Significant Health Human Resource Success with National Match for Medical Residency Seats

Released on June 13, 2024

Saskatchewan Filled all Family Medicine Seats in the First Round of CaRMS

The Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) has released the match results of the process to fill medical residency seats across the country for 2024. For a second consecutive year, Saskatchewan filled all family medicine seats in the first round of the CaRMS match. 

Each year, Canadian medical students expecting to graduate have two opportunities to be matched to a post-graduate (residency) seat at a Canadian medical school through the CaRMS two-round match process.

All of the 135 seats posted in Saskatchewan this year by the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) for family medicine and specialty programs have been filled, a large majority in the first round of the match. Seats for specialty programs were all filled by the second round. The Anesthesia program was expanded to Regina and a new provincial Dermatology program located in Regina is offered as well. Both programs will begin to train residents on July 1, 2024.

“This was a record year for the number of Saskatchewan medical graduates matched through CaRMS to the University of Saskatchewan, demonstrating the strength and attractiveness of these medical programs in the province,” Health Minister Everett Hindley said. “Our government is committed to ensuring Saskatchewan is an attractive place to study and work for students and graduates by offering ample training and employment opportunities.”

The 2024 match was a record year for U of S medical students matching into residency programs at the U of S.

Saskatchewan continues to make steady progress on multiple initiatives to recruit, train, incentivize and retain more health care professionals through the province’s Health Human Resources (HHR) Action Plan.

Recruitment of Specialists in High Demand

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) has issued letters of offer to 17 psychiatrists from Canada and abroad. Of these, 10 have accepted the offer and are now moving through the hiring and credential assessment, and immigration process.

Recruitment of health professionals from the Philippines

Nearly 300 internationally-educated health professionals from the Philippines have arrived in Saskatchewan and 205 of these professionals are now working in communities across the province.

“As a physician in one of our northern hospitals I am now working alongside numerous new nurses who have come through this most recent process from the Philippines,” SHA physician executive Dr. Stephanie Young said. “I am grateful they have chosen to come and work in Saskatchewan and will now be helping to provide stabilization to services in so many locations across the province. Our new nursing colleagues are an amazing addition to not only our health care teams but also the communities in which we live and serve.”

An additional 128 Filipino nurses are expected to arrive in Saskatchewan in the next few months as part of the province’s 14-week Transition to Registered Nursing in Canada (TRNC). Introduced in the summer of 2023, this made-in-Saskatchewan approach streamlines training, assessment and licensure for internationally-educated nurses. Nurse recruits from abroad are supported through the process, from recruitment through to their clinical and lab to settlement in a new community and health care facility.

Delivered by Saskatchewan Polytechnic, the TRNC program has been very successful and is now being replicated in Prince Edward Island (PEI). Through an agreement between Saskatchewan Polytechnic and the Government of Prince Edward Island, PEI will model their program after Saskatchewan’s to see similar recruitment success.

“Saskatchewan Polytechnic has been educating Internationally-Educated Nurses since 2008,” Saskatchewan Polytechnic School of Nursing Dean Christa MacLean said. “The School of Nursing is excited to extend our expertise in curriculum development to the Government of Prince Edward Island through a brokerage agreement for the Transition to Registered Nursing in Canada and Registered Nurse Bridging Program for Internationally Educated Nurses programs. Our curriculum is designed to provide the knowledge and skills essential for pursuing a nursing career in Canada.”

Student and Youth Volunteer and Career Opportunities

Between October 2023 and May 2024, 70 youth volunteers contributed over 2,700 hours of volunteer service at Herb Bassett Home and Pineview Terrace Lodge in Prince Albert through the Youth-in-Action Volunteer Program. In addition, 18 youth from the communities of Big River, Birch Hills, Canwood, Cudworth, Hafford, Kinistino, Leask, Leoville and Spiritwood volunteered over 150 hours in their local SHA facility. This volunteer activity provides youth with valuable exposure to potential careers in health care.

First Nations and Métis Health (FNMH) Recruitment and Retention specialists recently participated in a Career Education Week hosted by the Athabasca Denesuline Education Authority, attending events in the communities of Black Lake and Fond Du Lac. Students were offered information on future careers in health care and current opportunities with the SHA, and valuable connections were made with students, educators and community members.

Additional HHR Progress Updates 

• 295 internationally-educated health professionals from the Philippines have arrived in Saskatchewan and 205 of these, the majority nurses, are now working in communities across the province.
• 1,264 nursing graduates from Saskatchewan and out-of-province have been hired since December 2022, which includes 167 since April 1, 2024.
• 241 of 250 targeted new and enhanced full-time positions in high-priority occupations to stabilize staffing in rural and northern areas have now been filled.
• 318 hard-to-recruit positions have been filled as a result of the Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive of up to $50,000 over three years.
• The Rural Physician Incentive of up to $200,000 over five years offered to physicians who practice in rural and northern communities had 138 applications approved for payment in 2023/2024. For 2024/2025, 103 applications have been received to date and are conditionally eligible for payment pending completion of full year of eligible service.

Details on health care opportunities, how to access them and more information on the province's HHR Action Plan are available at saskatchewan.ca/HHR.

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