Cape Breton - Family Medicine integrated Emergency Medicine

Dalhousie UniversityCape Breton, Nova ScotiaCMG stream

Program websiteWebsite7 more links

Open on carms.ca

CaRMS program description, 2026 match, last approved 9 Oct 2025

From the 2026 match (R-1 2026). See the 2027 version

Positions (approx. quota): 3 positions
Length: 3 years
Stream: CMG
Discipline: Family Medicine integrated Emergency Medicine
Applications per year: 401–600
Applicants offered interviews: 76–100%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 29699

Bands are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS. They describe past cycles, not your odds.

Summary

The Dalhousie Family Medicine Integrated Emergency Medicine (iFMEM) program in Cape Breton offers a unique three-year training experience that combines family medicine and emergency medicine. Located in Sydney, Cape Breton, this innovative program prepares residents to become comprehensive family physicians with advanced emergency medicine skills in a community-based, supportive learning environment.

Training

Research

Residents are required to complete a scholarly project during their residency, with protected time and support for critically reviewing literature and potentially designing research studies.

Training setting

A distributed medical education program based in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, with training across multiple urban and rural clinical sites, including Cape Breton Regional Hospital and surrounding community healthcare facilities.

Teaching approach

A competency-based, learner-centered approach emphasizing progressive independence, hands-on practical experience, and comprehensive patient care across multiple healthcare settings.

Setting types

Community hospital
Rural clinic
Urban medical center
Regional referral center

Focus areas

Family Medicine
Emergency Medicine
Rural Medicine
Community Healthcare
Comprehensive Patient Care

Patient populations

Rural community patients
Urban hospital patients
Emergency department patients
Family medicine clinic patients
Pediatric patients
Geriatric patients
Complex medical cases

Highlights

Three-year integrated training program
Preceptor model of medical education
Longitudinal clinical experiences
Point of Care Ultrasound (POCUS) certification
Simulation-based learning curriculum
Rural and urban training sites
Mandatory Family Medicine Resident Education Symposium
Scholarly project requirement

Strengths

Comprehensive three-year integrated training
Strong focus on rural and community medicine
High-acuity clinical learning environment
Supportive and collegial training atmosphere
Extensive hands-on clinical experiences
Commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Enhanced skills

Emergency Medicine
Point of Care Ultrasound
Rural Medicine

By year

PGY-1

Core Family MedicineComprehensive Family Medicine (office/on-call/home visits/inpatient care/ambulatory care, etc.) Includes scheduled time to complete shifts in the emergency department (1–2/week). Once FM CLE is complete, resident will attend one day back every other week in FM preceptor's office.12 weeks
Community Family MedicineResidents will stay and work in a small Maritime community with a level 3 or 4 emergency department.8 weeks
Orientation in FMFoundations in Family Medicine – a program-wide orientation block adopted by both FM and iFMEM.4 weeks
Emergency MedicineCore experience; combination of day, evening and night shifts. During some Specialty CLEs, may be required to work at least 1 ER shift weekly.4 weeks
HospitalistInpatient care at CBRH is the largest hospitalist service in the province. In many ways this service functions as general internal medicine at our site, so the learning is rich and at times very acute!4 weeks
General SurgeryIncluding consultation services to the Emergency Department and clinics (including minor procedures, breast evaluation, follow-up)4 weeks
Obstetrics/GynecologySpecialty rotation in Sydney where you’ll participate in on-call, gynecology clinics, procedures as well as consultations and higher risk obstetrics.4 weeks
OrthopaedicsClinics and consultation services to the emergency department4 weeks
PediatricsClinics, in-patient care and emergency consults4 weeks
Critical CareTwo weeks of ICU and two weeks of CCU aimed at providing the foundation of your critical care learning of which you’ll build on throughout your 3 years.4 weeks
Family Medicine ObstetricsFMOB is currently completed at Saint John, NB where you will have an immersive experience in deliveries, newborn care and introduction to higher risk obstetrics.4 weeks
VacationScheduled at residents' request4 weeks

PGY-2

Core Family MedicineExperience will include comprehensive family medicine 2.5 days/week and 30+ half-day longitudinal clinical experiences in a combination of orthopedics, psychiatry, plastics and emergency medicine, among others. Including 1 shift/week min in the ER. During Specialty CLEs, residents will attend one day back every other week in FM preceptor's office.16 weeks
Community Family MedicineResidents will return to the same small Maritime community from Year 1, continuing to work with their family medicine preceptor and in the emergency department. Divided into two 8-week durations, one in the fall and one in the late spring. Residents will be involved in comprehensive family medicine via office work, ER shifts, inpatient rounds, home visits, long-term ambulatory care, etc.16 weeks
Residents University program can arrange up to of their elective time outside the Maritime Provinces. Other electives must be done in the Maritime Provinces. Residents can apply to do more than outside the Maritime Provinces for global health experiences.Dalhousie4 weeks
Geriatric MedicineMainly via outpatient settings4 weeks
Palliative CareIn-patient care, Hospice care, home consultations and emergency consultation service4 weeks
Emergency MedicineCore experience: combination of day, evening and night shifts. During some Specialty CLEs, may be required to work at least one 8hr ER shift weekly.4 weeks
Internal MedicineTwo 2-week blocks in MTU and Geriatrics.4 weeks
Peds EmergResidents will travel to Halifax where they will complete EM shifts at the IWK in their pediatric emergency department4 weeks
Critical CareResidents will return to ICU in their PGY2 year to continue learning core concepts they built upon in PGY14 weeks
Elective(s)4 weeks
VacationScheduled at residents' request4 weeks

PGY-3

Emergency MedicineCore experience; combination of day, evening and night shifts; The PGY3 year is bookended by two 8-week EM blocks. In the early part of the year residents will begin leading their own resuscitations and critical care cases independently, while also beginning ‘hidden curriculum’ teaching on topics such as handovers. In the end of PGY3 residents will start incorporating TIPs (Transition into Practice) shifts in to their regular schedule.16 weeks
Core Family Medicine2 days/week Office with primary preceptor and 2 shifts/week ED. During specialty CLEs, residents will attend one day back every other week in FM preceptor office.8 weeks
Intensive Care UnitICU rounds, including emergency and inpatient consultation service8 weeks
Community Family MedicineResidents will return to one of our rural sites where they will hone their skills in comprehensive family medicine. Residents will develop schedule incorporating office clinic time, ER shifts and experiences in other areas where felt needed8 weeks
Critical CareTwo 2-week blocks in CCU and Anesthesia4 weeks
TraumaWill be targeted as a trauma rotation away via sites such as St. Mike’s or Sunnybrook in Toronto (location TBD) with focus on TTL experience and trauma related procedural skills4 weeks
ElectiveResident self-directed4 weeks
VacationScheduled at residents' request4 weeks

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at

Medical Student Performance Record (MSPR)
Reference letters
Personal letter
CV
FMProC assessment
Interview performance

Applications per year

401–600

Applicants offered interviews

76–100%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match): 13, 24 and 27 Nov 2025; 10 and 26 Jan 2026; 6 Feb 2026

Programs can change interview dates. Confirm on carms.ca.

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 24 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual salary by PGY level, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island
Level	Annual salary
PGY-1	$78,578 / year
PGY-2	$83,904 / year
PGY-3	$89,462 / year

One provincial scale for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 3 levels this program covers.

Benefits

Benefits as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024; check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual vacation: 4 weeks
Call stipend: Yes
CMPA dues paid: Yes
Dental coverage: Yes
Educational leave: Yes
Extended health insurance: Yes
Frequency of call: l in 4 in-hospital and for homecall
Life insurance: $100,000 of insurance
Long-term disabilityinsurance: 66.7% of salary
Maternity leave top up after one year’s service: eligible for up to a maximum of 17 weeks top-up allowance for maternity/pregnancy leave
Provincial dues (% of salary): 1.30%
Provincial health insurance: Yes
Sick leave: Yes
Statutory and floating holidays: paid

Call

Call (provincial max): 1 night in 4 in-house

The union agreement’s cap for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. Check with the program.

MarDocs agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2027.

Teaching sites

Cape Breton Regional Hospital
Community healthcare facilities in Cape Breton

Hospital facts

Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program, and are not a ranking. We match names to the province’s lists by name, so check each source before you rely on it.

Cape Breton Regional Hospital

Matched to Cape Breton Regional Hospital (Sydney) in the province’s hospital list.

Hospital type: Regional As the province lists it. The list has no volumes or beds.

Sources and licences

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Nova Scotia.

Unfilled positions in past years

No repeated vacancies in CaRMS’s lists of open positions, 2019–2026.

Positions at this site, all streams.

A position can go unfilled because of where the site is, because it is open to IMGs only or to another restricted stream, or because the quota changed late. It says nothing about the quality of the training. Verify with the CaRMS lists. Source: CaRMS’s lists of positions open after round 1 and after round 2, as read in October 2026 (latest: 2026 round 1 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab), 2026 round 2 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab)). A site’s numbers are shown when it had positions open after round 1 in at least 2 of 8 years or at least 3 in one year.

Contacts

Contacts weren't collected for the 2026 match.

The current program director and contacts are on the 2027 version of this program and on the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab).

Location

Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

About the city

Public statistics for the place named by this program’s location label, each with its source and reference period. They describe the place, not the program, and are not a ranking. Check each source before you rely on it.

Climate

Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020. Each value comes from the nearest weather station that reports it, not from the city itself.

January average: −5.0 °C Sydney, 5.7 km away
July average: 18.2 °C Sydney, 5.7 km away
Snowfall: 281.1 cm a year Sydney, 5.7 km away
Days below −20 °C: 2.5 days a year Sydney, 5.7 km away

People

2021 Census. Figures are for the municipality of Cape Breton, not the metropolitan area. Statistics Canada rounds counts, so small places are approximate.

Population: 93,694 people down 0.6% from 2016
Official languages: English only 95.5% · French only 0.0% · English and French 4.3% · neither 0.1% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 2.3% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 0.4% · non-permanent residents: 2.5%
Indigenous identity: 3.2% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 91.9% · public transit 1.9% · walking or cycling 3.6% · other 2.6% Average commute: 17.7 minutes. Shares are of people who commute.The way Canadians commute was altered in 2021 by the pandemic, with lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 and changes in how and where Canadians worked leading to 2.8 million fewer commuters, compared with five years earlier. Statistics Canada, The Daily, 30 Nov 2022(opens in a new tab)
Median household income: $62,400 before tax $55,600 after tax · income year 2020, in 2020 dollars

Rural and remote

This describes the place named by the program’s location label. Programs can train in several towns, so it is not every site.

Population centre: Glace Bay, a small population centre (1,000 to 29,999 people) 16,915 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.323 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.

Housing, cost and work

Each figure names the area it covers. A missing line means the source publishes nothing for this area.

Rental vacancy rate: 2.7% October 2025 survey, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (census agglomeration). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $51,062 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, for two adults with two children. A modest, basic basket (the poverty line), not a resident’s budget. A size-class region is not the town itself.