Information for Residents:

The Royal College allows up to three months training abroad during a general surgery residency provided the proposed training is acceptable to your local Program Director and Residency Committee. Such approval is not automatic and you should approach your program director early in your training to seek his or her approval and advice.

See the Objectives of Training and Specialty Training Requirements.

Specialty Training Requirements:

These specialty training requirements apply to those who begin training on or after 1 June 2003. Please also see the 1996 requirements pertaining to those who begin training before 1 June 2003.
Five years of approved residency training. Training should incorporate the principle of graded increasing responsibility. This must include at least 36 months of General Surgery rotations, of which at least one year must be spent as a senior or chief resident. This period must include:

1. two (2) years of core training in surgery (please see the Objectives attached to this document).
2. thirty (30) months of approved residency training in general surgery, one continuous year of which must be at a senior resident position;
3. six (6) months of approved residency training that may include:
   
   i. further approved residency in general surgery or in one or more branches of general surgery such as pediatric surgery, vascular surgery, thoracic surgery, surgical oncology, or colorectal surgery;
   ii. clinical or basic research in a department approved by the Program Director, Residency Committee, and the Royal College (see "Policies and Procedures" Section IV);
   iii. up to six (6) months of training in other areas which are relevant to the resident's career goals and which are acceptable to the Residency Committee of his or her medical school; this period may include up to three months in an institution that is not approved for residency training by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.

This period may include:

• further approved residency in another surgical discipline such as plastic surgery, gynecology or urology;
• further residency in an approved program in a non-surgical specialty such as critical care, pathology, y or internal medicine, infectious disease, transplantation or interventional radiology;
• rural or remote general surgery.

Check List for Residents Going Overseas on Medical Missions (April 2005)