RURAL
RESIDENCY
stream
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY MEDICINE
Dr. Karen Toews, MD, CCFP, FCFP, Site Lead, Steinbach Family Medicine Enhanced Distributed Education Centre
“Small towns mean big opportunities.”
As a resident in the University of Manitoba’s Rural Family Medicine stream, you’ll see large patient volumes and hone your
procedural skills through a variety of clinical encounters. This stream offers excellent learner-to-physician ratios ensuring as
much one-on-one time as possible. These sites also welcome undergraduate students, enhancing the opportunity for
collaborative learning.
Each of the five rural streams and their wide catchments offer slightly different opportunities based on their location and
culture. For example, sites may offer hands-on exposure to the agricultural industry to provide an enhanced understanding of
farm-related injuries, time in a rural Canadian Forces base to better understand specialized populations, or work with Aboriginal
communities to gain a better understanding of issues surrounding access to health care. Continuity of care at all of our learning
sites is an educational priority.
Find your biggest opportunities in the University of Manitoba’s Rural stream.
http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/health_sciences/medicine/units/family_medicine/
RURAL
RESIDENCY
stream
UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY MEDICINE
The Department of Family Medicine offers residents the opportunity to study in one of five rural training locations across Manitoba:
•
•
•
Brandon Satellite Campus
Boundary Trails (Morden/Winkler)
Parkland (Dauphin)
•
•
Portage la Prairie
Steinbach
Each training site is considered a separate stream and offers its own unique curriculum, providing training in specialty areas such as psychiatry,
obstetrics, and pediatric emergency care, among others.
The Rural stream offers diversity in training sites with experiences in smaller populations of 1,000 to larger communities of between 8,000
and 50,000. We use technology to stay connected with activities taking place in Winnipeg. All sites have access to Manitoba Telehealth, most
specialty departments webcast their Grand Rounds, and virtual meeting software is often available as an alternative to travelling for meetings.
Residents apply to study at each location separately through the annual CaRMS process.
BRANDON
SATELLITE
CAMPUS
Brandon (pop. 50,000) is a welcoming community located approximately 240 km west of Winnipeg along the Assiniboine
River, rich in culture and offering a metropolitan lifestyle with the charm of small-town living. In 2010, the University of
Manitoba developed a Family Medicine Enhanced Distributed Education Centre in Brandon. Now a satellite campus, the
Brandon location provides core and elective rotations for medical students, Family Medicine residents, and residents in
other specialty training programs.
BOUNDARY Established in 2011, the Boundary Trails Family Medicine Enhanced Distributed Education Centre serves the communities
TRAILS
(MORDEN/
WINKLER)
PARKLAND
FAMILY
MEDICINE
RESIDENCY
UNIT
(DAUPHIN)
STEINBACH
of Winkler (pop. 11,000) and Morden (pop. 8,000). Both communities are approximately 130 km southwest of Winnipeg, on
the edge of the beautiful Pembina Valley escarpment. Residents spend 24 weeks of their first-year Family Medicine Block
Time and many of their second-year rotations in either Winkler or Morden, and at the nearby Boundary Trails Health Centre.
For family medicine training, residents are paired with a primary preceptor at their busy fee-for-service clinic at the Agassiz
Medical Centre or the Dr. C.W. Wiebe Medical Centre. Physicians at these clinics have specialty training in areas such as
chemotherapy, women’s health, and obstetrics.
Dauphin (pop. 8,000), located approximately 300 km northwest of Winnipeg, is an agriculture-based community situated
between Duck Mountain Provincial Park and Riding Mountain National Park. Since 1991, the Parkland Family Medicine
Residency Unit has been preparing residents for practice in rural areas. They use faculty and community preceptors to
expose residents to a broad scope of practice in many settings such as hospital wards, emergency rooms, scheduled clinics,
community clinics, operating rooms, personal care homes, home visits, and specialty clinics. To ensure a rich,
interdisciplinary learning experience, other health professionals, such as dietitians, optometrists, audiologists, social
workers, nurses, and mental health care professionals are integrated into the program.
Steinbach (pop. 14,000), located 50 km southeast of Winnipeg, is the third largest city in Manitoba and one of the fastestgrowing communities in Canada. The University of Manitoba developed a Family Medicine Enhanced Distributed Education
Centre in 2010 at Steinbach Family Medical and Bethesda Hospital. Residents spend 24 weeks of their first-year Family
Medicine Block Time in Steinbach. In the second year, residents have Family Medicine Block Time as well as surgery and
pediatric rotations in Steinbach. ER and obstetrics run horizontally throughout the two-year experience. Steinbach Family
Medical is a fully computerized, busy, fee-for-service clinic and one of the first My Health Teams in Manitoba. The Steinbach
site offers a clinical teaching unit at Bethesda Hospital, opportunity for teaching medical students, and learning in an
interdisciplinary work setting.
Portage la Prairie and area (pop. 35,000) is a progressive community located approximately 100 km west of Winnipeg. The
PORTAGE LA newly-created Portage Family Medicine Enhanced Distributed Education Centre accepted its first CaRMS applications in
2013. Family medicine experiences include outpatient clinics, hospital care, and home visits. Residents care for patients at
PRAIRIE
the busy, fee-for-service Portage Clinic and the Portage District General Hospital where visiting specialists provide services
in gynecology and orthopedics.
For more information about the University of Manitoba Rural stream, visit our
CaRMS section at www.carms.ca.
CONTACT
Family Medicine Rural Stream
University of Manitoba | T158–770 Bannatyne Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 0W3
(p) 204-977-5663 | (f ) 204-789-3917 | [email protected]
http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/health_sciences/medicine/units/family_medicine/