The 4th year schedule is divided into 6 groups, and you will be assigned to one of these groups via a lottery.

The difference between the six groups is the period of dates for the mandatory selective.

Each group will have the same pathway from September to mid-November (first 10 weeks of electives), then the pathway will change depending on the groups.

Your choice must be based on your academic needs.

For example, the admission interviews will be held from February to March (with a training in January or February), therefore you must be assigned to group 5 or group 6 if you want to participate.

Also, if you plan to attend a conference, we suggest that it does not take place during your mandatory selective.

There will be 2 lotteries for the organization of the 4th year program, and they will be done through one45. These lotteries are very similar to the ones done for 3rd year.

1. The first lottery will be to match you to one of the 6 groups in the schedule.
2. The second lottery will be to match you to a subspecialty for your mandatory selectives.

Note that there are no distinctions between both streams anymore for the 4th year program. This means that both streams will be part of the same lotteries.

Your participation to both lotteries is important and must be made within the specified dates. If you don’t, one45 will assign you to an empty spot once the lottery is activated at the closure date. There won’t be any possibilities for you to do if after the closure date.

To ensure you won’t miss the deadline, one45 will send you a reminder.

But if it does not matter to you which group you are assigned to, please do not participate in the lottery. By not participating, this will increase the chances of other students to be assigned to their first or second choice.

Lotteries instructions

The instructions on how to proceed for the lotteries will be sent to you via your uOttawa e-mail address in January.

First lottery – January/February 2023 (TBC)

Through that first lottery, you will rank the 6 groups you wish to be assigned to by order of preference. There will be a maximum of 27-28 students per group.

You will receive the result by e-mail a week or two after the closing date. If ever you are not satisfied with the result at that point, we will give you a period of one week to find a colleague (from either streams) that will accept to do a switch with you. Both will have to notify Christiane Raymond at [email protected].

After that period, your assignment to a group will be final and we will send you the new result.

Second lottery – March/April 2023 TBC

Through that second lottery, you will rank all the subspecialties you wish to be assigned to by order of preference.

The process will be the same as for the first lottery.

Students in 4th year are required to do a 2-week rotation in a medicine subspecialty and a 2-week rotation in a surgery subspecialty at The Ottawa Hospital.

After finalizing the 4th year groups and schedule, each student will be asked, through a lottery, to pick their choices of internal medicine and of surgery subspecialties, within a certain time frame.

After the 2nd lottery, once these have been assigned and the internal medicine rotation schedule has been finalized, any spots that have not been filled will be made available for elective placements.

Evaluations

Students must send an evaluation to their preceptor (not a resident) at the beginning of each selective placement through their one45 account.

Here are the evaluations that must be completed:

• Evaluation of Faculty Clinical Teaching by Student
• Evaluation of Resident Clinical Teaching by Student
• Evaluation of Selective by Student
• Evaluation of Student by Preceptor

Please note that your evaluations will validate successful completion of your selectives.

Medicine mandatory selective

Once you are assigned to a group, the second lottery will allow you to rank the following subspecialties (To be confirmed) for the mandatory Selective in Medicine:

• Cardiology
• Critical Care
• Endocrinology & Metabolism
• Gastroenterology
• Geriatrics
• Hematology
• Infectious Disease
• Medical Oncology
• Nephrology
• Neurology
• Palliative Medicine
• Physical Medicine & Rehab (TBC)
• Respirology
• Rheumatology

Contact Person

Surgery mandatory selective

Once you are assigned to a group, the second lottery will allow you to rank the following subspecialties (To be confirmed) for the mandatory Selective in Surgery:

• Cardiac Surgery
• Colorectal
• Neurosurgery
• Oncology, Breast
• Oncology, Gynecology
• Oncology, Thoracic
• Oncology, Orthopedics
• Oncology, Urology
• Orthopaedics
• Paediatric Cardiovascular
• Paediatric General Surgery
• Paediatric Neurosurgery
• Paediatric Orthopaedics
• Paediatric Urology
• Pediatric Plastic Surgery
•  Plastic (Only eligible student can select plastic)*
• Thoracic
• Urology
• Vascular

* PLASTIC: You cannot choose this subspecialty if you have done it during your 3rd year or if you are planning a 4th year elective at TOH. A student is allowed to have only 1 placement in Plastic (TOH) during their clerkship. If you select plastic, but are not eligible, you will be placed in another specialty without consultation.

Contact Person

In 4^th year of medical school, you will have more freedom to adapt your clinical placements to meet your specific needs with regards to career choices.

The 18 weeks of electives in 4th year is placement time that should be used to learn more about the discipline that may be selected for residency or to enhance competencies in a clinical field which was not sufficiently explored in the 3rd year. A majority of students use their elective time to explore possible residency programs or to make themselves known to the programs they are interested in.

One of the key elements to admission in a residency program is to have completed electives in the selected discipline. It is very unlikely that a student will be admitted to a residency program in a discipline for which they have not demonstrated an interest and commitment by doing 1 or 2 electives in the given specialty.  It is not necessary to complete an elective in every residency program in the country to be matched in that discipline. You can refer to the description of the programs on the CaRMS website for more information on what programs are looking for in their candidates. Electives in other areas including research are encouraged.

Each home elective can be a minimum of 1 week and a maximum of 2 weeks. Visiting electives must be a minimum of 2 weeks and a maximum of 4 weeks. Exception for any ERMEP and OPH electives that must be of 4 weeks duration. We will send you the details and procedures in due course on how to apply for your electives.

It is recommended to wisely use the first 10 weeks of electives to gain exposure to potential programs however all weeks before the December vacation are also very important for networking. While it is important to use this elective time to explore residency training programs, every effort should be made to diversify the electives and balance clinical strengths.

See the following resources to help in planning your career:

• Career planning / Tools for future residents: Student Zone | Faculty of Medicine (uottawa.ca)
• Residency programs:www.carms.ca

General conditions

It is expected that an elective will be comprised of 35 hours per week.

You are required to complete a total of 18 weeks of electives before the end of 4th year. The only electives that will be counted toward the 18-week requirement are those that have been approved and entered in your Clinical Placement account and for which evaluations confirming successful completion have been received.

These electives can be either clinical or non-clinical in nature, however you are not allowed to do more than four (4) weeks of non-clinical electives throughout 4th year.

Your supervisor must be a practicing physician, not a resident.

It is expected that you will be in Canada and the continental USA on CaRMS Match Day. That being said, international electives are not permitted during that period. This is to ensure the students can be easily contacted and are able to urgently return to Ottawa should the need arise. Our concern lies in the event of an "unmatched" as timelines involved in this process can require less than 24 hours turnaround.

Conflict of interest in clinical placements

Students cannot be supervised in any clinical placements (i.e., core rotation, selective or elective) by a member of their immediate family, extended family including in-laws treating physician or others close to them who could compromise the objectivity of the student's assessment.

In addition, students are not permitted to do clinical placements in the clinic of his or her treating physician. Students must immediately notify the Medical Education Office or Rotation Coordinators to request reassignment if their assigned placement is in violation of this policy. If a physician has treated a student in the past, they should make efforts to avoid any future situation that would put them in a position of evaluating that student.

Students are not permitted to participate in clinical placements at the ByWard Family Health Team if they have been treated at that Service in the past.

Cancellations Policy

More details to come

National 6-week notification policy  

More details to come

We will send you the details and procedures on how to apply for your electives in due time.

Electives in Ottawa / Home School Electives

Further information will be provided as to the tool and process to follow when planning your electives in Ottawa.

Electives at other Canadian Universities

Further information will be provided as to the tool and process to follow when planning your electives at other Canadian universities.

Other elective resources

There are numerous options available to you when planning your electives. Other great resources can include:

• Rural Electives

You are not limited to clinical electives in 4th year. There are a variety of non-clinical electives offered during the year, including research electives which are a great way to get additional exposure to a specialty:

• Non-Clinical Electives

In order to meet the accreditation requirements, all electives must be pre-approved by the Faculty of Medicine, Undergraduate Medical Education Office (Liaison Officer, Year 4) in order to be eligible and credited.

You must request an approval for all your electives through your Clinical Placement account. All requests must be made at least one month prior the start of any elective. This will be monitored regularly.

If you do not have a pre-approved elective in your Clinical Placement account 2 weeks prior to a given date, it will be brought to the attention of the Clerkship Director.

Any changes to your registered approved electives must be done through your Clinical Placement account by entering a new request. Then you must delete the entry that is no longer valid.

IMPORTANT: An elective cannot be started if it has not been pre-approved and will not be credited if you do not comply with this procedure. If you complete an elective without having it pre-approved, it will potentially be considered a professionalism issue and will be brought to the attention of the Clerkship Director.

How to request approval for your electives

As soon as you receive confirmation of your elective you must also request approval through your Clinical Placement account (CP). Please follow these steps:

1. Plan your elective.
2. Go to the Student Tools application.
3. Enter your username and password (the same as the ones used to access your ONE45 account).
4. Open your file by choosing "Clinical Placement".
5. Choose: "Request approval for an elective".
6. Make sure to complete all sections of the form and then choose "Submit".
7. Once the Medical Education Office has approved your elective (in a delay of 48-72 hours), your Clinical Placement account will automatically be updated.

NOTE: When you request approval for an elective, please make sure to enter the name of your supervisor. If no supervisor has been assigned to you at the moment you receive a confirmation, you must enter the name of the coordinator who confirmed the elective or the choose in the dropdown menu: Elective confirmed by Department Coordinator. You will be able to modify this entry at the end of your elective. Requests with TBD, TBA, Multiple preceptors, do not know, etc., will not be approved.

If the preceptor’s name does not appear in the drop-down menu, select “Preceptor does not appear in list” and write his or her name, surname, and email address in the comment box below.

Diversification Policy for Year 4 Electives

«Following extensive discussion over the prior 2 years, in April 2018 at CCME, the Association of Faculties of Medicine Canada’s (AFMC) Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) Committee (which is a Committee of the 17 Canadian UG Deans) reached a consensus, agreeing to the following proposal:»

«Undergraduate programs recognize their dual responsibility to ensure students undertake a full educational experience that prepares them for any potential career choice, while also optimizing their ability to engage in the increasingly competitive postgraduate match process. Undertaking elective experiences exclusively in a single discipline is pedagogically unsound and fails to provide students with a full exposure to potential career options. Consequently, we commit that, beginning with the Class of 2021, student elective opportunities cannot exceed a maximum of eight weeks in any single entry-level discipline.» 

«The AFMC PGME Committee (the 17 Canadian PG Deans) expressed unanimously in support of this proposal when it was discussed with them at CCME.»

«The AFMC UGME Committee undertook consultation with the CFMS as well as through each school’s curriculum committee and/or local student leadership. This feedback, including a written report submitted to the UG Deans by the CFMS was discussed at the October 26, 2018 UG Deans’ meeting at the AFMC.»

Therefore, in accordance with the AFMC National Elective Diversification Policy, all clinical electives have been categorized according to the CaRMS list of «Entry-level disciplines».  An entry-level discipline is an Entry Route in the PGY-1 (R1) match.

When registering your electives in your Clinical Placement account, you will need to tag your elective to the appropriate discipline.

In 4th year, you must cover a minimum of three (3) disciplines in the PGY1 Entry-level and PGY3-4 Subspecialty, by doing at least two (2) weeks in each discipline.  A maximum of eight (8) weeks of clinical electives is allowed in the same discipline.

PGY1 Entry-level and PGY3-4 Subspecialty disciplines

• D1 Anatomical Pathology
• D2 Anesthesiology
• D3 Cardiac Surgery
• D4 Dermatology
• D5 Diagnostic Radiology
• D6 Emergency Medicine
• D7 Family Medicine
• D8 General Pathology
• D9 General Surgery
• D10 Hematological Pathology
• D11 Internal Medicine (General) – CTU and CT
• D12 Medical Genetics and Genomics
• D13 Medical Microbiology
• D14 Neurology
• D15 Neurology - Pediatric
• D16 Neuropathology
• D17 Neurosurgery
• D18 Nuclear Medicine
• D19 Obstetrics and Gynecology
• D20 Ophthalmology
• D21 Orthopedic Surgery
• D22 Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery
• D23 Pediatrics (General)
• D24 Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
• D25 Plastic Surgery
• D26 Psychiatry
• D27 Public Health and Preventive Medicine
• D28 Radiation Oncology
• D29 Urology
• D30 Vascular Surgery
• D31 Non-Clinical (these electives do not count towards a discipline, but must be tagged)
• D32 PGY3-4 Pediatrics Subspecialties
• D33 PGY3-4 Internal Medicine Subspecialties

Non-clinical electives do not count towards a discipline.  However, for tracking purposes you will be asked to tag them as follows:  D31 Non-Clinical.

Special Circumstances

In general, a discipline is determined by the main specialty of a preceptor. However, there might be exceptions. For example:

• If a student is following a Family Medicine physician doing only Emergency Medicine, it will count as the Emergency Medicine discipline.
• If a student is following a Family Medicine physician doing both Emergency Medicine and seeing patients at the clinic, then it will count as the Family Medicine discipline.

«While the majority of medical students studying in Canada apply only to the Canadian residency match (through CaRMS), some students also apply (or apply exclusively) to the U.S. residency match (through ERAS).  As this Canadian policy applies to all Canadian UGME programs, all students enrolled in these programs are subject to the same policies. The 8-week maximum applies irrespective of the student’s decision about residency applications.»

Please note that the mandatory Selective are not taken into account in the diversification policy.

Note that after week #10 (between November and March), students must do a minimum of 4 weeks of electives (which do not have to be consecutive) outside The Ottawa Hospital (TOH).

Any student who has not done the mandatory 4 consecutive weeks of community placement during 3rd year must do it in 4th year.

Please visit the DME website for more information: Distributed Medical Education | Faculty of Medicine (uottawa.ca) or contact them at [email protected].

Each placement (selective & elective) must be validated with an evaluation.

We must receive one evaluation per placement.

Elective evaluations must be completed by a practicing physician, not a resident.

At the end of the 4th year program (end of March), a student’s file will be considered as complete only if all evaluations have been received and are successfully passed.

Each student must succeed all their placements to be eligible to the M.D. degree.

You must always keep a copy of your evaluations for your personal records.

If ever a student fails a placement, remediation will be mandated after meeting with the clerkship director.

Elective evaluations

A few days before the end of each elective, you must return to your clinical placement account to indicate that your elective has been completed.

Then you must complete these 3 mandatory forms:

• Evaluation of preceptor by student;
• Evaluation of elective experience by student;
• Evaluation of student by preceptor – Please confirm details*

*The 3rd step consists of confirming the details of the elective before forwarding by email to the preceptor the Evaluation of student by preceptor.

Each student must comply with the deadlines provided.

Please note that your evaluations will validate successful completion of your electives.

For any problems with elective placements, please inform the Specialist, Academic Administration/Student Services, Year 4 at 613-562-5800 ext. 8524 or by email at [email protected] or the Electives Coordinator at 613-562-5800, ext. 8552 or in writing at [email protected].

Mandatory selective evaluations

Evaluation of mandatory selectives will be done through your one45 account. 

The selective coordinators will send the evaluation forms in the student one45 To Do page.

1. Evaluation of Faculty Clinical Teaching by Student – To be completed before the end of your selective.
2. Evaluation of Faculty Clinical Teaching by Students – To be completed before the end of your selective.
   Students must evaluate each preceptor and resident they have worked with even if worked only for a few hours.
3. Evaluation of Selective by Student – To be completed before the end of your selective.
4. Evaluation of Student by Preceptor – To be sent to your preceptor at the start of your selective.

The students must select their preceptor and send the evaluation.  Only one preceptor is responsible to complete the student evaluation even if he has worked with multiple ones.

You must also successfully pass the Evaluation of Student by Preceptor.​​​​​​

There are many organizations who will request a letter of good standing from your school. You will have to request one through our website Students Zone/Student Ressources/Form:  Request for a Letter of Good Standing | Faculty of Medicine (uottawa.ca)

The Undergraduate Office will provide you the letter if you meet the following requirements:

1. Your tuition fees must be paid for the current session
2. You must comply with the risk management requirements. You will find more details below in the section of the CLINICAL PLACEMENT RISK MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS.

If there are any problems with your elective, please inform the Electives Coordinator at 613-562-5800 ext. 8552 or in writing at [email protected].

If you experience difficulties such as personal well-being or stress related issues during an elective, please do not hesitate to contact the Academic Administration / Student Services, Year 4 at 613-562-5800 ext. 8524 or in writing at [email protected].

The Office of Student Affairs also offers a confidential counseling and referral service to undergraduate medical students. Students who are experiencing difficulty with stress related to personal and academic demands are encouraged to consult with a professional counselor in Student Affairs. You may find their contact information following this link: Student Affairs Office | Faculty of Medicine (uottawa.ca)

We strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with the guidelines regarding appearance while encountering patients. Policy and Procedures, Clinical Setting –Regulation: Clinical Setting—Regulation (uottawa.ca)

We strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with the professional standards under the section Policies and Procedures, Professionalism: Policy on Professionalism | Faculty of Medicine (uottawa.ca)

Registered students at the University of Ottawa are covered by the University’s Commercial General Liability Insurance with a limit per occurrence in excess of C$5.000,000 inclusive for medical malpractice, bodily injury, personal injury and property damage as described in detail in the policy while on clinical placements during the academic year, whether in Canada or abroad.

Note that the University of Ottawa’s Commercial General Liability insurance policy only applies to placements when students are receiving academic credit. Therefore, students are only covered by our insurance when they are successfully completing the required 18 weeks of Electives and 4 weeks of Selectives. If you voluntarily undertake additional placements, you will not be covered by the University’s insurance for these additional weeks and will place yourself, the receiving institution and the physician you are working with at risk. You will also not be receiving academic credit for those weeks.

We strongly encourage you to familiarize yourself with the procedures to follow in case of injury while on elective or selective. You may find this information by consulting the StudentZone - Health and Safety page.

It is your responsibility, as a medical student, to ensure your immunization record, your CPR certification, and N95 mask fitting are up-to-date for the upcoming academic year or before they expire. You also have to submit, on a yearly basis, a current copy of your police record check.

For more information, please consult the Office of the Chief Risk Officer.

Students who do not meet these requirements will not be eligible to participate in their clinical placement.

Please read carefully the attendance policy in Clerkship which applies to the 3rd and 4th year: Policies and Procedures | Faculty of Medicine (uottawa.ca)

Please note that to be eligible for academic credit, excused absences cannot exceed 20% of a rotation.

If you are participating in Medical School Admissions in your fourth year, you will not be permitted to take Personal Days during the same rotation. You cannot be absent more than 20%.

You will have to complete the Medical Council of Canada practice test during your 4th year which will be held in the fall. The test has two parts: multiple choice questions (MCQ) and clinical decision-making questions (CDMQ). Details will be sent to you later.

This will be a transition period to residency which will also include four mandatory sessions.

The details will be provided later.  

This course will be the last part of the electronic Portfolio (ePortfolio) program. This is mandatory and consist of two meetings, two posts, and one final ePortfolio. 

Due to the complexity of the 4th year program, it could be challenging to find mutually convenient times for the meetings, as many students will be in various elections/selectives in different dates and location. However, students can also meet through teleconference, Skype, or any other media.