Family Medicine - Rural

Overall Goal(s)

  1. Expose residents to the practice of rural family medicine and comprehensive care where the family physician typically works in multiple settings
  2. Prepare residents for family practice upon graduation
  3. Provide opportunities for family medicine residents to experience alternate family practices

Background and Description


This is a mandated experience by the CFPC which are additional family medicine rotations for residents in the urban/suburban programs. Since residents in the regional/rural programs are already practising in a semi-rural or rural setting and getting exposure to traditional comprehensive care, this additional experience is not required.

Specific rural family medicine rotation descriptions can be found here.

Applicable Residency Objectives

1.1 Life Cycle
1.2 Care of Infants and Children
1.3 Care of Adolescents
1.4 Care of Adults
1.5 Care of the Elderly
1.6 Palliative and End of Life Care
1.7 Surgical and Procedural Skills (Not all of the objectives here are applicable)
1.8 Behavioural Medicine
1.9 Emergency Care (Not all the objectives here are applicable)
2.0 Community-based
2.1 Resource
2.2 P-Pt Relationship

All 7 CanMEDS-FM roles are expected to be demonstrated through this rotation:

  • Family Medicine Expert
  • Communicator
  • Collaborator
  • Manager
  • Health Advocate
  • Scholar
  • Professional