As the calendar year comes to a close, the PGME Dean’s Office would like to celebrate the many accomplishments and milestones we achieved along the way.
Accreditation 
Residency Training Programs
Since UBC Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) underwent a major external Accreditation Review in March 2020, all programs that required a follow-up visit either by external review or an action plan outcome report have now been completed as of fall 2023. The cycle of internal reviews as part of our Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process has also begun in preparation for the next accreditation cycle. Our next Accreditation Review will be in 2028.
Areas of Focused Competence Programs
The Royal College accredited Areas of Focused Competence (AFC) programs have significant potential for us to achieve educational and research excellence and meet specialized healthcare needs in British Columbia.
Since 2021, the number of accredited AFC programs at UBC has increased from 1 to 12, with two new accredited programs added in 2023: Adult Echocardiography and Pediatric Perinatal Pathology.
Sixty-nine AFC trainees have enrolled since July 2021, and more AFC program applications are in progress for 2024.
Learning Environment Initiatives
Areas of activity include:
- Working with the Evaluation Services Unit (ESU) on data collection (annual resident experience and learning environment survey, residency program governance survey – RPOPS, PGME Office Evaluation), analysis and development of recommendations to PGME Committee.
- Reviewing and providing data from these surveys, the Office of Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI), and internal reviews to individual programs for their CQI processes.
- Recommending actions and interventions to support programs and residents when learning environment issues are reported.
- Organized the PGME CQI retreat spring 2023, occurs every two years.
- Collaborating with health authorities to conduct and review joint learning environment surveys . Results are shared with UBC PGME and Health Authority leadership and CQI activities are jointly discussed. These initiatives are planned for major teaching institutions across the province with a two-year cycle between surveys. The 2023 Providence Health Care (PHC) PGME Institutional Learning Environment Survey was completed this year.
Social Justice, Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The PGME team is committed to reviewing its governance, policies, procedures, resources, educational offerings and initiatives, to support inclusion, dismantle structural inequities, and create a sustainable culture change. A few of our initiatives include:
- In addition to the re-appointment of our two AREDI Faculty Leads, a new AREDI and Faculty Support Manager position was created to support AREDI projects and goals, track metrics, and manage AREDI events.
- Development of a new PGME-wide EDI, anti-racism education strategy (in collaboration with Faculty Development and FoM REDI Office), and creation of a new PGME EDI subcommittee.
- A revised selection policy was approved and work on selection guidelines is ongoing.
- Engaging with both ESU and CaRMS to gather critical data on the diversity of our residents to better inform our EDI strategies. R1 Resident Profile Survey is now in its second year of collection, reporting on self-identification facets of our incoming resident group.
- Worked with ESU to collect data relating to mistreatment, discrimination, harassment and intimidation in the annual resident experience survey as well as introduce the learning environment survey.
Resident Wellness Office
The Resident Wellness Office (RWO) celebrates its 10 year anniversary! Since it opened in October 2013, it has provided wellness support to all residents across all programs and locations. The RWO has expanded in terms of staffing, offerings and residents supports over the past decade and continues to prioritize residents’ wellbeing!
Peer Support
The RWO trained 10 new Peer Supporters this year in collaboration with Dr. Jo Shapiro from Harvard Medical School. The RWO began highlighting a Peer Support volunteer each month on their blog to share thanks for the support and efforts. During 2022/2023, 68% of residents receiving a reach out accepted and responded to the support. Those that didn’t accept support shared gratitude to know the support was there.
Elder Support
The Elder Support and Counselling program entered its second year working in collaboration with Elder Jean Wasegijig. The RWO booked 19 counselling sessions this year by Indigenous and Non-Indigenous residents and continues to work collaboratively with Elder Jean for future interests.
Workshops
The RWO team hosted and facilitated 34 groups and workshops in 2022/2023 including Ice Cream Rounds and psychoeducation workshops across 26 different programs and sites.
New Initiatives in 2023
The RWO piloted “Focus and Flow”, a 6 week psychoeducation group to support residents experiencing symptoms of ADHD. The group was facilitated in collaboration with Dr. Brent Hogarth to offer sessions to provide resources and tools for executive functioning skills. The RWO received interest from over 60 residents to join the group and in September 2023, 40 residents completed intakes to start the sessions.
PGME Expansion: Training More Physicians for BC
Additional Growth in R1 Resident CaRMS Matches
With an increase of 52 positions between 2022 and 2024, 30 positions have been in family medicine and 22 positions (specialty positions for 2024 entry) are in a Ministry of Health (MoH) directed pilot competitive stream open to both CMGs and IMGs.
The PGME team has been in discussions with the MoH on how best to serve the needs of British Columbians and we continue to advocate for increased resources to enhance training and increase capacity.
New Program Sites
Distributed sites have increased in both family medicine and specialties to support expansion and UBC’s mission of distributed education. These include new training sites established and/or planned for:
- 2023: Pediatrics, new Fraser site
- 2023: Psychiatry, new Interior site
- 2023: Family Medicine – Emergency Medicine, new Kamloops site
- 2024: Internal Medicine, new Fraser site
- 2024: Family Medicine, new Cowichan site
- 2024: Family Medicine, new North Okanagan site
- 2024: Family Medicine, new Rural Immersion site
- 2024: Pediatrics, new Research Track stream
Increased Administrative Funding
In addition, over the past year, advocacy efforts with MoH have resulted in an impactful increase in resources to be provided to Departments and regional sites for PGME administration. Individual meetings with Departments and Regional Associate Deans have occurred to share details and provide guidance and support, ensuring residency programs are being resourced in a way that meets program needs and supports accreditation requirements.
IMG-BC Program
The IMG-BC Program is designed to assess International Medical Graduate (IMG) applicants applying to UBC residency programs.
The application cycle for 2024 entry is underway. There have been 959 applications (up from 772 applications for 2023 entry) and the program has expanded to assess 360 candidates (up from 300 for the previous year) this cycle. This expansion is to support the introduction of the competitive residency stream.
Innovative PGME Projects
The PGME Office works to improve the quality of postgraduate medical education in a variety of ways, including by supporting Program Directors and Administrators. Some notable initiatives include:
PGME Hub Intranet
A new intranet site called the PGME Hub, which is available to all Program Directors and Administrators and is a significant resource of templates and guidelines and information to support programs.
PA Network
A new collaborative project launched in 2023 working with several Program Administrators to host regular professional development learning opportunities for UBC Program Administrators to further our capacity for excellence.
Topics presented in 2023:
- Behind the Scenes, Beyond the Call: The Magic of PAs
- AI Empowerment for PAs: Working Smarter, Not Harder
- PA Life: Leveraging Qualtrics for File Review
Professional Development in PGME
ICRE (International Conference on Residency Education)
The PGME office funds Program Directors, Program Administrators, and Residents to attend the International Conference on Residency Education.
PGME provided funding for 10 residents, 17 Program Directors, 20 Program Administrators to attend this year’s conference in Halifax.
7 presentations at the Program Administrator Conference by UBC staff
Workshops and Orientations
Twice annual PGME Program Workshop topics in 2023 included equity, diversity, inclusion & anti-racism (May 2023), and supporting programs in resident selection (Nov 2023). Nov PGME Program Workshop was attended by roughly 167 people (78 in person & 89 virtual).
All Coordinators Meetings in spring (April 2023) and fall (October 2023).
PGME offered four PA Orientation sessions in 2023
A new orientation series for new Program Directors began in Fall 2023 with the purpose of bringing program directors together for mutual support and networking. The quarterly Program Leaders ‘Hive’ Sessions for 2024 are being planned and program leadership will be contacted with instructions on how to sign up.
Competency-Based Medical Education
Below is a summary of the growth in Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) over the last year. In addition, UBC PGME has been strongly advocating to MoH about actual and anticipated increased resources required to support the changes that occur with CBME.
PGME Administrative Systems
The PGME Administrative Systems Portfolio has achieved key milestones in 2023 with the support of multiple stakeholders across PGME, Departments, Business Support, Digital Solutions, and other units.
Rotation Naming Convention (RNC) Initiative: Implemented successfully in June, the RNC Initiative standardized rotation names in both the one45 and Clinical Placemat Management (CPMS) Systems, enhancing efficiency and consistency in rotation management.
Teaching Tracking and Payment (TTP) Project: Currently in design and development, the TTP Project is currently focused on onboarding teaching without patient care (TwoPC) tracking to payment within the TTPS. Plans for the upcoming year include developing collection methods for teaching with patient care (TwPC) activities, laying the groundwork for future project phases.
Comprehensive RMS System Maintenance: A comprehensive system maintenance (regression testing) for the Resident Management System (RMS) was completed, ensuring its reliability.
Resident Access Provisioning Process: Looking ahead, the portfolio aims to onboard the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) to the auto-provisioning access process using HSPNET, demonstrating ongoing efforts to streamline access procedures and foster collaboration across health authorities.
AFC Programs Onboarding: As a pilot project, we are looking at onboarding the Areas of Focused Competency Program(s) to the one45 system using their CBME module for tracking competencies and assessment.
Faculty Appointments
Dr. Ravi Sidhu, Associate Dean PGME, Appointment renewed for second 5-year term ending 2026
Dr. Sonia Butterworth, Assistant Dean PGME, Appointment renewed for second 3-year term ending 2024
New appointments:
Dr. Henry Broekhuyse, Educational Environment Faculty Lead, Henry.Broekhuyse@vch.ca
Dr. Kiran Veerapen, Faculty feedback and support, kiran.veerapen@ubc.ca
Dr. Tiffany Wong, Patient Safety QA/QI Faculty Lead, tiffany.wong@cw.bc.ca
Dr. Jennifer Yao, Chair of the Oversight Committee (body that supports programs in reviewing learning plans for learners in difficulty), Jennifer.Yao@vch.ca
Dr. Cori Gabana, Basic Clinical Year Faculty Lead, cori.gabana@ubc.ca
Dr. Deepak Manhas, Education Advisor Faculty Lead, dmanhas@cw.bc.ca
Dr. Keerat Sidhu, Site Project Lead, Surrey Memorial Hospital, keerat.sidhu@ubc.ca
PGME Policy Updates
As part of ongoing quality improvement, PGME embarked on updating existing policies as part of a policy review cycle, a Policy Working Group chaired by Dr. Fred Kozak was initiated. In 2023 the following policies were renewed and approved.
Policy 000 – PGME Policy on Policies
Policy 010b – Postgraduate Trainee Extraordinary Event
Policy 010d – Fatigue Risk Management
Policy 019 – UBC Postgraduate Trainee Selection
Policy 020 – Waiver of Training
Policy 023 – Postgraduate Trainee Appeals
Policy 024 – Resident Transfer
Priorities for Next Year
Sustainability: With expansion throughout the system, there is an increased demand on faculty preceptors / teachers as well as administrative staff. There is a need to ensure appropriate facilities and learning infrastructure. Advocacy for resources has been successful in supporting PGME initiatives; however, further communication, provincial planning and engagement with partners will be required.
Social Justice is a key priority especially in the areas of indigenous cultural humility and antiracism. There are new accreditation standards being developed nationally in this area. Ongoing work needs to continue in these key areas: understanding diversity of our learners, PGME-wide appropriate learning / education / reflection resources, supporting learners, and further ensuring appropriate procedures for reporting and addressing mistreatment.
Engagement with health authorities on areas of common concern remains an important priority in supporting the learning and clinical environment.
Faculty Support and Evaluation: There is a need to provide a reliable, transparent, safe and effective flow of feedback from PGME learners to faculty. There is also a need to provide faculty support in this process. Multiple working groups have been developing plans for pilot to help support PGME residency programs and Departments in this area. A pilot will be conducted in 2024.
Clinical Fellows: Significant work has been done to support reform of Clinical Fellowships at UBC. PGME will work with Departments to implement new fair and transparent policies and procedures acknowledging UBC’s role as central in these non-accredited training programs.
Accreditation Support: As part of our continuous quality improvement activities, PGME continues to conduct internal reviews, enabling programs to proactively assess and enhance program strengths, while addressing identified weaknesses. Strategic support from PGME leadership and accreditation teams further enhances our accreditation efforts, aligning our institutional and program goals while fostering a culture of CQI, to meet our mission to deliver high-quality post-graduate medical education.
Educational Environment improvement: Through collaborative collection of feedback, commitment to action, support and monitoring of shared clinical, academic, teaching and learning environments identify concerns and work towards effective solutions. Ongoing engagement with residents, faculty, programs, departments, the UBC REDI Office, Faculty Development as well as the Health Authorities.
