Geriatric Psychiatry

The University of Toronto Geriatric Psychiatry Program offers a comprehensive and innovative training program. A variety of tools and activities are used to ensure that trainees meet the objectives of training in the CanMEDS roles. The medical expert content is delivered through a comprehensive core curriculum series. The other CanMEDS roles are taught and evaluated using innovative techniques with the goal of graduating Residents who are well-rounded and effective geriatric psychiatrists for the future.

There are 7 academic centres and 61 Faculty members involved in the training program. We have updated our curriculum integrating Competence by Design. 

Our Transition to Discipline (TTD, one month) and Foundations of Discipline (FOD, five months) will involve a choice of one of our outpatient, outreach or inpatient settings, and will include one months each of Memory Clinic and Geriatric Medicine. TTD will focus on an orientation to our program, to the local systems of care, and on assessing current knowledge and skills pertaining to the assessment, diagnosis and management of older adults. In FOD, training will focus on core areas including comprehensive geriatric psychiatry assessments, diagnosis and management, typical and atypical presentations of major neurocognitive disorders, safe prescribing practices, and medical presentations of psychiatric illness in older adults.

Core of Discipline (COD, 16 months) will include a minimum of three months each in outpatient, outreach, and inpatient settings as well as four months in which residents can chose from a variety of interesting and educational electives. COD will ensure a graded increase in responsibility and skill focus on further finessing comprehensive formulations and management plans, dealing with nuances of providing ongoing care with a longitudinal clinic, achieving expertise in management of BPSD, and effective use of brain stimulation therapies (eg. ECT). There is a focus on providing integrated care with health-care teams, dealing with emotionally charged family encounters, as well as teaching and training junior trainees.

Residents will be involved in projects pertaining to advocacy, collaboration, leadership, conflict management, and quality improvement. A practice audit will help assess and enrich communication skills in medical record-keeping.  A formal didactic lecture series with prominent faculty will be supplemented by the CAGP online course.

The advanced training/scholarly activities portion of the training program spans the 2 years. The goal is to develop an advanced level of competency in areas such as education, research, quality improvement, advocacy, or leadership – according to individual career goals, subject to approval by the Program Director. The University of Toronto Geriatric Psychiatry Program offers a wide range of research activities. The Division of Geriatric Psychiatry is home to internationally renowned expert researchers who have done seminal work in the area. The program supports and encourages research activities. Residents have a significant amount of protected time to be involved in research given amount of time designated for the clinical psychiatric research selective and advanced training/scholarly activities.

Our Transition to Practice phase (TTP, two months) will ensure that residents are ready for the training program to end and that they will succeed in their launch to independent practice. The focus will be on understanding clinical and administrative aspects of geriatric psychiatry practice, completing their scholarly project, and formulating a lifelong-learning plan of continuing professional development.

For further information about the subspecialty training in Geriatric Psychiatry contact Dr. Mark Rapoport Program Director, Geriatric Psychiatry Subspecialty, mark.rapoport@sunnybrook.ca.

Additional funding pathway - Not available for the 2021 application cycle

In the event that the University is unable to fund training positions for all deserving candidates, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences could provide additional funding pathways to support two eligible candidates- one position in the child and adolescent psychiatry (CAP) subspecialty program and one position in the geriatric psychiatry subspecialty program.

Ontario Shores could provide salary support for one CAP trainee and one geriatric psychiatry trainee who: a) meet the respective training program’s standards for acceptance; b) meet Ontario Shores’ internal criteria for funding; and c) commit to a return of service agreement with Ontario Shores that is equal to the length of the training that is supported by Ontario Shores.

Ontario Shores is located just east of Toronto atop 76 acres of Lake Ontario’s shoreline in the picturesque town of Whitby. With 346 beds and over 70,000 outpatient visits annually, Ontario Shores has an innovative approach to mental health care that uses clinical best practices and evidence-based care in an environment built on compassion, empowerment and hope. To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Jacqueline Forrester, Manager, Medical Affairs at forresterj@ontarioshores.ca or 905-430-4055 x 6237. Please be assured that Ontario Shores will keep all inquiries confidential; the subspecialty program will not know which candidates are willing to be considered for the return of service position.