South West Nova - Family Medicine

Dalhousie UniversitySouth West Nova, Nova ScotiaCMG stream

Program websiteWebsite5 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: 2 years
Stream: CMG
Discipline: Family Medicine
Applications per year: 401–600
Applicants offered interviews: 76–100%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 29728

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

Summary

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.

Training

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.

Setting types

Rural community hospital
Academic medical center
Primary care clinics

Focus areas

Rural Family Medicine
Comprehensive Family Practice
Hospital Medicine
Emergency Medicine
Long-Term Care
Primary Maternity Care

Patient populations

Rural community patients
Hospital inpatients
Emergency patients
Long-term care residents
Maternity patients
Diverse age groups

Highlights

Fully Integrated Longitudinal Clinical Curriculum
One-on-One Teaching
Core Simulation Curriculum
Comprehensive Academic Support
Community Navigator Assistance
Wellness Support
Extensive Rural Clinical Experiences

Strengths

Strong rural medicine training
Comprehensive clinical experiences
Supportive learning environment
High-quality one-on-one mentorship
Diverse clinical exposure

Enhanced skills

Emergency Medicine
Palliative Care
Care of the Elderly

By year

PGY-1

Selective RotationsVarious sites4 weeks
Primary Family Medicine ClinicVarious sites2 days/week

PGY-2

Elective RotationsVarious sites8 weeks
Primary Family Medicine ClinicVarious sites3 days/week

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at

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

Applications per year

401–600

Applicants offered interviews

76–100%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match): 13, 24 and 27 Nov 2025; 10, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 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

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.

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

Yarmouth Regional Hospital

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.

Yarmouth Regional Hospital

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.

Sources and licences

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

Unfilled positions in past years

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.

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.
Year	Open after round 1	Open after round 2
2018	not available	0
2019	2 positions open after round 1 in 2019, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2020	0	0
2021	1 position open after round 1 in 2021, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2022	0	0
2023	0	0
2024	1 position open after round 1 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2025	3 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)
2026	1 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.

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

South West Nova, 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: −2.6 °C Yarmouth, 1.9 km away
July average: 17.3 °C Yarmouth, 1.9 km away
Snowfall: 204.7 cm a year Yarmouth, 1.9 km away
Days below −20 °C: 0.1 days a year Yarmouth, 1.9 km away

People

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

Population: 6,829 people up 4.8% from 2016
Official languages: English only 84.4% · French only not reported · English and French 15.3% · neither 0.3% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 3.9% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 1.0% · non-permanent residents: 2.0%
Indigenous identity: 14.3% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 85.3% · public transit 0.6% · walking or cycling 11.9% · other 2.2% Average commute: 13.2 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: $48,000 before tax $44,400 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: Yarmouth, a small population centre (1,000 to 29,999 people) 7,848 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.421 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.
Student loan forgiveness: Family medicine here may qualify for up to $60,000 of Canada Student Loan forgiveness. Eligibility depends on the postal code of where you work: check the official postal-code lookup. Postal-code lookup(opens in a new tab)

Housing, cost and work

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

Basic cost of living: $51,917 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Nova Scotia, population under 30,000, 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.

Job outlook

Employment and Social Development Canada’s rating for the occupation in the economic region. It is not a count of jobs, and says nothing about CaRMS positions or your match.

Outlook, 2025–2027: Very good The employment outlook will be Very good for general practitioners and family physicians (NOC 31102) in the Southern region for the 2025-2027 period.
Canada-wide, to 2033: Strong risk of Shortage ESDC’s projection for general practitioners and family physicians, 2024–2033. Recent conditions, 2021–2023: Strong signs of Shortage.