About the CFMS

The CFMS is an organization representing over 8,000 medical students from 15 Canadian medical student societies from coast to coast. We represent medical students to the public, to the federal government, and to national and international medical organizations.

Member Memo #6: COVID-19 Effects on Medical Education and CFMS Operations

April 14, 2020

Dear Students,

We hope everyone had an enjoyable “long” weekend (does anyone even know the day of the week it is any more??). Whether you saw the Easter bunny or not, spent time socially connected with your family and friends while maintaining physical distancing!

Please continue to check our COVID-19 webpage for new announcements and updates. CFMS Supports 20 student initiatives with COVID-19 Community Care Initiative Grants

We are very proud to announce that we were able to support 20 grassroots students’ initiatives through our community care initiative grants. Student projects are taking place across the country and we are using the hashtag #medstudentscare to highlight some of the work. Keep up the great work everyone!

MCCQE I Exam/Final Year Students

We continue to have weekly meetings with MCC leadership. Prometric sites remain closed until at least May 1st and we are working with the MCC to establish the best way to run the exam. All options for exam delivery continue to be considered and we are aware the MCC is considering options for remote exam delivery. To summarize the current information, we know and have advocated for:

• Candidates will receive at least 4 weeks notice prior to the exam period opening.
• Students will be given increased flexibility to change their exam booking times given the ongoing uncertainty with the pandemic situation and as we near the start of residency for the 2020s
• We will establish an equitable process for students to sign-up for preferred times.
• The MCC has noted they will work to increase the number of available dates and extend the writing period much longer than usual (likely 2-3 months window vs 3-4 week window).
• The MCC will be communicating new details regarding their exam preparatory material in light of the exam delay later this week via their direct message updates to candidates.

As a reminder, if we are unable to start the writing period of the MCCQE I prior to the start of residency; no provincial/territorial jurisdiction in Canada at this time places any additional restrictions on PGY-1’s who have not yet successfully completed their MCCQE I. If we do not complete the MCCQE I before residency we would be able to practice with the full scope that any other PGY-1 would have in other years. Currently provincial regulatory colleges require you to have completed both MCCQE I and II prior to obtaining a staff physician license.

We are also communicating with the AFMC and postgraduate deans nationally to ensure that final year students receive ongoing information during your transition to residency. This is an uncertain time and we want to ensure that you will be fully supported as you start the next part of your medical training. Final year students should be receiving information from your home school student affairs offices and incoming PGME offices with specific instructions about preparation for the start of residency, with certain special considerations given the ongoing uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are moving, take note of additional time you may need if a province has a travel quarantine measure in place. We are actively discussing possible options to support learners who are moving for the start of residency, including the possibility of temporary housing measures should that be required to help with public health restrictions in June/July. The CFMS has creating a facebook group for incoming residents at all of our member

schools to help connect incoming residents with each other. Talk to your final year class rep if you haven’t been added to a group yet!

Second Iteration R1 2020 Match:

Second iteration match day is on Wednesday April 15th. We are wishing students entering the second iteration all the best. The CFMS will be analyzing the match data and will have an official press release and response shortly after results are released by CaRMS. We continue to have a number of supports for students who have entered the second iteration of the 2020 R1 match which are listed here. We have extended the deadline for submitting the reimbursement form to receive $150 to support costs for the second iteration to April 30th. You can access the form at the above link.

Visiting Electives/AFMC electives portal:

The AFMC portal has an updated FAQ section here.

• As of last week, schools have unanimously decided to cancel previously booked visiting electives until at least mid-September.
• Students who had confirmed visiting electives will be contacted by the host school regarding cancellation and refunds. At this time the electives portal is not accepting any new applications.
• It is recommended that students who do not yet have a portal account (those who had not yet needed to book electives) wait until we have more details on visiting electives before they create one.
• We are currently operating under the notion that the 2021 class will have the opportunity for visiting electives when students return to clerkship. Our schools are working on refining the processes of booking and confirming visiting electives to reduce the time required to confirm visiting electives.

Clerkship:

This past week we spent significant time discussing the 2021 R1 Match timelines.

• Match timelines will be adjusted to order to accommodate the significant time students will have been away from clinical duties. The deadline for residency applications will NOT be in November as originally planned. How many months this will be pushed back is still being discussed. We know the entire match timeline will be compressed as a result but we have not finalized dates for the different match milestones.
• We are hoping to maximize the opportunity for 2021s to participate in electives (both internal and visiting) in order to have adequate time to explore career opportunities. We are discussing parameters for electives to promote a measure of uniformity (i.e. min number of weeks for each school, possible adjustment to elective diversification policy for this year only etc.)
• We expect that a new set of “approved” timelines should be available at the end of April.
• We are discussing the likely scenario that 2021 match interviews will be conducted virtually/online. If this is agreed upon all programs at all medical schools will be conducting virtual interviews with no exceptions for anycandidates.

• There may be adjustments to student requirements in their applications (i.e. number of reference letters) to accommodate the unique reality of the 2021 match year.

• Given the necessity to adjust the match timelines we will also need to adjust the timing of the 2021 MCCQE I Spring writing time and students will likely have less time between the end of medical school and the start of residency.

We have also continued discussing guiding principles for students to return to clinical duties. At this time schools continue to aim for returns between middle of May to the start of July though there remains significant uncertainty.

• We continue to prioritize public health and safety, student physical and mental wellbeing, learning capacity and faculty/staff safety and ability to supervise.
• As the pandemic has and will likely continue to affect provinces differently, students may return to clerkship at slightly different times. All students will return to core rotations first. Assuming all students can return by around July, the earliest time that visiting electives would start would be the end of September.
• Our overall goal is to balance educational requirements and learner wellbeing while preserving graduation dates to ensure students are able to start residency on July 1st 2021.

CFMS Spring General Meeting and Elections:

Our CFMS SGM will be taking place this Saturday and Sunday!! We will be using Zoom and will be able to accommodate up to 300 participants! There is still opportunity to register to attend! An updated agenda and meeting information has been uploaded to our SGM webpage here. We look forward to electing our new President and portfolio VPs/directors. Information on the candidates who are running will be updated shortly and you can find information about them on our SGM webpage. We will be joined for special guest sessions by CaRMS and the AFMC. We will be recording some of the sessions and posting soon after the SGM.

Wellness Resources

This is a stressful time for many of us. In collaboration with our member schools we have this spreadsheet of wellness resources. We want to remind everyone to stay connected socially during this period of critical physical distancing. Check out our social media @CFMSFEMC for contests to keep you engaged.

Final Thoughts

We will continue to have these member memos every 1 to 2 weeks. The medical education environment continues to change rapidly and we encourage you to stay connected with your local MedSoc who are all doing an amazing job advocating for you locally. We are in constant communication with your MedSoc executive and we appreciate the ongoing engagement on improving medical education.

As always if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected]

Sincerely,

Victor Do

CFMS President, 2019-2020