RVH and U of T partnership expands emergency medicine training in Barrie

RVH and the University of Toronto expand their partnership to enhance hands-on training for future family doctors.

Family doctors looking to enhance their emergency medicine skills won’t have to travel far anymore, thanks to an expanded partnership between Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) and the University of Toronto.

Together, RVH and U of T are bringing two high-level emergency training programs to Barrie, to help grow the region’s health care workforce, which RVH Chief of Staff Jeffrey Tyberg says is greatly needed.

“Our emergency department sees more than 94,000 visits each year, offering exposure to a wide range of cases, from minor injuries to life-threatening trauma,” Tyberg said.

“Almost three-million Ontarians do not have access to primary care. So we do need to train them [physicians] in communities, especially those that are under-served,” added Stu Murdoch, the U of T department of family and community medicine director.

The new one-year Enhanced Skills Program offers intensive hands-on training for two family physicians annually who have already completed a two-year family medicine residency.

“Our residents are going to be on-call to come and do every single reduction that happens in the emergency department. So it’s going to be massive training for them. The amount of exposure they’re going to have is incredible,” said Jordan Shaw, EM enhanced skills program director, who grew up in Barrie.

The Supplemental Emergency Medicine Experience (SEME) fellowship is a full-time, three-month clinical immersion program,tailored for physicians practicing comprehensive family medicine in smaller and rural communities.

“It’s a unique opportunity to enhance emergency medicine skills in a focused and supportive environment. The program, which starts in September, will host six physicians annually,” a joint news release about the programs stated.

“A lot of these emergency departments in rural areas are staffed by family doctors, and it can be really challenging for them. So this is an opportunity to kind of brush up and build on the skills that they already have,” noted Nick Tassone / SEME program co-director.

The Enhanced Skills Program got underway July 1 and the SEME program is set to begin in September. RVH and U of T will also launch a hospital emergency pharmacy residency this month to prepare pharmacists for practice in hospital and long-term care settings.