In family medicine each resident is given a quota "panel of patients" that they will follow for their entire two year residency both in family medicine block time and their half-day back which is a key part of both the PGY1 and the PGY2 year.

The core family medicine block is located either at our downtown Community Health Centre, or at a Family Medicine physician's office in the community. This busy stimulating environment uses collaboration with key health care providers to optimize patient care. The resident has the opportunity to work with nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, dieticians and occupational therapists on a daily basis. All Saint John based family medicine resident’s do their core rotations at the same time, which is greatly appreciated by the residents. Also, the teaching clinic has frequent medical students and nurse practitioner students and this constant influx of learners makes this a very enriching experience.

We have negotiated a shared mental health program, a homeless clinic and numerous other community programs and encourage each resident to use these valuable resources for the benefit of their patients.

State of the art IT is used for patient record keeping and tracking. Patient care records, hospital care patient records, laboratory work and digital x-rays are all available for instant access in the family medicine teaching clinic.

Residents will follow and deliver their family medicine obstetrical patients throughout their rotation as a supplement to their core obstetrical experience. Lumps and bumps, hospital inpatients, palliative care and house calls are all a part of the comprehensive family medicine rotation. There are ample opportunities given for resident research and supplementary experiences in family medicine. Exam preparation and faculty mentoring are also part of our program.

Residents have found the Saint John Family Medicine Teaching Unit as an ideal place to learn the core principles of family medicine as well as the key aspects of evidence-based medicine and lifelong learning. Residents appreciate the opportunity to look after their patients in a multi-disciplinary community-based office. At the same time a few miles away there is a large state of the art tertiary care hospital where another 40 plus residents and medical students are learning at any one time. This large critical mass of medical trainees is the largest at Dalhousie University outside of Halifax. This makes for a very collegial environment where medical education is always at the forefront.

Click here for a list of the physicians who act as core preceptors in the Family Medicine Teaching Program.