Table 1

Overview of academic activities

2-year rotating curriculum (Years A and B)

  • 1 topic per month

  • 2 academic half-days per month

Second Wednesday evening of every month

  • Large group learning (approximately 90 first- and second- year family medicine residents) held centrally at the University of Alberta

  • 3 1-hour didactic sessions

  • 1 specialist and at least 1 family physician (ideally)

  • Quarterly evidence-based literature review by family physician

Fourth Thursday morning of every month

  • Small group learning (approximately 15 to 20 first- and second-year family medicine residents) held at each of 5 teaching sites throughout Edmonton and supervised by an on-site faculty member

  • 1-hour educational module10 that is relevant to the monthly topic; a first-year resident leads the activity

  • 1-hour critical appraisal of a journal article that is related to the topic of the month; a second-year resident leads the activity and selects and distributes the article

  • 1-hour short-answer management problems from questions developed and maintained by faculty (some questions modeled after the self-learning modules of the College of Family Physicians of Canada)