Campbellford Memorial Hospital (CMH) and the Trent Hills Family Health Team (THFHT) continue to support the teaching of the next generation of physicians. Resident doctors are physicians who are engaged in supervised medical training prior to obtaining their licensure for independent practice.
Resident Doctors Appreciation Week provides an opportunity to highlight the critical role that residents fill while working in the communities in which they are learning.
A Family Medicine career requires the completion of 2 years of residency following medical school, with the option of completing an additional year of Enhanced Skills training. While enrolled in a Family Medicine program, residents must complete a block of time at a rural teaching practice site. Both the Campbellford and Warkworth branch of the THFHT have accredited teaching sites that provide residents with both a solid “small hospital” and comprehensive Family Medicine experience. Our local physicians are excellent teachers.
Residency can be challenging, and while at CMH, residents will work shifts on the inpatient floor, the emergency department, and at our ambulatory clinics. Residents on rotation in Trent Hills learn quickly that practicing rural medicine requires using almost all of the skills they have acquired to date. It may also mean making many more independent decisions as smaller communities often have less onsite support for certain specialties.
CMH, along with the THFHT, has a resident doctor affiliation agreement with both the University of Toronto and Queen’s University. On average, we host 6-8 resident doctors per year and have done so for over 40 years. Some residents have returned to Trent Hills to practice medicine full time once residency was complete. Others have returned to locum (provide relief coverage) for our local physicians, taking advantage of a familiar spot in which to start practicing independently.
Residents provide helping hands, a youthful perspective and love to share new trends in medicine and have been critical to hospitals and communities during the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Trent Hills, they will care for hundreds of patients during their rotations and we are taking this opportunity to say “thank you!”
“I am amazed and inspired by the strong sense of community,” remarked current CMH University of Toronto resident Dr. Kelly Nhu Le. “Everyone I have worked with so far has been incredibly welcoming and helpful!”
To learn more about Resident Doctors, visit: https://residentdoctors.ca
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
