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Nanaimo - Family Medicine - Emergency Medicine

University of British ColumbiaNanaimo, British ColumbiaCompetitive stream

Enhanced skills (FM/ES) match

Family medicine residents applying for a PGY-3 year (the "+1").

Contacts and 1 more link
Open on carms.ca(opens in a new tab)

CaRMS program description, FM/ES 2027 match, last approved 27 Aug 2026

Positions (approx. quota)
4 positions
Length
1 year
Stream
Competitive
Discipline
Family Medicine - Emergency Medicine
Applications per year
51–200
Applicants offered interviews
26–50%
Accreditation
Accredited
CaRMS program ID
34677

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

Summary

  • This 1-year family medicine emergency medicine program is based at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, whose ED sees up to 72,000 visits annually.
  • Residents spend 18 weeks in the Nanaimo ED plus 12 weeks of emergency training at distributed sites, including 4 weeks in Tofino.
  • Residents can pursue CPoCUS Independent Practitioner ultrasound certification.

Training

Setting
  • Regional community
  • Rural / remote
  • Academic / tertiary hospital
  • Urban community
Sites

10 teaching sites

  • Nanaimo Regional Hospital
  • Royal Jubilee Hospital
  • Surrey Memorial Hospital
Show all 10
  • Tofino General Hospital
  • West Coast General Hospital
  • Whistler Health Care Centre
  • Kelowna General Hospital
  • Royal Columbian Hospital
  • St. Paul’s Hospital
  • Victoria General Hospital

Distributed across a region

Rural exposure
Required rural rotation (4 weeks)
Focus areas
  • POCUS curriculum
  • Procedural emphasis
Highlights
  • Time on a procedural consult service described as the only one of its kind in Canada.
  • Ultrasound boot camp aimed at CPoCUS Independent Practitioner certification, alongside an on-site ultrasound fellowship.
  • Four-week orthopedic-injury-focused emergency block in Whistler.

By year

Not stated on CaRMS page

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single year.

  • pediatric emergency medicine (2 weeks · NRGH)
  • rural experience (4 weeks · Tofino)
  • quaternary block (4-week · Kelowna General Hospital, Royal Columbian Hospital, Surrey Memorial Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, Victoria General Hospital or Royal Jubilee Hospital)
  • pediatric emergency medicine (4 weeks · Surrey Memorial Hospital)
  • orthopedic injury (4 weeks · Whistler Health Care Clinic/ED)
  • trauma (4 weeks · NRGH)
  • ICU senior resident role (6 weeks · NRGH)
  • CCU (2 weeks · Victoria)
  • combined pediatric and adult anesthesia (4 weeks · NRGH)
  • Optional toxicology/emergency block

Selection

Application file components
  • CV
  • Electives
  • Examinations
  • Extra-curricular
  • Leadership skills
  • MSPRs
  • Personal letters
  • Reference documents
  • Research/Publications
  • Transcripts
  • Other file component(s)
Return of service
Not stated on CaRMS page
Applications per year
51–200
Applicants offered interviews
26–50%

Interviews

Dates (FM/ES 2027 match)
19 and 20 Nov 2026
Mode
Virtual
Format
  • MMI or rotating station

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

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 2 Sep 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Salaries from April 2027.

Annual salary by PGY level, British Columbia
LevelAnnual salary
PGY-3
$86,655 / year

One provincial scale for British Columbia, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing PGY-3, the level FM/ES residents usually start at. Yours depends on your training so far.

Benefits

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

Annual vacation
4 weeks
CMPA dues paid
Yes. Mandatory
Dental plan
100% Premiums Paid
Educational leave
Yes
Extended health insurance
100% Premiums Paid
Frequency of calls
1 in 4 onsite/1 in 3 offsite
Life insurance
100% Premium Paid
Long-term disability insurance
Yes 100% Premiums Paid
Maternity leave
17 weeks, plus up to 78 weeks Parental Leave
Meal allowance
No
Provincial dues (% of salary)
1.5%
Provincial health insurance
100% Premiums Paid
Sick leave
Yes
Statutory holidays
2 x pay plus extra day with pay

Call

Call (provincial max)
1 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.

RDBC agreement, 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2029.

Teaching sites

  • Nanaimo Regional Hospital (Nanaimo)
  • Royal Jubilee Hospital (Victoria)
  • Surrey Memorial Hospital (Surrey)
  • Tofino General Hospital (Tofino · rural or distributed site)
  • West Coast General Hospital (Port Alberni · rural or distributed site)
  • Whistler Health Care Centre (Whistler · rural or distributed site)
  • Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna)
  • Royal Columbian Hospital
  • St. Paul’s Hospital
  • Victoria General Hospital (Victoria)

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.

Nanaimo Regional Hospital

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

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
9,004 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,040 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Royal Jubilee Hospital

Matched to Royal Jubilee Hospital (Victoria) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
14,532 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
3,973 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Surrey Memorial Hospital

Matched to Surrey Memorial Hospital (Surrey) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
11,911 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,849 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.
Show facts for 5 more sites

West Coast General Hospital

Matched to West Coast General Hospital (Port Alberni) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
781 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
213 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Kelowna General Hospital

Matched to Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
15,707 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
4,090 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Royal Columbian Hospital

Matched to Royal Columbian Hospital (New Westminster) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
4,798 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
1,447 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

St. Paul’s Hospital

Matched to St. Paul's Hospital (Vancouver) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
8,691 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,240 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Victoria General Hospital

Matched to Victoria General Hospital (Victoria) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26
8,131 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1
2,108 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Sources and licences

  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

Contacts

Grouped by the titles CaRMS lists. The program office (administrators and coordinators) usually answers questions about the program and applying; the director leads the training.

Program officeadministrators and coordinators

phaedra.bennett@ubc.ca

Ms Phaedra Bennett · EM Program Manager

Program director

  • Dr. Patrick Prendergast

CaRMS lists no email for the director.

Site staffdirectors and coordinators at the teaching sites

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.

More links

Links the program published on CaRMS

Location

Nanaimo, British Columbia

Loading amenities…

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
4.1 °C Vancouver International (Airport), 58.4 km away (more than 50 km, so it may differ from the city)
July average
18.2 °C Vancouver International (Airport), 58.4 km away (more than 50 km, so it may differ from the city)
Snowfall
36.6 cm a year Vancouver International (Airport), 58.4 km away (more than 50 km, so it may differ from the city)
Days below −20 °C
0.0 days a year Vancouver International (Airport), 58.4 km away (more than 50 km, so it may differ from the city)

People

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

Population
99,863 people up 10.3% from 2016
Official languages
English only 92.5% · French only 0.0% · English and French 6.8% · neither 0.7% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants
16.1% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 2.3% · non-permanent residents: 1.9%
Indigenous identity
8.2% of residents
How people commute
car, truck or van 86.8% · public transit 4.0% · walking or cycling 6.6% · other 2.6% Average commute: 19.1 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
$75,500 before tax $68,500 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
Nanaimo, a large urban population centre (100,000 or more people) 106,079 people in 2021
Remoteness index
0.153 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
not published October 2025 survey, Nanaimo, British Columbia (census agglomeration). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living
$59,363 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, British Columbia, population 100,000 to 499,999, 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.
Unemployment rate
5.3% September 2026, three-month average, seasonally adjusted, Nanaimo, British Columbia (census metropolitan area); standard error 1.7 points. A survey estimate.

Sources and licences

  • Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. Adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Cartographic Boundary Files.
  • Adapted from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Rental Market Survey, October 2025 (vacancy rates), and Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0131-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation or Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada (Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020).
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Index of Remoteness (17-26-0001), 2021. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0459-01 Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted, reference month 2026-09. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 11-10-0066-01 Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by Market Basket Measure region, component and base year, 2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0011-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and population centres, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0002-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0057-01 Household income statistics by household type: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0173-01 Mother tongue by knowledge of official languages: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0266-01 Indigenous identity by Registered or Treaty Indian status: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0307-01 Immigrant status and period of immigration by place of birth: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
  • Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0458-01 Main mode of commuting by commuting duration, time leaving for work, age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

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 8 Oct 2026.