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South West Nova - Family Medicine

Dalhousie UniversitySouth West Nova, Nova Scotia

Stream

At a glance

Approx. quota
3 positions
1 position
1 position
Length
2 years
Applications per year
401–600
601+
601+
Offered interviews
76–100%
0–25%
0–25%

CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates

IMG stream · open to international medical graduates

Return of service: Required

Nova Scotian IMG stream · open to international medical graduates

Return of service: Required

Info session

all 3 info sessions of this program

Thu 5 Nov 2026,7:00–9:00 pm AST

Interviews

5 dates, 25–29 Jan 2027virtual

1 date, 22 Jan 2027virtual

1 date, 22 Jan 2027virtual

South West Nova, 1 teaching site · based in a rural community

A car is required

After residency in Nova Scotia: hours-based model open to new graduates

Program website(opens in a new tab)CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab)

What stands out about this program

  • Four-week orientation including simulation, IT setup and a week of buddy shifts in hospitalist and call settings.

    From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

  • Mostly one-on-one teaching, with little competition from other specialty residents.

    From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

  • A community navigator helps residents with housing, relocation and spousal needs.

    From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

  • South West Nova is a two-year Dalhousie family medicine site with a longitudinal integrated curriculum, centred at Yarmouth Regional Hospital.
  • Training takes place in rural communities in Yarmouth, Digby and Shelburne counties, and all rotations are on-site except second-year electives.
  • Residents spend two days per week in PGY1 and three in PGY2 at their primary family practice, and complete a required scholarly project with protected time.

The summary is written by CdnMD from the program’s CaRMS description.

Based on what the program says about itself.

  • You’re open to training at sites across a region, not at one hospital.
    Show the quote

    Training takes place in diverse communities within Yarmouth, Digby, and Shelburne counties.

Not a ranking.

What training looks like

Setting
  • Rural / remote
  • Regional community
Rural exposure
Based in a rural community
Focus areas
  • Rural / remote
  • Longitudinal / integrated
  • Small program
Research
Required · research or quality-improvement project · protected time
Enhanced skills
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Palliative Care
  • Care of the Elderly
  • Other
Getting around
  • A car is required
  • Housing away from the home site is provided or paid for
  • Travel is reimbursed

By year

PGY-1
  • primary family medicine clinictwo days per week
  • selectivesfour weeks
PGY-2
  • electives8 weeks
  • primary family medicine clinicthree days per week

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

  • Emergency Medicine
  • Internal Medicine
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • General Surgery
  • Pediatrics
  • Psychiatry
  • Palliative Medicine
  • Anesthesia
PGY-1
  • selectivesfour weeks
PGY-2
  • electives8 weeks

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

  • Emergency Medicine
  • Internal Medicine
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • General Surgery
  • Pediatrics
  • Psychiatry
  • Palliative Medicine
  • Anesthesia
PGY-1
  • selectivesfour weeks
PGY-2
  • electives8 weeks

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

  • Emergency Medicine
  • Internal Medicine
  • Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • General Surgery
  • Pediatrics
  • Psychiatry
  • Palliative Medicine
  • Anesthesia

✓ = the CaRMS page states it; – = not stated. From the program description and its rotation list.

Where you train

South West Nova, Nova Scotia: 1 teaching site; based in a rural community. A car is required.

  • Yarmouth Regional Hospital (Yarmouth)

Distributed across a region

Record systems at the listed sites: Oracle Health (Cerner) at 1 of 1.

Moving to a new system: Yarmouth Regional Hospital (by Dec 2026).

Hospital facts

1 site · public figures and clinical record systems where they are published

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.

Yarmouth Regional Hospital

Clinical record
One Person One Record, moving to a new system, by Dec 2026 As of 31 Oct 2026

Matched to Yarmouth Regional Hospital (Yarmouth) in the province’s hospital list.

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

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). As of 31 Oct 2026

Verify with the official source: each source button opens the publisher’s own page.

Sources and licences

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

About Yarmouth

  • People

    6,829residents, 2021 Census

    Municipality of Yarmouth

  • Housing

    not published for this area

  • Winter and summer

    −2.6 °CJanuary mean17.3 °CJuly mean

    1991–2020 normals, Yarmouth, 1.9 km away

  • Job outlook

    Very goodfor the specialty here, 2025–2027

More about Yarmouth (its page: housing, getting around, weather, things to do, and every program that names it)

Sites as the program’s CaRMS page lists them. City figures are public statistics for the place named by the location; they describe the place, not the program.

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.
Return of service
Required
IMG requirements
Not stated on CaRMS page
Return of service
Required
IMG requirements
Not stated on CaRMS page

Application file components as each stream’s CaRMS page describes them.

Interviews and info sessions

Interview dates (2027 match)
25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 Jan 2027
Interview dates (2027 match)
22 Jan 2027
Interview dates (2027 match)
22 Jan 2027
Format
Virtual
  • Traditional (one on one/two on one)
Format
Virtual
  • MMI or rotating station
Format
Virtual
  • MMI or rotating station

Info sessions

From the program’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), read 20 Oct 2026; a row tagged CANPREPP is on CANPREPP’s events calendar (read 24 Oct 2026), alone or as well. Dates and times are as the program wrote them; “your time” is worked out in your browser when your time zone differs. Programs add and change sessions.

Pay and call

Provincial scale, last updated 24 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab). 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 2 levels this program covers.

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

How provincial pay and rent compare

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

The union agreement’s limits and rules for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. MarDocs agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2027. Read as of 1 Oct 2026.

Benefits

13 lines as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024: Annual vacation, Call stipend, CMPA dues paid, and more
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

After residency

Family doctors in Nova Scotia can bill fee-for-service or join a model that pays for hours worked, enrolled patients and visits: the Longitudinal Family Medicine (LFM) payment model. New-to-practice physicians have a protected panel for their first year, based on the FTE in their offer letter. To join: 46 weeks a year in office-based clinical practice. Compare provinces

Official pages read 31 Oct 2026.

Past matches

Open after round 1 in 5 of 8 years (2019–2026); still open after round 2 in 2 of 9 years.

Positions at this site, all streams. Site as CaRMS lists it: South West Nova.

Show the table, with round 2
Positions at this site, all streams, still open after round 1 and after round 2, by year. Each count above zero links to the CaRMS list page it comes from.
YearOpen after round 1Open after round 2
2018not available0
20192 positions open after round 1 in 2019, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)0
202000
20211 position open after round 1 in 2021, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)0
202200
202300
20241 position open after round 1 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)0
20253 positions open after round 1 in 2025, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)1 position open after round 2 in 2025, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)
20261 position open after round 1 in 2026, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)1 position open after round 2 in 2026, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)

CaRMS’s first-round list for 2018 was not found, so round 1 is counted over 8 years and round 2 over 9.

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.

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)).

Year by year

2027 match

The 2027 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
StreamPositionsLengthInterviewsWhat changed
CMG stream32 years5 dates, 25–29 Jan 2027VirtualNothing noted
IMG stream12 years1 date, 22 Jan 2027VirtualNothing noted
Nova Scotian IMG stream12 years1 date, 22 Jan 2027VirtualNothing noted

2026 match

The 2026 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
StreamPositionsLengthInterviews
CMG stream32 years10 dates, 13 Nov 2025 – 6 Feb 2026
IMG stream12 years5 dates, 13 Nov 2025 – 6 Feb 2026
Nova Scotian IMG stream12 years5 dates, 13 Nov 2025 – 6 Feb 2026
The 2026 page of the CMG stream: our summary of its CaRMS description
  • The South West Nova (SWN) Program is a fully integrated longitudinal family medicine residency that caters to self-directed learners passionate about rural medicine.
  • Located in southwestern Nova Scotia, the program offers comprehensive training across various clinical settings, preparing residents for diverse family practice environments with a strong focus on rural healthcare.
Research
Residents are required to complete a scholarly project with protected time and support from faculty.
Training setting
Rural and distributed training sites across Yarmouth, Digby, and Shelburne counties in Nova Scotia, with Yarmouth Regional Hospital serving as the primary academic center.
Teaching approach
Competency-based medical education with a focus on progressive independence, longitudinal learning, and one-on-one mentorship, emphasizing comprehensive family medicine practice across diverse clinical settings.
Enhanced skills
Not stated on CaRMS page
What the program looked at
  • FMProC score
  • Personal letter
  • Reference letters
  • Medical Student Performance Record (MSPR)
  • Interview performance

Positions, length and interviews as each match’s CaRMS pages stated them; what changed from our comparison of the two matches and our readings of the 2027 pages.

Contacts and links

Program director

  • Dr. Sasha Sealy

CaRMS lists no email for the director.

Program office

Accreditation and CaRMS Administrator

Write to the officefmresidency@dal.ca

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing. Site staff and other contacts are listed there too.

Program websiteWebsiteDalhousie Family Medicine(opens in a new tab)Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Program(opens in a new tab)Maritime Resident Doctors(opens in a new tab)South West Nova (video)(opens in a new tab)Residency at Dalhousie Family Medicine (Video)(opens in a new tab)This program on CaRMS(opens in a new tab)

Family Medicine elsewhere

Nearest to South West Nova

  • South West Nova - Bilingual - Family MedicineDalhousie University

    South West Nova - Bilingual · 0 km

    1 position · CMG

    Bilingual
  • Halifax-South Shore - Family MedicineDalhousie University

    Halifax-South Shore · 129 km

    4 positions · CMG, IMG

  • Saint John - Family MedicineDalhousie University

    Saint John, NB · 137 km

    7 positions · CMG, New Brunswicker IMG

    Regional
In these collections: · All collections

Source

The CMG stream’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), last approved 11 Sep 2026 · The IMG stream’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), last approved 11 Sep 2026 · The Nova Scotian IMG stream’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), last approved 11 Sep 2026 · 2027 match · not final until file review opens 26 November; as of 19 Oct 2026, re-checked every two weeks.

Accredited · CaRMS program IDs 35335 (CMG stream), 35625 (IMG stream), 35864 (Nova Scotian IMG stream) · How these pages are made › · See the 2026 match under Year by year

The Applications per year and Offered interviews figures are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS: past cycles, not your odds.

Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on CdnMD 24 Oct 2026.

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For the CMG streamIMG streamNova Scotian IMG stream · change stream