Halifax - Emergency Medicine
Dalhousie UniversityHalifax, Nova ScotiaCMG stream
At a glance
- Approx. quota
- 4
- Length
- 5
- Applications per year
- 51–200
- Offered interviews
- 0–25%
CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates
Wed 27 Jan 2027,time not stated
Interviews
1 date, 28 Jan 2027
Halifax, 6 teaching sites
What stands out about this program
Clinical Grade Cadaver Program for procedure simulation within the department's own simulation centre.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page
Annual three-day wilderness medicine retreat covering search and rescue and navigation.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page
Home of the AIME airway course; residents rotate in adult and pediatric anesthesia and difficult airway.
From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page
- Dalhousie's five-year Royal College Emergency Medicine program in Halifax takes 4 residents per year.
- Training is based at the QEII Health Sciences Centre and IWK Health Centre, with required rotations outside Halifax within the Maritime provinces.
- Core includes up to 8 weeks of protected research time, plus a dedicated ultrasound rotation leading to CEUS-IP certification.
What training looks like
- Setting
- Academic / tertiary hospital
- Regional community
- Rural exposure
- Not stated on CaRMS page
- Focus areas
- POCUS curriculum
- Small program
- Research
- Required · research project · protected time
By year
Not stated on CaRMS page
Other rotations
- Emergency Medicine (Transition to Discipline · 3 Blocks)
- Emergency Medicine (Foundations · 3 Blocks)
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine (Foundations · 2 Block)
- General Surgery (Foundations · 1 Block)
- Plastic Surgery (Foundations · 1 Block)
- Orthopedic Surgery (Foundations · 1 Block)
- Anesthesia (Foundations · 1 Block)
- Internal Medicine (Foundations · 1 Block)
- Emergency Medicine (Core · 18 Blocks)
- Point of Care Ultrasound (Core · 1 Block)
- Community Emergency Medicine (Core · 1 Block)
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine (Core · minimum 4 Blocks)
- Critical Care (ICU) (Core · 3 Blocks)
- Cardiology (CCU) (Core · 1 Block)
- Neurology (Core · 1 Block)
- Obstetrics and Gynecology (Core · 1 Block)
- Difficult Airway (Core · 1 Block)
- Pediatric Anesthesia (Core · 1 Block)
- Teacher/Leader (Core · 1 Block)
- Pre-Hospital Medicine (Core · 1 Block)
- Toxicology (Core · 1 Block)
- Trauma Consult service (Core · 1 Block)
- Infectious Diseases (Core · 1 Block)
- Psychiatry (EM Consult) (Core · 1 Block)
- Pediatric Critical Care (PICU) (Core · 1 Block)
- Area of Clinical Expertise (ACE) (Transition to Practice)
- Emergency Medicine (Transition to Practice · at least 6 blocks)
Where you train
Halifax, Nova Scotia: 6 teaching sites.
- QEII Health Sciences Centre, Charles V. Keating Emergency & Trauma Centre
- IWK Health Centre
- Saint John Regional Hospital (Saint John · rural or distributed site)
- Dartmouth General Hospital (Dartmouth)
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital (Charlottetown)
- Valley Regional Hospital (Kentville)
Record systems at the listed sites: Clinical Information System at 1 of 6, Oracle Health (Cerner) at 4; no published record for 1.
Moving to a new system: Valley Regional Hospital (by Dec 2026).
Hospital facts
Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program. We match names to the sources by name, so check each source before you rely on it.
- Clinical record
- One Person One Record, fully electronic record since May 2026
QEII Health Sciences Centre, Charles V. Keating Emergency & Trauma Centre
- Hospital type
- Tertiary
IWK Health Centre
- Clinical record
- Oracle Health (One Person One Record), fully electronic record since Dec 2025
- Hospital type
- Tertiary
Saint John Regional Hospital
- Inpatient beds
- 445
Show facts for 3 more sitesShow fewer
Dartmouth General Hospital
- Hospital type
- Regional
Queen Elizabeth Hospital
- Clinical record
- Clinical Information System (CIS), since 2008, system named (how far it goes is not stated)
Valley Regional Hospital
- Clinical record
- One Person One Record, moving to a new system, by Dec 2026
- Hospital type
- Regional
Nova Scotia's One Person One Record is live at IWK Health and at Nova Scotia Health's Central Zone. The other zones follow, provincewide by the end of 2026 (the province's date).
About Halifax
People
439,819residents, 2021 Census
Housing
2.6%rental vacancy rate
Winter and summer
−4.1 °CJanuary mean18.5 °CJuly mean
Job outlook
Very goodfor the specialty here, 2025–2027
How they choose
- Application file components
- CV
- Electives
- Examinations
- Extra-curricular
- Leadership skills
- MSPRs
- Personal letters
- Reference documents
- Research/Publications
- Transcripts
- Return of service
- Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.
Interviews and info sessions
- Interview dates (2027 match)
- 28 Jan 2027
- Format
- Virtual
- MMI or rotating station
Info sessions
Wed 27 Jan 2027
time not stated
Social · Virtual · Listed under interviews on CaRMS
Pay and call
| Level | Annual salary |
|---|---|
| PGY-1 | $78,578 / year |
| PGY-2 | $83,904 / year |
| PGY-3 | $89,462 / year |
| PGY-4 | $95,485 / year |
| PGY-5 | $101,926 / year |
Call
- Call (provincial max)
- 1 night in 4 in-house
- Post-call rule (provincial)
- No work required once handover is completed
- Max continuous duty (provincial)
- Handover begins by the 24th consecutive hour on duty
Benefits
- Annual vacation
- 4 weeks
- Call stipend
- Yes
- CMPA dues paid
- Yes
- Dental coverage
- Yes
- Educational leave
- Yes
- Extended health insurance
- Yes
- 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
Past matches
No repeated vacancies in CaRMS’s lists of open positions, 2019–2026.
What this means
- 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 or how heavy the workload is.
- 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.
Year by year
2027 match
| Stream | Positions | Length | Interviews | What changed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMG stream | 4 | 5 years | 1 date, 28 Jan 2027 | Nothing noted |
2026 match
| Stream | Positions | Length | Interviews |
|---|---|---|---|
| CMG stream | 4 | 5 years | 2 dates, 28–29 Jan 2026 |
The 2026 page of the CMG stream: our summary of its CaRMS description
- Dalhousie's Emergency Medicine residency is a small, supportive 5-year program located in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
- The program offers a close-knit training environment with only 4 residents per year, emphasizing personalized mentorship, academic excellence, and comprehensive emergency medicine skills across diverse clinical settings.
- Research
- Dedicated research time, faculty mentorship, and support from the Department of Emergency Medicine Research Council with focus areas including Emergency Medical Services, airway management, medical education, and point of care ultrasound.
- Training setting
- Urban academic medical centers in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with additional training sites in maritime provinces including Saint John, New Brunswick and community hospitals across the region.
- Teaching approach
- Competency-based medical education with progressive independence, emphasizing mentorship, hands-on clinical experience, and comprehensive skill development across multiple clinical domains.
- Enhanced skills
- Not stated on CaRMS page
- What the program looked at
- Academic performance
- Elective experiences
- Research portfolio
- Leadership skills
- Personal letter
- Reference letters
- Interview performance
Contacts and links
- Program directors
Dr. Rebecca Russell
Dr. Tyler JohnstonAssociate Program Director
- Program office
RC EM Education Coordinator
Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.
Discussed on Reddit
Public Reddit posts and comments where someone describes this program. Each one links to Reddit.
- EM Programs - RoL (opens Reddit in a new tab)
Applicant describes Dalhousie EM med-ed curriculum block, culture and trauma exposure
Emergency Medicine elsewhere
Nearest to Halifax
- Bilingual
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