Jeffrey P Schaefer MSc MD FRCPC

Director, Internal Medicine Residency Program,

General Internist and Clinical Associate Professor

Department of Medicine, University of Calgary

Assistant:  Julie Law  

ph: 944-1525

Welcome to the Internal Medicine Residency Program section of the website of the University of Calgary, Department of Medicine.  The website is intended as an introduction to the Residency Program and as a repository of information about program goals, objectives, administrative structure, curriculum, clinical rotations, applicable policies, and educational materials for residents.  These resources include powerpoint presentations from Medical Grand Rounds and various other group learning events, teaching videos on procedures from the literature and internet, and PDF copies of key reference articles for Internal Medicine.

For those of you considering applying to the core (PGY 1 to 3) years of Internal Medicine Residency, we believe the strengths of our Program to be in the following areas:

• An excellent group of residents who are dedicated to their education, patient care and teaching. Residents participate actively in the organization and operation of the Program. In a 2007 questionnaire survey by residents the most highly rated item was “Resident Collegiality: (Relationships with Co-Residents)” with a score of 4.38 out of 5 (highest).

• A committed teaching faculty, of whom several have taken advanced degrees (Masters or PhD) pertaining to medical education. Participation of faculty in Program planning, administration and operation has been very good with a willingness to share the duties inherent in a complex and large Program.

• A Program Management Structure implemented in 2004 which greatly facilitates the administration of the Program in terms of defining responsibilities and assigning educational credits to the various roles. In a nutshell the management structure includes two Assistant Program Directors, Directors of Education, Evaluation, Research/Academic Projects, three hospital site chiefs, Medical Teaching Unit Directors, and Chief Residents.

• Strong and consistent support of the Program by the University and Regional Head of Medicine and the specialty Division Chiefs.

• Excellent Residency Program Central Office support staff including the full time Program Administrator (Jennifer Glow) and three Administrative Assistants with duties of general support, scheduling, and evaluations. The Core PGY 1 to 3 and the General Internal Medicine Specialty PGY 4 and 5 Programs (and their Program Directors) are jointly supported by the Central Office Administrative team. Two of the Administrative Assistants are 1.0 full time each and the third is 0.8 full time.

• Excellent Calgary Health Region and Faculty of Medicine infrastructure support in terms of three teaching hospitals, good ambulatory clinic space, a recently renovated high technology “Ward of the 21st Century” as the home of the Foothills Medical Centre Medical Teaching Unit on Unit 36, advanced diagnostic support services, and a strong academically-focused Faculty of Medicine.

• A strong General Internal Medicine division which provides the majority of teaching and supervision on the Medical Teaching Units, operates innovative clinical services, and whose members serve as excellent role models for the residents.

• Participation of all subspecialties of Internal Medicine in the Program, including the addition in 2006 of Dermatology/Clinical Immunology and Allergy.

• Incorporation of 17 Alberta International Medical Graduate (AIMG) Program residents into our program in total. At present the distribution by year is: PGY 1- four, PGY 2- four, PGY 3- two, PGY 4- two (Hematology  and General Internal Medicine), PGY 5- one (Rheumatology), and one who graduated in 2008 with RCPSC Certification in Internal Medicine.  Three are starting on July 1, 2009.  All of our AIMG residents have done well academically and will be superb additions to Canada’s workforce of medical specialists.

• High quality teaching in evidence based medicine, quality improvement, patient safety, instruction and research in the theory and practice of medical education.

• An excellent Research and Academic Projects component, reflected by 2009 being the twenty-second consecutive annual resident research days.  Our core Internal Medicine residents have been finalists or winners in the Canadian Association of Professors of Medicine/Canadian Society of Clinical Investigation national Internal Medicine resident research competition for a number of recent consecutive years. In 2007 Drs. Sayeh Minoosepehr and Laura Stinton were selected for National Resident Research awards for the best presentations in their categories, out of eight finalists from all Internal Medicine residency programs across Canada. In 2008 we had two residents among the eight national finalists for awards, Drs. Dan Niven and Magdalena Sarna.

• An atmosphere of optimism and innovation supported by the Departmental Alternative Relationship Plan, (a form of contractual salary plan) which is attracting new faculty recruitment and creating opportunities for expansion of the Program and innovative educational strategies including new rotations.

• Ongoing development of the Community or “Regional” rotation in General Internal Medicine, highlighted by the Lethbridge rotation. We are optimistic about expansion of regional rotation experiences in coming years.

• Having a Program Strategic Plan in place for the coming years of expected increases to the number of residents due to the increased number of graduating medical students and the incorporation of International Medical Graduates into the Program.

• Expansion of our infrastructure for teaching as all three adult hospitals add new buildings or wings, providing about 400 new beds to Calgary.  Also the new Calgary South Health Campus will open in early 2012, adding a fourth new adult hospital providing inpatient beds and abundant ambulatory clinics.

• Our Internal Medicine residents have excellent and progressive work conditions and benefits as described in the Collective Agreement between the Provincial Association of Residents of Alberta and the Government of Alberta.  This collective agreement has resulted in Alberta having perhaps the best work conditions and benefits of residency in the whole country.

• The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has recently approved the University of Calgary for the Clinical Investigator Program.  This pathway of residency provides both the traditional clinical experience for specialty certification combined with the opportunity to undertake an extended period of research in preparation for a career as an academic clinician-scientist