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CdnMD

Rural - Lethbridge - Family Medicine

University of CalgaryRural, Alberta

Stream

At a glance

Approx. quota
10 positions
3 positions
Length
2 years
Applications per year
201–400
Offered interviews
76–100%

CMG stream · open to Canadian medical graduates

IMG stream · open to international medical graduates

Return of service: not stated on the CaRMS page

IMG requirement: Assessment by a provincial clinical assessment program details under How they choose

Meet and greet

all 2 info sessions of this program

Wed 18 Nov 2026,6:00–7:30 pm MT

Interviews

2 dates, 19–21 Jan 2027virtual

Rural, 20 teaching sites21 teaching sites · 40 rural weeks

A car is required

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

Program website(opens in a new tab)Department Instagram(opens in a new tab)Instagram(opens in a new tab)Department X(opens in a new tab)Facebook(opens in a new tab)CANPREPP profile(opens in a new tab)CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab)

What stands out about this program

  • Optional R2 longitudinal pathway completing most of second year in Brooks or Taber.

    From “Program curriculum” on the CaRMS page

  • Two-week anesthesia block within emergency rotation for rural advanced airway skills.

    From “Program curriculum” on the CaRMS page

  • Northern rotation opportunity in Whitehorse when feasible.

    From “Program highlights” on the CaRMS page

  • This two-year rural family medicine program is based at Lethbridge, with specialty rotations at Chinook Regional Hospital.
  • Residents complete 16 weeks of rural family medicine in first year and 24 weeks in second year at rural community practices.
  • Call is mostly home-based except for ICU and obstetrics, and a QI scholarship project is required.
  • Accommodation away from Lethbridge is paid for, and a driver's licence and vehicle are mandatory.

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

    This small, decentralized program allows a focus on the individual's training requirements.

Not a ranking.

What training looks like

Setting
  • Regional community
  • Rural / remote
  • Academic / tertiary hospital
Rural exposure
Required rural rotation (40 weeks)
Focus areas
  • Rural / remote
  • Small program
  • Procedural emphasis
  • Early independence
Research
Required · scholarly or quality-improvement project
Enhanced skills
  • Care of the Elderly
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Anesthesia
  • Palliative Care
  • Addiction Medicine
  • Sport and Exercise Medicine
  • Maternity and Newborn Care
  • 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
  • Family MedicineRural sites2 x 8 weeks
  • ElectiveResident's choice8 weeks
  • PediatricsLethbridge4 weeks
  • Pediatric EmergCalgary4 weeks
  • PsychiatryLethbridge4 weeks
  • OrthopedicLethbridge4 weeks
  • SurgeryLethbridge4 weeks
  • Internal MedicineLethbridge4 wks IM, 4 wks Hospitalist
PGY-2
  • Family MedicineRural site(s)24 weeks
  • Obstetrics & GynecologyLethbridge, Canmore or High River8 weeks
  • ElectiveResident's choice6 weeks
  • ICULethbridge4 weeks
  • Palliative CareLethbridge2 weeks
  • Emergency & AnesthesiaLethbridge6 wks EM, 2 wks Anesth

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

Where you train

Rural, Alberta: 20 teaching sites21 teaching sites; 40 rural weeks. A car is required.

  • Chinook Regional Hospital (Lethbridge)
  • Bassano (Bassano · rural or distributed site)
  • Brooks (Brooks · rural or distributed site)
  • Camrose (Camrose · rural or distributed site)
  • Canmore (Canmore · rural or distributed site)
  • Cardston (Cardston · rural or distributed site)
  • Claresholm (Claresholm · rural or distributed site)
  • Crowsnest Pass (Crowsnest Pass · rural or distributed site)
  • Delburne (Delburne · rural or distributed site)
  • Didsbury (Didsbury · rural or distributed site)
  • Drumheller (Drumheller · rural or distributed site)
  • Hanna (Hanna · rural or distributed site)
Show all 20 sites
  • High River (High River · rural or distributed site)
  • Innisfail (Innisfail · rural or distributed site)
  • Olds (Olds · rural or distributed site)
  • Pincher Creek (Pincher Creek · rural or distributed site)
  • Raymond (Raymond · rural or distributed site)
  • Sundre (Sundre · rural or distributed site)
  • Taber (Taber · rural or distributed site)
  • Three Hills (Three Hills · rural or distributed site)

Distributed across a region

  • Chinook Regional Hospital (Lethbridge)
  • Bassano (Bassano · rural or distributed site)
  • Bow Island (Bow Island · rural or distributed site)
  • Brooks (Brooks · rural or distributed site)
  • Camrose (Camrose · rural or distributed site)
  • Canmore (Canmore · rural or distributed site)
  • Cardston (Cardston · rural or distributed site)
  • Claresholm (Claresholm · rural or distributed site)
  • Crowsnest Pass (Crowsnest Pass · rural or distributed site)
  • Delburne (Delburne · rural or distributed site)
  • Didsbury (Didsbury · rural or distributed site)
  • Drumheller (Drumheller · rural or distributed site)
Show all 21 sites
  • Hanna (Hanna · rural or distributed site)
  • High River (High River · rural or distributed site)
  • Innisfail (Innisfail · rural or distributed site)
  • Olds (Olds · rural or distributed site)
  • Pincher Creek (Pincher Creek · rural or distributed site)
  • Raymond (Raymond · rural or distributed site)
  • Sundre (Sundre · rural or distributed site)
  • Taber (Taber · rural or distributed site)
  • Three Hills (Three Hills · rural or distributed site)

Distributed across a region

Record systems at the listed sites, all streams: Epic at 15 of 21; no published record for 6.

Hospital facts

14 sites · clinical record systems where an official source states them

What official sources say for hospitals named above, each with its source and the date we read it. 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
Epic (Connect Care), fully electronic record since Nov 2024 As of 31 Oct 2026. At Chinook Regional Hospital, Bassano, Brooks, Cardston, Crowsnest Pass, Didsbury, Hanna, Innisfail, Olds, Pincher Creek, Raymond, Sundre, Taber, Three Hills.

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

Hospital size and activity: Alberta doesn't publish this as open data.

Sites as the program’s CaRMS page lists them.

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
Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.
IMG requirements
  • Assessment by a provincial clinical assessment program

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

Interviews and info sessions

Interview dates (2027 match)
19 and 21 Jan 2027
Format
Virtual
  • Traditional (one on one/two on one)

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 22 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab). One provincial scale for Alberta, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 2 levels this program covers.

Annual salary by PGY level, Alberta
LevelAnnual salary
PGY-1
$67,440 / year
PGY-2
$74,153 / year

How provincial pay and rent compare

Call

Call (as the program states it)
In-house and home call
Call (provincial max)
1 in 4 in-house
Post-call rule (provincial)
No new responsibilities after the 24th hour of duty, apart from handover
Max continuous duty (provincial)
24 consecutive hours, plus 2 hours for handover

The union agreement’s limits and rules for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. PARA agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2028. Read as of 1 Oct 2026.

Benefits

15 lines as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024: Annual vacation, Call Stipends, CMPA dues paid, and more
Annual vacation
4 weeks/yr
Call Stipends
weekday in-house – $118.02weekend in-house / holiday – $178.72weekday home call – $59.01weekend home call / holiday – $89.35
CMPA dues paid
$1,500
Dental plan
75% premium paid
Educational leave
14 days paid leave
Extended health insurance
75% premium paid$1000 per year Flexible Spending Account*
Life insurance
100% towards $150,000 coverage
Life Support Course Costs (Program Approved
100% paid
Long-term disability insurance
100% paid for 75% gross income
Maternity Leave
18 weeks total (17 weeks paid to match 90% of salary when combined with EI)
Parental Leave
2 weeks leave with full pay and benefits;52 weeks (inclusive of Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leaves) – unpaid leave
Practice Stipend
$1,500
Provincial dues (% of salary)
.95%
Sick leave
Up to 3 months or to end contract paid leave, whichever occurs first
Statutory holidays
Paid days. Additional days off are given if resident works the day before and part of a named holiday.

After residency

Family doctors in Alberta can bill fee-for-service or join a model that pays for visits, hours worked and enrolled patients: the Primary Care Physician Compensation Model (PCPCM). A new-to-practice physician with fewer than 500 patients can join within 6 months of graduation. To join: 400 hours of direct and indirect care over 40 or more weeks a year. Compare provinces

Official pages read 31 Oct 2026.

Year by year

2027 match

The 2027 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
StreamPositionsLengthInterviewsWhat changed
CMG stream102 years2 dates, 19–21 Jan 2027VirtualNothing noted
IMG stream32 years2 dates, 19–21 Jan 2027VirtualNothing noted

2026 match

The 2026 match, one row per stream (scrolls sideways on narrow screens)
StreamPositionsLengthInterviews
CMG streamRural - Family Medicine102 years4 dates, 22 Dec 2025 – 22 Jan 2026
IMG streamRural - Family Medicine32 years4 dates, 22 Dec 2025 – 22 Jan 2026
The 2026 page of the CMG stream: our summary of its CaRMS description
  • The University of Calgary Rural Family Medicine Residency Program in Lethbridge offers a comprehensive two-year training experience focused on preparing future rural family physicians.
  • Residents receive extensive hands-on training across diverse rural settings, with an emphasis on full-scope comprehensive care and developing clinical independence.
Research
Residents are required to complete and present a Quality Improvement Scholarship project and participate in journal club, with an annual Resident Scholarship Day.
Training setting
Primarily rural and regional settings in southern Alberta, with home base in Lethbridge. Training occurs in multiple rural communities including Bassano, Brooks, Camrose, and others, with some specialty rotations at Chinook Regional Hospital.
Teaching approach
Training future rural family physicians in the actual settings they will practice, with an emphasis on individualized learning, progressive independence, and comprehensive care across multiple clinical environments.
Enhanced skills
Not stated on CaRMS page
What the program looked at
  • FMProC assessment
  • MCCQE Part I
  • 3 Family Medicine structured reference letters
  • Personal letter
  • Medical Student Performance Record
  • CV/Transcript

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 directors
Program office

Rural CaRMS Coordinator

Write to the officeruralfm@ucalgary.ca

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

Program websiteWebsiteDepartment InstagramDepartment InstagramInstagramDepartment XDepartment XFacebookCANPREPPCANPREPPincludes a resident experience sectionFrom the programDepartment of Family Medicine, University of Calgary(opens in a new tab)Postgraduate Medical Education, University of Calgary(opens in a new tab)This program on CaRMS(opens in a new tab)

Videos and podcasts

From the program

Public podcast episodes and videos where the program presents itself. The short descriptions are ours; each link goes to the original.

These are public recordings, reviewed by hand and linked here, not endorsed. They may be out of date. Confirm with the program.

All videos, podcasts and discussions →

Family Medicine elsewhere

Nearest to Rural - Lethbridge

  • Rural - Medicine Hat - Family MedicineUniversity of Calgary

    Rural - Medicine Hat · 159 km

    12 positions · CMG, IMG, MOTP-MMTP

    Regional
  • Calgary - Family MedicineUniversity of Calgary

    Calgary · 174 km

    77 positions · CMG, IMG

    City
  • Red Deer - Family MedicineUniversity of Alberta

    Red Deer · 294 km

    10 positions · CMG, IMG

    Regional
In these collections:

Source

The CMG stream’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), last approved 8 Sep 2026 · The IMG stream’s CaRMS page (opens in a new tab), last approved 8 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 35706 (CMG stream), 36243 (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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