As a follow-up to our theme issue from September 2008, we would like to provide BCMJ readers with our UBC class of 2008 CaRMS results.

The success of the expanded medical program would not occur without the commitment of physicians throughout BC who have helped to train our medical students. Students will always be grateful for the example and wisdom they have gained from their teachers.

The 2008 class was both the largest and the first distributed MD undergraduate class to graduate from UBC. This marks an important milestone not only for our first graduating class, but also for our expanded and distributed MD undergraduate program and postgraduate programs as well as our partner universities and health authorities.

The UBC Faculty of Medicine Evaluation Studies Unit monitors quality and comparability across sites, and tracks student progress from admission to professional practice. Their study of the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) results and statistics reaffirm that UBC students in the Vancouver Fraser Medical Program, Island Medical Program, and Northern Medical Program are competitive in a wide variety of disciplines across the country.

After the second iteration of CaRMS, 99.5% of all our students who participated matched to a residency program. Students matched to 19 disciplines in 12 Canadian faculties of medicine. Of the 193 matched students, 77 (40%) matched to residency programs in family medicine. Sixty percent, or 116 of the 193 students, matched to residency programs at UBC.

Island Medical Program (IMP) students matched to 10 disciplines; Northern Medical Program (NMP) students matched to 6 disciplines, and Vancouver Fraser Medical Program (VFMP) students matched to 18 disciplines.

It gives us great pleasure to see that 70% of Northern Medical Program graduates matched to family medicine residency programs, as well as specialty programs like the new UBC psy­chiatry residency program in Prince George.

Another milestone will be in 2010, when family medicine residents from the class of 2008 will complete their training and choose the communities they will practise in. We hope to then welcome many of them to communities in BC.
Our clinical teachers throughout the province have every reason to take pride in our collective achievements.

—Kristin Sivertz, MD
—Bruce Fleming, MD