Electives

 It is the resident’s responsibility to contact and secure a preceptor. Once these details have been arranged, you must register for the elective by creating an account on the University of Toronto's PGME website. You can begin the process here.  

Once PGME has reviewed your application documents, your preceptor/supervisor will be prompted to approve the elective through this online system, after which the request is sent directly to the Program Director for final approval. Candidates do not need to contact the Program Director’s office, as the entire process is automated.  

Please direct any additional questions to uoftpgelectives.pgme@utoronto.ca.  

The complete application process can take several months, so please ensure that you confirm your supervisor and submit all required documents (as outlined in the application process below) at least 4.5 months before the elective dates. The reason for this timeline is that both PGME and CPSO will need to review and approve your documents. We cannot accept late submissions (no exceptions).  

General Guidelines  

1. Eligibility: If you are registered in a training program outside of Canada, the language of patient care must be English or French (as required by the CPSO policy), and you must have completed a minimum of (2)-two years of training. 
2. Salary: The elective applicant’s home university must continue to pay the applicant’s salary during the elective. International applicants must also state the amount of home-clinical site annual salary and provide official evidence of this salary. 
3. Approvals: All electives require the approval of the prospective elective supervisor, the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and the Faculty of Medicine Postgraduate Medical Education Office. It is the elective applicant’s responsibility to obtain all university, licensure and immigration approvals prior to arriving at the supervisor’s office for training. Any elective trainee without prior approvals will not be allowed to start the elective. 
4. Registration: The elective trainee must register with the University Postgraduate Office, the CPSO, and the hospital Medical Education Office prior to starting the elective. 
5. Incomplete and non-electronic applications will NOT be processed.  
6. Elective Supervisors must ensure that an additional learner can be accommodated. 

Application Process 

1. Applicant: 
   • Requests the elective with a supervisor, and, if accepted, forwards details required in Section A and documents required in Section B of the Elective Application Form, to elective supervisor. 
   • Allows for adequate time for processing: 4.5–6 months for foreign national applicants 
2. Elective Supervisor: 
   • Completes Section A of the Elective Application Form 
   • Forwards “Elective Application” and all required documentation (Section B, C), as a complete package with all required signatures, electronically to the Program Director’s office via e-mail to pg.obgyn@utoronto.ca. 
3. Program Director (Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology) writes the approval letter and forwards the application to the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine's PGME Office.  
4. PGME Office contacts the applicant and provides further guidance regarding CPSO registration, CMPA registration, and other university policies. Applicants should anticipate a response from PGME roughly 2–4 weeks from the date that the completed application package was received by the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. 

Please note: non-Canadian citizens must pay the Work Permit processing fee ($150.00 CND) as part of their application to our program. Further details can be found on page 3 of the Elective Application Form.   

If you are interested in doing an elective in a specialty area, you may contact their representatives directly. You can find their contact details below. 

*Mount Sinai Hospital offers a wide range of general obstetrics and gynaecology and subspeciality electives to resident trainees.  Residents are welcome to contact individual staff physicians to discuss elective training but must contact the office of the Deputy Chief or & Head of the Academic Program in Obstetrics & Gynaecology for clearance to proceed with the application. This policy is in place to balance the needs of all trainees and to ensure an excellent experience. 

For more information, please contact Kamil.Devonish@sinaihealth.ca.