Can J Emerg Med
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The Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) selection process has come under scrutiny due to the increasing number of unmatched medical graduates. In response, we outline our residency program's selection process including how we have incorporated best practices and novel techniques. ⋯ We describe a rigorous resident selection process for our emergency medicine training program which incorporated simultaneous cloud-based rating, Z-scores, and heat maps. This standardized approach could inform other programs looking to adopt a rigorous selection process while providing applicants guidance and reassurance of a fair assessment.
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Competence committees play a key role in a competency-based system of assessment. These committees are tasked with reviewing and synthesizing clinical performance data to make judgments regarding residents' competence. Canadian emergency medicine (EM) postgraduate training programs recently implemented competence committees; however, a paucity of literature guides their work. ⋯ The Canadian EM community used a structured process to develop nine best practice recommendations for competence committees addressing: committee membership, meeting processes, decision outcomes, use of high-quality performance data, and ongoing quality improvement. These recommendations can inform the structure and processes of competence committees in Canadian EM training programs.
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HealthLine is Saskatchewan's provincial 24-hour health information and support telephone line. A proportion of HealthLine's callers are referred to the emergency department (ED) for further assessment. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the appropriateness of these referrals and assess whether they increased the burden on an already strained ED system. ⋯ The Saskatchewan HealthLine is doing an effective job at directing callers both to and away from EDs in Saskatoon and not overburdening our local EDs with unnecessary referrals.