Chilliwack

Thank you for your interest in the Chillliwack site of the UBC Family Practice Residency Program. The information provided here will help you to consider Chilliwack as an option to do your family practice residency.

Chilliwack is a vibrant city of approximately 75,000 people, 100 km east of Vancouver, B.C. The hospital services an area of about 85,000 people. Family physicians form the backbone of the care model at our hospital. All family practice preceptors have hospital privileges and provide the majority of care for their inpatients. If required there are specialty supports available in the areas of internal medicine, general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, urology, paediatrics, obstetrics, gynaecology, ophthalmology and ENT. There are no hospitalist’s (or other residents) at Chilliwack General Hospital. There are six 3^rd year UBC medical students participating in a horizontal integrated clerkship. Their presence has proven to enhance the resident experience. Our family practice preceptors are leaders and pioneers in implementing EMR, advanced access strategies and improved outpatient care of chronic-disease patients. All of this creates outstanding environment for family medicine residency training. If you are a self starter and self motivated, this community will provide you with an amazing residency experience.

There is an emphasis on emergency medicine. Residents are provided emergency medicine experience throughout their two years of training as part of their evening call schedule. Our graduating residents consistently inform us that their experience affords them the opportunity to practice wherever and whichever style of family medicine they choose.

Chilliwack is a welcoming medical community. The resident role in the community and hospital is well defined. Residents are well received by patients and the community in general.

Residents come to Chilliwack from all parts of Canada. Consequently the resident group tends to form a close-knit group providing social and professional support for each other.

The community of Chilliwack and surrounding area offers a large selection of recreational pursuits including hiking, mountain biking, fishing; skiing, rock climbing, new cultural center, YMCA and two city operated recreational complexes. Residents are encouraged to enhance their experience by engaging in the many opportunities Chilliwack has to offer.

I trust this information is helpful to make you consider Chilliwack as an option when choosing your family practice residency site.

Ken Harder, MD, CCFP, FCFP
Clinical Associate Professor and Site Director
UBC Department of Family Practice Residency Program
Chilliwack Site

In our opinion, Chilliwack is hands down the best program in the country to prepare a graduating medical student for full service family practice!

If you want to be confident in the family practice office, emergency room and labour and delivery suite you should seriously consider training in Chilliwack.

Here are a few of the highlights of our program:

1. Excellent learning environment
Chilliwack General Hospital is a friendly smaller community hospital. It is largely run by family doctors who have an extremely collegial relationship both with each other and local specialists. Most of our rotations are at CGH and we quickly operate on a first-name basis with the nurses, preceptors and specialists.

2. Continuous emergency department exposure
This has always been a strong component of the program and currently includes regular evening emergency shifts throughout the two years, a month-long core emergency medicine rotation as well as elective opportunities.

3. Responsibility
Our program allows us to assume as much responsibility as we are willing and able to handle while providing reliable and quick backup for situations beyond our abilities. These are the principles behind our hospital call, which is a huge benefit in preparing us for in-patient and emergency care. We have the opportunity to become competent in numerous procedures, including central lines, art lines, intubations, chest tubes and many more.

4. No specialist residents
Except for the odd elective student and occasional surgical resident, the only medical learners at CGH are 16 FP residents and six medical students. That means we are always first assist, always 1:1 with our preceptors and always have first access to available procedures. For example, many residents have the opportunity to learn and perform C-sections if interested since there are no other obstetrics residents around.

5. Half days
Academic half days are a big strength of our program. They are always useful and interesting. They consist of family physician led seminars and skills sessions, cases and lectures by specialists, peer-to-peer review of medical literature and case presentations and the occasional debate.

6. Relaxed call schedule
Chilliwack residents average ~1/6 call. This includes overnight hospital call, specialty call (which is usually home call) and a few 6pm-12am ER shifts a month.

7. Spectacular recreational opportunities
The Fraser Valley offers incredible hiking, mountain biking, paddling, fishing and camping. If your taste runs more towards top-end shopping malls, theatre, and classy martinis, then Vancouver is merely an hour away by car.

8. Friendly, close-knit group of resident colleagues
Being a relatively small site, the group of residents in Chilliwack is very supportive. Residents moving from across Canada proudly claim to have "instant friends" within the first week of their residency. We regularly organize social nights, outdoor activities, weekend trips, resident retreats (call protected) to name a few, and have a great time together.

If you hate big-city traffic and crowds, you appreciate knowing and liking the people you work with, and you would like to be a confident full-service family physician, then Chilliwack is the place for you!

Please feel free to contact us or the program should you have any other questions about our amazing program!

Drs. Crystal Cheung (crystal.s.cheung@gmail.com) & Jackie Wolting (jwolting2010@meds.uwo.ca) Co-Chief Residents 2011-2012