Starting point for the department's web site, and location for upcoming events and newsworthy items
The Department of Academic Family Medicine (DAFM) at the University
of Saskatchewan welcomes you to its website. We hope that the information and links on these pages will help you
to become familiar with our Department and its programs.
Although this is a small province (around one million people) we have a richly diverse geography, population, and Residency Program. Our residents and undergraduate students experience hospital and community based education in urban, regional, rural, and remote primary care sites throughout the province.
We are very proud of our Family Medicine Education Program and rich medical history. From the birthplace of Medicare in 1962 to Roy J. Romanow, Q.C.'s final report "Building on Values, the Future of Healthcare in Canada" (2002), the province of Saskatchewan has been in the forefront of healthcare for Canadians.
The College of Medicine has approximately 270 dedicated university faculty and over 800 community faculty distributed over 13 health regions. The DAFM has 6 divisions including Saskatoon and Regina urban units, two rural based training programs in Prince Albert and Swift Current, a Research Division, an Emergency Medicine Division and Northern Medical Services. Our energetic and dedicated full time faculty of 27 members are globally funded and have a broad range of interest and backgrounds.
The DAFM faculty are integral participants in all stages of medical education. Some of our faculty have major Undergraduate teaching roles and are involved in putting more generalist content and comprehensive Family Medicine into the MD education curriculum as outlined in The Future of Medical Education in Canada (FMEC): A Collective Vision for MD Education (http://www.afmc.ca/fmec/pdf/collective_vision.pdf). Enrollment in the College of Medicine at the U of S is currently 84 students and will expand to 100 students per year by 2012.
The DAFM is engaged in distributed activities beyond the walls of our university institutions. Our Distributed Medical Education (DME) program encompasses a broad definition of activities in undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing medical education. Learners and community teachers are located throughout Saskatchewan.
The Postgraduate training program is growing under our Postgraduate Program Director, Dr. Kathy Lawrence's, leadership. At present we have 30 Saskatoon Family Medicine residents, 25 residents training in Regina, 10 in Prince Albert and 4 in Swift Current for a total of 69 Family Medicine residents.
The FM-Emergency program enrollment is 8 residents divided equally between Saskatoon and Regina.
FM residents in our program have 2 months of elective time which they can spend in international locations. Global Health and International elective experience is encouraged.
The role of the department is to lead and participate in continuing professional learning in the College of Medicine at the U of S.
Our department has a strong Faculty Development division and participates in professional development to support community faculty and other interprofessional health educators and teachers.
Clinical ServicesPositions in the DAFM enjoy the benefits of a dynamic interdisciplinary health team environment to support their clinical teaching and scholarly work. Positions at all six sites provide high quality, comprehensive continuous care, chronic disease prevention and health promotion. The physicians practice in the community as well as the hospital setting. Students and Family Medicine (FM) residents get exposure to a broad range of patient care including Adult Medicine, Obstetrics, Pediatrics, Geriatrics, Aboriginal Health, Palliative Care and Home Care.
The Research Division contributes to the discipline of Family Medicine. Our FM research training program is in its 20th year and each FM resident in the program must do a research project in order to complete their program.

In 2007 we developed a new Values, Vision and Mission statement for the department. We hope that you refer to this statement as it describes the essence of our work, our community, our commitment to the primary health care communities and the discipline of Family Medicine. At the same time we developed a 5 year Strategic Plan that incorporates our social accountability principles and guides and focuses our daily work. Please refer to the document as a reference and summary of our current activities.
Thank you for visiting our website. Please contact us if you would like to receive more information.
Dr. Alanna Danilkewich
Chair, DAFM
College of Family Physicians of Canada
Saskatchewan Chapter - College of Family Physicians
SMA - Saskatchewan Medical Association
Turning Research into Practice (EBM Database)
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