Surrey

Welcome to Surrey Memorial Hospital UBC Family Medicine Residency Program. Surrey is the largest hospital in the Fraser Health Authority and one of the busiest hospitals in BC, seeing over 87,000 emergency visits per year at this site. We have 250+ family practitioners, with a variety of practice types including full service with active hospital privileges, full service office based, walk in clinic and physicians with special interest in Obstretrics, Hospitalist Medicine, Geriatrics, HIV/AIDS, New Canadian Clinic, Surgical Assistant Program, Palliative/Hospice, Emergency Medicine, Mental Health, Addiction Medicine, Adolescent clinic and Methadone clinic.

We are a 500 bed hospital, co-located with the Fraser Valley Cancer Clinic, Laural Place Rehab and Hospice, Creekside Withdrawal Management Centre, and professional buildings providing space for our medical staff. On a average day we see 230 ER visits, 75 acute & day surgeries, deliver 12 babies, conduct 380 diagnostic procedures. As well we are the regional center for pediatrics, cancer care, surgical care, renal care, palliative hospice, sleep lab, rehabilitation service, regional pain clinic and adolescent in-patient psychiatric unit.
In addition, we are very excited about the Jimmy Pattison Outpatient and Surgical Care facility which opened on June 1st, 2011. The third floor is a primary care clinic staffed by family physicians and nurse practitioners integrated and linked by EMR to a variety of outpatient clinics, including Chronic Disease Management (Diabetes), Lung Health, Cardiac Health, Positive Health (HIV/AIDS) Surreys' Specialized Senior Clinic, and Chronic Pain. The emphasis will be on multi-disciplinary care, patient self management and patient education. We see this developing into an exceptional family practice learning site.

Residents will also be embedded in family practice during a 2 year program, spending month long blocks and a half day each week to experience the benefit of continuity of care. We are fortunate to have six enthusiastic and dedicated family physicians who will mentor our residents. They will also be encouraged to engage in other family practice activities such as the Division of Family Practice and the Department of Family Practice at Surrey Memorial Hospital. The enthusiasm and interest on the part of our medical community has been most gratifying.

We look forward to providing a well rounded exceptional educational experience grounded in the principles of family practice, and anticipate that a number of these young physicians will join local practices and our medical staff.

Dr Arthur Willms

To all future residents,

As you near completion of your career as a medical student I would like to congratulate you on all of your hard work and success over the past few years and, moreover, welcome you to the CaRMS tour. In Surrey we are well immersed in the charter year as a UBC family practice residency site. Thus far we have had an incredibly positive experience with warm welcomes from our preceptors, physician colleagues, allied health professionals, and patients.

The Surrey community has a number of highly skilled, full service family physicians. In office you will be exposed to the ‘bread and butter’ of family medicine in addition to the work up of complex patients and a variety of office procedures. With approximately 4 000 deliveries and 87 000 emergency department visits per year you will also be a member of the health care team at one of the busiest hospitals in the province. Whether you are following your own family practice patients in hospital or working as hospitalist, for example, the variety of case presentations you will see is astounding. Given the high volume of emergency visits and deliveries at our site, preparation for emergency medicine or obstetrics as a part of your practice is a clear strength of our program.

Complementary to the variety and complexity of cases comes a low physician-learner ratio and a strong focus on education. While there are visiting elective students and residents at Surrey, we are the only residency program to currently call Surrey ‘home’. You will be working in direct contact with your attending and often first in line for interesting cases in the OR, ER, or on the ward. Further, as mentioned, our preceptors are keen to teach and education is a top priority. Academic half days are interactive and oriented towards our learning needs. Presenters and faculty are always open to feedback and suggestions for alternative learning objectives.

While we work hard, we are encouraged to maintain a healthy, balanced lifestyle. Our resident group is extremely close knit and we already have plans for routine resident gatherings as well as other extracurricular activities such as CIBC Run for the Cure. Many of us commute to work and/or have spouses and children. As such, our faculty has been extremely supportive in helping us find an appropriate work-life balance.

So, in short, if you are looking for a program that will help develop your competence as a full service family physician in an urban, remote, or rural setting, Surrey is the place to be! If you are looking for a program with numerous leadership opportunities on committees and in molding a new residency site curriculum, Surrey is the place to be! If you’re looking for a close-knit group of colleagues, skilled, intelligent, welcoming preceptors and hospital staff, Surrey is the place to be!

Thanks so much for your interest, best of luck, and I look forward to meeting you on the CaRMS tour. Please feel free to contact me via email at serven.nosm@gmail.com should you have any questions about the program.

We look forward to welcoming another six residents to our Surrey family!

Chief Resident: Dr. Stacey Erven
serven@nosm.ca