Welcome New Trainees
Welcome to the University of Ottawa. We hope you are all settling in to your new programs successfully. The PGME Office has partnered with the Office of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to provide educational sessions throughout the academic year to you. The PGME Symposia Series Schedule for the 2026-2027 academic year can be found on each tab above, under the appropriate postgraduate year requirement, along with any remaining sessions from the previous academic year. Updates and/or changes to the schedule will be made regularly to this website.
PGY-1 Residents
First year residents are required to follow a core series of mandatory educational sessions that have been aligned with the new CanMEDS (2015) competency-based learning framework and are designed to cover multiple aspects of the Professional, Collaborator, Communicator, Leader, Scholar, and Advocate roles. Some sessions will be held in lecture style/classroom settings when applicable, virtual format, and the rest will be offered as online modules. We have protected time in the Foundations schedule for you to complete them. Please review each tab above to see what is required of you each year of residency. These courses are mandatory and must be completed by their indicated deadlines and specific to different programs and postgraduate years.
PGY-1 Family Medicine Residents
The only exception is for Family Medicine Residents, who are required to complete ONE Residents as Teachers (RATS) session, ONE CMPA Resident Symposia Series course, and in PGY-2 ONE Health Advocacy Session as part of the mandatory course requirements. No other session is required as mandatory, but are available as optional should you wish to register and attend. More specific information can be found on the PGY-1 tab above.
PGY-2 All Programs Including Family Medicine
PGY-2 residents will be required to complete one Health Advocacy session. Online registration will be available before July 1st. All PGY-2 residents will be emailed directly with more information. Multiple dates will be offered at a first-come, first-served basis.
PGY-3 All Specialties Except Family Medicine
PGY-3 residents will be required to complete the Transition to Practice Session. Online registration is available, residents will be emailed directly with more information.
The PGME Symposia Series will be offered in your uOttawa Brightspace account: https://www.uottawa.ca/en/students
To login please be sure to use the Authenticator app and your uOttawa login credentials using the Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). We ask that you check your Brightspace account regularly for updates and session communications.
Automatic Registration Vs. Online Registration
Automatic registration is for all large group sessions and means that you will be expected to attend these scheduled sessions without registering in advance. All session attendance is mandatory and will be tracked.
Online registration will be required for the small group sessions listed below because there are multiple dates or session times to choose from. The registration deadline is July 8, 2026. When registered, please be sure to block this time off in advance with your schedulers and Program Administrators and notify them of your date selections.
Cancellation Policy & Excused Absences
If a resident is unable to attend a session, they must notify CPD by email within two weeks of the session date to have the absence recorded as excused. Missed sessions must be completed as soon as possible within the academic year. If a session is offered only once annually, it must be completed during PGY-2, and the resident is responsible for tracking outstanding requirements.
Residents who miss a session without notifying CPD will be recorded as a “Did Not Show,” and their department will be charged a penalty fee by the PGME Office. Attendance reports are regularly shared with Program Administrators and Program Directors.
Residents are strongly encouraged to complete all required sessions during their first year of residency, as scheduling becomes increasingly challenging in later years. To avoid conflicts, please arrange time away from clinical duties with your program scheduler well in advance.
Please review the online module requirements listed on the Online Modules tab above, and you will be automatically enrolled to these modules within your Brightspace account. These modules are also part of the PGY-1 and PGY-2 Specialty Programs mandatory requirements to be completed by the specific deadlines listed during this academic year.
Certificates & Tracking
After every completed PGME session, should you wish to have a PDF certificate created, please submit your request to CPD. Your Symposia Series session completions will be tracked and filed online through the CPD office and reported to the PGME office.
Questions?
Please contact the CPD office: