NOSM Residents Excel in Medical Council of Canada Examinations

The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is pleased to announce that 20 residents whose recent completion of training from NOSM’s Family Medicine Residents of the Canadian Shield (FM RoCS) program marked a first for the School, have achieved outstanding scores on their Medical Council of Canada (MCC) examinations. In fact, the scores received by this group of residents surpass those achieved by their peers across the country, and include demonstrated excellence in problem solving, patient interaction, and data acquisition.

The qualifying clinical examinations administered by the MCC are a requirement of physician certification.

Dr. Roger Strasser, NOSM Dean, describes the outcome as an outstanding achievement which is a cause for great celebration. “This successful outcome demonstrates once again the dedication of our learners and the commitment of our physician faculty in providing first-rate clinical training. We are very proud of our residents and appreciative of NOSM’s clinical physician teachers for their ongoing support,” he said.

Dr. Maureen Topps, NOSM’s Associate Dean of Postgraduate Education, is equally delighted by the first NOSM family medicine MCC examination results, and attributes them to both the high calibre of residents in the program and the program’s strong clinical focus. “We are extremely pleased by the performance of our outstanding residents. Our hands-on family medicine program is supported by health-care professionals across communities where our residents receive practical training. Our residents receive wide exposure to clinical teachers, medical procedures and environments which allows them to develop strong clinical skills in the culturally diverse settings of Northern Ontario.”

NOSM’s family medicine program is the newest in Canada. This year marks the first completion of residents from the program – now fully certified physicians with a particular understanding of Northern health challenges who are fully prepared for medical practice or additional training. From this moment on, a growing number of Northern-trained family physicians will complete the program each year.

With a focus on community-based training, residents live and learn in one of five primary residency sites as well as a growing number of communities distributed throughout the region. The unique features of NOSM’s family medicine program provide for residency training that is unmatched in variety of clinical exposure and exceptional lifestyle opportunity.