Elective Opportunities
Choosing a Global Health elective is a rewarding and enriching experience. Participating Residents will:
- Learn about the global burden of disease and the need to promote global equity in health care;
- Experience a different medical system, cultural practices and understanding of diseases and treatment;
- Become familiar with medical and social conditions unique to regions, which may help improve the quality of care for patients at home;
- Obtain unique clinical experience in treating diseases that you may encounter in immigrants, refugees and travelers;
- Experience cross-cultural issues such as language, communication, traditional healing, religious beliefs and family structure-all of which impact the physician-patient relationship;
- Learn to enhance standards of care in resource-poor areas;
- Share medical knowledge with international colleagues; and,
- Work with other health disciplines to improve care.
Local
There are ample opportunities in our city to work with different patient populations and learn about the Social Determinants of Health and their central role in well-being of our communities.
Residents are able to set up Longitudinal Elective experiences with a chosen clinic or program, which will complement the family medicine training in the teaching unit or community practice. The Global Health Director can guide you in this process.
Past residents have spent time in Addiction Medicine, Refugee and Immigrant Health and Inner City Health.
Rural and remote
An elective in Canada’s North is a popular option for residents interested in Global Health. Within our own borders there is ample opportunity to work in a cross-cultural setting, and practice full-scope clinical medicine.
Baffin Island
The DFM has a longstanding relationship with Qikiqtani General Hospital in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Residents can apply for a 2-month elective during PGY2. During the elective residents run an outpatient clinic, follow inpatients, take ER shifts and deliver babies. Past residents have found the elective a wonderful learning experience and many have gone on to locum or work in the north after graduation.
Contact Andrea Rawley at arawley@bruyere.org for more information.
Moose Factory
Residents interested in Indigenous Health may apply to complete their PGY1 or PGY2 rural rotation at Weeneebayko General Hospital in Moose Factory, Ontario. During this rotation, residents will be exposed to the medical, social, and political complexities and joys of comprehensive remote primary care with isolated Northern First Nations communities. This is a challenging rotation filled with innumerable opportunities to push your knowledge and skills to their utmost while rooting your practice in an ethical engagement towards social justice.
Contact Andrea Rawley at arawley@bruyere.org for more information.
International
Bénin
Ce stage en santé internationale, se déroulant au Bénin (Afrique de l’Ouest), permet aux participants de choisir leurs domaines d’intérêt et d’être supervisés en milieu clinique par des médecins béninois et canadiens. Les stagiaires travaillent en équipe avec les étudiants et résidents du Bénin.
Pour en savoir plus, consultez le site web du Bureau des affaires francophones.
Guyana
The University of Ottawa Department of Family Medicine has partnered with the University of Guyana and Georgetown Public Hospital Institute of Health Science Education to establish a sustainable, community focused, Guyanese-specific postgraduate Family Medicine training program that will train physicians in the art and science of primary health care. Residents can complete a one-month Family Medicine elective in Guyana.
Self-Designed
Residents have coordinated Global Health electives working with a variety of organizations all over the world. Residents need to complete a Global Health Elective Proposal Form and have it approved by the program. The Global Heath Director can help guide you in this process.