EMERGENCY MEDICINE UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION IN CANADA

From 2005 to 2010, I was the Director of Emergency Medicine Undergraduate Education at the University of Toronto.  At the time, Emergency Medicine (EM) as a discipline in Canada was only 25 years old.  We recognized the importance of EM teaching during the undergraduate medical years had increasing relevance.  However Emergency Medicine as a formal part of undergraduate medical curriculum in Canada was still in its infancy.  The first core clerkship course was started in 1995 in Toronto.  At thetime there was no national coordination of these activities and limited opportunities for networking, communication and advocacy in EM Undergraduate Education in Canada.  Myself and a few collaborators set out to form a Canadian Emergency Medicine Undergraduate Education committee.  The committee was comprised of all the EM Undergraduate Directors/Coordinators in Canada.  As part of this initiative, we surveyed (co-authored) all the Canadian medical schools as to the current state of affairs of EM undergraduate education.  In addition to co-authoring the survey, I chaired the national committee for 2 years.  

Frank JR, Penciner R, Upadhye S, Nuth J, Lee C. State of the Nation:  A Profile of Canadian EM Clerkships 2007. Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2008; 10(3): 266.