Electives

Requirements

Each student must complete a minimum of 12 hours of electives during Year 1. It is your responsibility to select and arrange your elective(s). Use the electives catalogue to request electives either by emailing the contact in the catalogue or by reviewing the Medical Students' Association (MSA) website. Electives may be completed in more than one discipline.

The deadline to complete your Year 1 electives is March 31.

You may complete your elective hours in a variety of ways. Some, of many, examples include: 

• All 12 hours with one preceptor over a period of time or all in one day
• Two different six-hour electives with two different preceptors (can be different disciplines)
• Three four-hour sessions with different preceptors (can be different disciplines)

You are responsible for ensuring that each elective is recorded in Cally (Assess) before you begin the elective and that the preceptor completes their portion of the form. This ensures that elective hours count toward the MED 517 requirement. More information is in the Notification of Shadowing Policy.

Note: Electives are not to be completed during any scheduled class time in any course. Any absences from class time will not be counted toward your elective.

You may attend optional summer electives during the summers between Years 1 and 2 and Years 2 and 3. If you want to participate in optional summer electives when classes finish in the spring, you must register in both sections of either MED 518 (end of Year 1) or MED 528 (end of Year 2) and pay tuition and fees. Registering in both sections of MED 518/528 is required for WCB and liability coverage for clinical electives. 

You are responsible for ensuring that each elective is recorded in Cally (Assess) before you begin the elective and that the preceptor completes their portion of the form. This ensures that elective hours count toward the MED 518 requirement. More information is in the Notification of Shadowing Policy.

Note: If you want to participate in optional summer electives when classes are finished in May, you must register in MED 518/528 (both sections) and pay tuition and fees.

Requirements

You must complete a minimum of 12 hours of electives during Year 2. It is your responsibility to select and arrange your elective(s). Use the electives catalogue to request electives either by emailing the contact in the catalogue or by reviewing the MSA website. Electives may be completed in more than one discipline.

The deadline to complete Year 2 electives is April 30.

You may complete the elective hours in a variety of ways. Some, of many, examples include:

• All 12 hours with one preceptor over a period of time or all in one day
• Two different six-hour electives with two different preceptors (can be different disciplines)
• Three four-hour sessions with different preceptors (can be different disciplines)

You are responsible for ensuring that each elective is recorded in Cally (Assess) before you begin the elective and that the preceptor completes their portion of the form. This ensures that elective hours count toward the MED 527 requirement. More information is in the Notification of Shadowing Policy.

Note: Electives are not to be completed during any scheduled class time in any course. Any absences from class time will not be counted toward your elective.

Rural shadowing and skills is only available for medical students currently enrolled at the University of Alberta medical school. This experience is not allowed to interfere with any mandatory sessions that are part of regular classes and is restricted to weekends only.

Application Process

You must contact a rural preceptor to arrange a shadowing experience. Once availability is confirmed and acceptance is received, Year 1 and 2 students must fill out the top portion of the assessment form in Cally (Assess) before attending the elective. After completing the elective, you must ensure that the preceptor fills out the bottom portion of the assessment form.

Note: Approval MUST be received by the Office of Rural and Regional Health before the elective experience can take place. Failure to do so could result in not receiving credit for the elective. 

• You are responsible for selecting and scheduling your electives as indicated in the Booking and Confirming Electives Procedure.
• You must complete a minimum of 10 weeks of clinical electives during the clerkship portion of the MD Program.
• Electives cannot be scheduled until you are aware of your rotation schedules.
• You must receive an assessment from your preceptor to receive credit for an elective.
• You must complete a minimum of 10 weeks of clinical electives before the end of your Year 4 clinical terms.
• Clinical electives may be completed at any Canadian medical school, LCME-accredited American medical school, international sites that are part of a formal exchange program, other approved global health sites and other sites as approved by the electives & selectives coordinator.
• All clinical electives will count toward the minimum of 10 weeks of clinical electives required to graduate. These experiences will also count toward visiting electives and electives diversification requirements.
• Each elective is normally a minimum of two weeks or 20 half-days. A half-day is four to six hours in duration.
• Clinical electives cannot be more than four weeks in duration.
• You can attend a maximum of six weeks of summer electives in MED 528 (the optional summer electives between Years 2 and 3). You may carry forward a maximum of four weeks credit from MED 528 to MED 547 Electives (Year 3) or MED 557 Electives (Year 4). If you want to participate in optional summer electives when classes are finished in May, you must register in MED 528 (both sections) and pay tuition and fees.
• You may carry clinical electives time forward from Year 3 to Year 4.
• You will not be granted credit for an elective that is supervised by a member of your immediate family, extended family or in-laws or by anyone with whom you are involved in a close personal relationship. You will not be granted credit for an elective with your personal physician or at a clinic at which you have been a patient within the previous two years as this would be considered to be a conflict of interest.
• Clinical electives must be supervised and assessed by a registered physician on site. Residents/staff cannot give assessments for clinical electives.
• One clinical research elective can be counted (up to a maximum of two weeks) towards the elective requirement. 

Based on the Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada (AFMC) 2022 guidelines, all visiting electives must be a minimum of two weeks long. Canadian medical students cannot exceed 12 weeks of visiting electives in total. Visiting electives include those experiences in other Canadian medical schools, as well as those in LCME-accredited American schools and international electives and exchanges.

Following the AFMC Student Elective Diversification Policy, students can complete a maximum of eight weeks of electives in any single entry-level CaRMS discipline. This promotes a diverse student experience and prepares you for various career options.

• Research electives do not count towards the eight-week elective cap.
• Electives in subspecialties that are part of a PGY-3 (R3) match (e.g. Pediatrics, Internal Medicine) are counted as separate disciplines and do not count towards the eight-week cap in the general specialty.
• Elective diversification extends to any clinical elective, including international electives and exchanges.

For more information about elective diversification, including the list of CaRMS entry-level disciplines, refer to the Electives Diversification Policy.

Diversification – Rural Electives 

Rural electives will be classified based on the predominant role or primary training of the preceptor. 

You must receive an assessment from your preceptor to receive credit for an elective.

Some electives may require you to be on call. This should be arranged with the preceptor before the elective begins. Similar to clerkship rotations, you should not be on call for more than one night out of four.

To arrange electives in Edmonton and Rural or Regional Alberta, you are encouraged to examine the opportunities available in the electives catalogue. 

You should also review the steps outlined in the MD Program's Electives Policy. 

If you're unsure about any elective, discuss it with the director, electives of the electives administrator before finalizing arrangements. 

The procedure for U of A students to request electives is outlined in the Booking and Confirming Electives Procedure. Contact information for each elective opportunity is included in the catalogue. 

The following instructions apply to U of A medical students:

Clinical Electives at the U of A

• Find an elective from the electives catalogue on the MD Program website. You are required to submit an elective request through Cally (Users).  

Rural Electives

• To request rural electives, please contact the specific placement contact.
  
  • For electives in Red Deer, email Christine Oakley coakley1@ualberta.ca  
  • For electives in Grande Prairie, email Jason Milinkovic nampelec@ualberta.ca
  • For all other rural electives, email Kurfy Kangave dalsou@ualberta.ca

The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry (FoMD)'s Global Health Program regularly monitors the countries where students may plan electives for natural disasters, political instability and disease exposure. If conditions worsen in the elective's intended country, the faculty helps students find new elective locations.

The Global Health Program is responsible for considering and verifying the following: 

• Potential risks to the health and safety of patients, students and the community
• The availability of emergency care
• The possibility of natural disasters, political instability and exposure to disease
• The objectives of the elective
• The number and type of patients seen
• The level and quality of supervision and methods of teaching
• The working conditions
• Any potential challenges to the code of medical ethics adopted by the home institution

It is assumed that the quality of electives is high and student safety is not an issue at sites with which the U of A has a formal agreement (e.g. Graz, etc.), as well as electives at LCME-accredited medical schools in the United States.

All students undertaking international electives are required to complete the steps outlined in the International Electives Policy.

More information about how to participate in international exchanges, including field station and non-field station electives, IFMSA exchanges and European electives can be found on the Global Health’s Going Abroad website and in the MD Program’s International Electives Policy.