A total of 37 of 50 Royal College Programs and the seven Family Medicine Programs were reviewed over the five day visit. The Surveyors commended the Office of the Postgraduate Associate Dean, and the engagement of Program Directors and Hospital Administrators.

Within Winnipeg, surveyors visited and met with faculty, staff and residents at the Health Sciences Centre, St. Boniface Hospital and Grace Hospital, as well as the Pan Am Clinic, Northern Connection Medical Centre, Kildonan Medical Centre, and Family Medical Centre at Seven Oaks Hospital. Outside Winnipeg, surveyors visited Boundry Trails, Steinbach, St. Anne, Brandon and Dauphin clinical sites.

On Friday, February 28, the Chairs of the RCPSC and CFPC Surveys, each outlined their respective accreditation processes and jointly presented their preliminary recommendations, from the Team surveying the University, Faculty and Postgraduate Office (A Standards Team) and the Teams surveying the individual Programs (B Standards Teams) and College of Family Physicians Team. The final determination is expected in June 2014, following the deliberations of the Colleges’ Specialty and Accreditation Committees.

Amongst our strengths, they cited the leadership of Dr. Cliff Yaffe and strong clinical sites for teaching offering a variety of clinical cases. They were impressed with the VENTIS curriculum management system, and by the Clinical Learning and Simulation Facility and Skills Lab. As well, they pointed to Dr. Rob Brown, Academic Lead, Ventis as an asset to the PGME mission and to Associate Dean,  Professionalism Dr. Samia Barakat and Associate Dean, Students Dr. Bruce Martin as assets for the residents.

All Programs continue to be accredited, with 29 of the 37 Programs receiving recommendations for full approval, and eight Royal College Programs and seven Family Medicine Programs receiving recommendations for follow up within two years. Accreditation is not an endpoint but an ongoing process, and the PGME Program will incorporate the valuable feedback from the survey as the Programs move forward.

Over the past two years, many faculty and staff have worked extremely hard in advance of the survey visit. Special thanks to the Faculty PGME program staff for their tireless work and dedication. Thank you also to the Survey Teams and Staff of the Royal College and College of Family Physicians, and the following who have made significant contributions to the success of the visit: