Welcome

The Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (PM&R) Residency Training at McMaster University is a 5-year program. We have a large diverse and accomplished faculty. Our Regional Rehabilitation Centre is an exceptional facility adjacent to the region’s largest General Hospital.

Our curriculum is under continuous development. We revamped the Academic Half Day schedule to occur every Wednesday afternoon, providing learners with a multitude of knowledge and skills, including OSCE performance, ultrasound for procedures, and Quality Improvement protocols. Journal Clubs are also held every month.

Recently, we introduced Resident Case Rounds, driven by residents who saw an opportunity to enhance education. They are held every Thursday morning via videoconferencing. The rounds are designed to help residents develop their clinic problem-solving skills while reviewing important concepts as they relate to interesting cases.

Additionally, we have implemented new rotation opportunities for residents, such as the Anatomy rotation, and the Academic Development rotation.

Research and opportunities to present are available within the program, as well as mentorship provided by our Research Director. Residents are required to conduct a scholarly project from inception to completion during their residency program and may choose to focus their scholarly project on quality improvement (QI).

Our graduating residents are well-positioned to assume careers in academic and community-based practices or to pursue additional training in specialized fellowships.

Entry Requirements

Applicants must apply through the CaRMS R – 1 Main Residency Match:

Full CMG & IMG applicant requirements and deadlines can be found on the CaRMS website

Education

Teaching Awards

2022-2023 – Dr. Celina Lin

2021-2022 – Dr. Akil Siva

2022-2021 – Dr. Gihan Perera

Program Overview

The goal of the McMaster Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation program is to train qualified students to become exemplary specialists in all the disciplines of PM&R. The residency program includes core rotations as outlined under the program curriculum.

Upon completion of the program, graduates are well-positioned to pursue careers in either academic or community-based practices. Some graduates consider further sub-specialization through post-program fellowships.

The PM&R program provides strong support through faculty instruction and mentorship in all core disciplines and electives. This large diverse resident group is also a source of mentorship and support. Most of our training takes place at the Regional Rehabilitation Centre.

About the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency Program:

In 2009, the Regional Rehabilitation Centre opened its doors to centralize Rehabilitation services to residents of Hamilton and the surrounding area. It currently houses inpatient Acquired Brain Injury, Stroke, Spinal Cord, and Amputee rehabilitation programs for a total of 112 inpatient beds.

Our residents spend most of their core rotations here which also enables them to participate in robust outpatient Physiatry clinics. Our current outpatient visits per year surpass 30,000 and include Musculoskeletal and Interventional Physiatry treatment. The majority of academic events and meetings, such as the weekly Academic half-day and the annual OSCE examination, take place here and it is considered the Physiatry Residents’ “home base”.

The building is also physically connected to the Hamilton General Hospital, which is the region’s trauma centre. This enables resident involvement in acutely injured individuals’ care, as well as close collaboration with the specialties of Neurology, Orthopedics, Neurosurgery, and Radiology.

Lastly, the centre is approximately a 10-15 minute drive from all the other major hospitals in Hamilton, which permits relatively easy commutes and attendance of other rotations and electives

Objectives

Competence By Design (CBD)

We, along with all Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation programs across Canada, are transitioning to a Competency by Design curriculum as of July 2020. This transition has allowed us the opportunity to reflect on the execution of our program and its curriculum. With faculty and resident input, we have transformed our residency curriculum to better optimize a learner’s educational experience. These are just a few changes we are implementing:

• Earlier introduction to physiatry rotations
• Less time spent on off-service rotations
• More time spent on core physiatry rotations
• Senior/junior rotations to enhance learning
• Junior attending rotations to increase resident responsibility

We are very excited about the positive changes that Competency by Design will bring to our program.