any elective in BC (but outside of their Home Site), residents may liaise through their Home Site Coordinator to connect with other Site Coordinator(s) to ensure the prospective elective experience has capacity as it relates to other Sites. Please note, the program is working on an updated Master Electives List. This will be posted ASAP.   For any elective in BC, the preceptor should have a faculty appointment
  2. The resident will write their learning objectives for the elective. These should link to the Core Learning Outcomes and preferably be described under the appropriate Can-Med FM Role/Skill Dimensions (https://postgrad.familymed.ubc.ca/program-info/curriculum/learning-outcomes/)
  3. The learning objectives should be discussed with and approved by the Site Director or delegate. Ideally, this takes place during periodic reviews
  4. The learning objectives are sent to the elective preceptor who confirms that the objectives are feasible and they are agreeable to supervising and assessing the resident based on the objectives.
  5. In the case of international electives where it may not be possible to discuss the objectives with the preceptor, or where the chosen preceptor is not UBC faculty, the site director can give final approval.
  6. In the case of International electives in jurisdictions not deemed accredited by the CPSBC, the Site Director must write a letter indicating that “this supervised elective ...provide(s) training which would meet the educational goals of the Department of Family Practice Postgraduate Program, and is evaluated”*. This letter must also be signed by the Postgraduate Program Director. This letter should be kept on the resident’s file and be provided to the CPSBC if the resident applies for a license in BC. All Global Health electives require completion of modules and forms four as part of the pre-departure checklists http://globalhealth.med.ubc.ca/resources/pre-departure/
  7. Volunteering. Residents may request to be a volunteer as a medical learner at a community event, such as a mass sporting event, camp, or others. These events are amenable to the electives procedure outlined above and will ensure appropriate supervision and meet the requirements of the resident’s educational medical license with CPSBC. Should a resident discuss volunteering outside of an elective structure, it is important to remind them that they are unable to represent themselves as a physician, nor participate in medical acts beyond that which would be performed by the general public.

Approved by PGEC: October 7, 2014. Revised July 6, 2020.

Out-of-Province Electives Guidelines

At the discretion of the Site Director, a resident can spend up to a period of one month pursuing an elective outside of BC during her/his two years of training and after appropriate consultation, the resident can add holiday time to extend the elective rotation.

International Electives must be approved by your Site Director who must write to the CPSBC indicating that it is approved training under the auspices of the UBC Family Medicine Training Program.

Any resident planning to do an International Elective should first consult the Pre-Departure Checklist on the Global Health website. There are other resources available on their website as well that are useful.

It is the resident's responsibility to make all arrangements regarding licensing, insurance, etc. for their elective.

Residents can not take electives in institutions that require an affiliation agreement with UBC as the Postgraduate Dean’s office will not sign these.

Residents must consult with a travel health clinic prior to arranging the rotation.

Certificate of Good Standing

Residents doing an out-of-province elective, in Canada or in another country, are required under the Medical Practitioner Act to acquire a Certificate of Good Standing from the local chapter of the College or the licensing body in which the elective was completed. This certificate needs to be provided to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC to ensure that your licensing application in the future will not be jeopardized.

The CPSBC has as its mandate, protection of the public. Therefore, all applicants for licensure, including those on the educational register (residents), who have worked outside the Province of BC must produce a certificate of good standing from every jurisdiction that they have previously worked in prior to being granted full registration, or prior to taking up practice again in BC.

Anyone who does not identify having practiced in another jurisdiction, even as a resident, is considered to be breaking the law, for as the Medical Practitioner Act states you must identify this activity to the College.

If you need further information please contact the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC at (604) 733-7758 or 1-800-461-3008.