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Testimonials

SEME Alumni

Pins on the map above represent the rural Ontario communities and primary practice locations served by the alumni from the SEME program.

Winter 2023 SEME Fellows

The SEME program was one of the best learning opportunities I have ever participated in and I could not recommend it enough. The program is curated for high-yield learning, hands-on training and opportunities to further develop critical care skills to empower physicians to return to their work with greater knowledge and confidence to better serve their communities. The entire SEME team is so dedicated to improving the learning experience and all participants fully benefited from this. The academic full-days are one of the best parts to get together, practice procedural skills, communication, leadership and critical resource management skills during simulations. This experience has certainly made me a better, more confident and knowledgeable ED physician.

Dr. Naomi Macrae - 2023

Fall 2022 Fellows

Dr. Tyler Tabobondung – 2022

It was invaluable to get a chance to be a learner again. Once you become staff, it's hard getting consistent feedback and to be able to ask those burning questions without feeling inadequate. After being out in practice for a few years, it was incredible to have a chance to fill in those gaps of what you know you don't know. SEME gave you the opportunity to slow things down again. In the end, I felt a lot more confident and felt excited to go back to work.

Dr. Adrian Bulfon – 2022

I had high hopes coming into the program, but it was so much better than I expected. The academic days were a plethora of information, with such useful clinical tips. Being able to have a group of people in similar stages and talk through different cases and treatment options was really helpful. I liked that we talked about how you would've managed certain presentations or procedures in a larger city centre and how that would differ up north.

Spring 2022 Fellows

Fall 2021 Fellows

The SEME program is the best 3 months of education I’ve received in my medical career thus far. I work as a full scope rural physician and required dedicated time to focus on resuscitation and airway management for my ER shifts. The program was accommodating in every manner, allowing me to seek the opportunities necessary to meet these goals. The faculty is comprised of highly skilled ER physicians who clearly have a passion for medical education but also strive to target knowledge with a rural emphasis. The weekly simulations/didactic sessions provided a structured approach to resuscitations and are likely one of the best features of SEME. All the educational sites are familiar with the SEME Program and the ER staff ensure high yield experiences because of this familiarity. I would highly recommend this program to physicians working in rural ER and wanting to improve a focused skillset. It is a high yield and fast-paced 3 months! Everyone involved is there to ensure success for each participant.

Dr. Jas Gill – 2021

Spring 2021 Fellows

I am passionate about comprehensive family practice in smaller communities, so I felt that the SEME Program was an excellent opportunity for me to enhance my acute care skills. The SEME Program exceeded all of my expectations and then some. From the start, the organization of the program and enthusiasm of the SEME preceptors/teachers was exceptional. They were supportive but challenged us to develop our critical thinking and team work skills to make us better physicians. The community based emergency medicine rotations provided extraordinary experience in allowing me to become more independent managing patients in the emergency department. The staff were all extremely knowledgeable and understanding of the goals of SEME and how we apply our skills in a more rural setting.

— Dr. Kelsi Cole – 2019 (1)

Dr. Eli Bator – 2019

I’ve always wanted to practice broad scope family medicine, but even after completing my rural family medicine residency, I did not feel completely prepared to cover emergency room shifts independently. The SEME Program was the perfect opportunity for me to develop the acute care skills required for emergency medicine with the understanding that I also want to practice family medicine. Through relevant clinical work, intensive simulation, and high-yield lectures, I was able to develop the confidence and ability to practice emergency medicine in rural and resource-poor settings. I have to commend the faculty for their dedication to tailoring this program to our specific needs, and would recommend it to any family physician looking to further their emergency medicine education.

Dr. Neil Rittenhouse – 2019

I enrolled in SEME approximately 3.5 years into practice. My goals were to improve my procedural skills and approach to critically ill patients. On both counts it was a resounding success. I am much more confident in airways, central lines, lumbar punctures, chest tubes, paracentesis, thoracentesis, and ultrasound skills than prior to the experience. The rotations through large busy departments were excellent for improving confidence and exposure, but my favourite part was the weekly academic sessions, all of which were high yield topics. SEME is a fantastic experience and I recommend it to any family physician keen to improve or refine their emergency department skills.

Fall 2019 Fellows

Dr. Lucy Manchester – 2019

The SEME Program made a massive difference in my confidence and competence caring for patients in my rural emergency department. Before I did the program I wasn’t sure whether I would continue working in rural EDs, due to feeling anxious about my skills — now it has become a major, and much more enjoyable, part of my practice! Not only did I learn from a high volume of cases during the program, but I was able to compare how rural and urban practices are different and ensure my patients are receiving a high quality standard of care in Northwestern Ontario. The weekly didactic sessions were fantastic, hands-on, and some of the best small group learning I have done since residency. The administrative team and excellent cohort of clinical supervisors were wonderful about ensuring I tailored each rotation and each shift to meet my learning goals.

Dr. Steven Huynh – 2019

Never let another ER shift cause you undue worry! Even though the SEME Program’s training takes place primarily in the GTA, I whole-heartedly recommend it to physicians who work in rural and remote ERs where there are no in house CT scanners or any back up. Prospective learners can expect to gain competence and confidence in managing the unstable patient with an undifferentiated medical cause or the unstable trauma patient. The SEME Program promotes many fundamental principles that carry over well to a rural ER. The lectures review current standards of practice. The clinical time allows physicians to develop and explore as learners again and build that extra confidence. The clinical simulation scenarios teach skills to lead, communicate, and to reflect. Any time a particularly difficult patient has required my attention, I know that they are receiving better care, thanks to the effort and time invested in me by the multitude of preceptors involved with SEME.

Dr. Satvir Sahans – 2019

Before even initiating the SEME program I had a lot of confidence in the program based on past participants who strongly endorsed a positive experience and spoke about their growth as clinicians. After having completed SEME myself I can certainly echo those same sentiments and then some. The program from top to bottom is exceptional, from the administrative staff, lecturers, mentors, and preceptors – it is geared towards the facilitation of knowledge and skills development for the rural physician. Following completion of family medicine residency I wanted to broaden my scope of practice and integrate emergency medicine on a more regular basis. Admittedly, I was apprehensive at the thought of dealing with high acuity cases and life-saving procedures which are inevitable in practice. The SEME program did an exceptional job to strengthen foundational knowledge, refine procedural skills, and link learners to some of the best preceptors in the GTA. In turn, the program has helped to accelerate my skills and confidence and allowed me to engage in regular emergency medicine practice. I feel very privileged to have completed this program and wholeheartedly recommend it anybody who is interested.

Spring 2019 Fellows

Fall 2018 Fellows

Dr. Aaron Wynn – 2018

Participation in the SEME program was undoubtedly one of the most important periods of my career. Expertly executed and meticulously planned, the most obvious benefit of SEME was that it provided me with the knowledge necessary to provide direct care for ER patients in my community. The clinical rotations were excellent. The degree of hands-on learning was astounding, most notably the simulated learning. Small-group topics were high-yield and provided by quality speakers. My experience in SEME has also aided my time spent teaching Family Medicine residents at a training site geared towards learners whose desire is also to practice rural and small-community medicine. I would recommend this program to any family medicine physician seeking to increase their skills and leadership in community emergency medicine.

Dr. Nick Wang – 2018

The SEME program gave me, hands down, the three most rewarding and high-yield months of my career as a medical learner. Returning to a training program after having several years of practice, I came to the SEME program with a much clearer set of learning objectives motivated by the stresses and challenges I'd faced with working in rural ERs. The SEME program substantially enhanced my clinical and personal skills in caring for the sickest of the sick. I've since returned to practice more enthusiastic about patient care and continuing education than ever before. The SEME program is responsive to the needs of adult learners, innovative and continuously improving, and above all, helping to meet the health care needs of communities throughout the country.

As a GP who splits her time between small town Ontario and Nunavut, I gained invaluable skills through the SEME program. Down-to-earth preceptors and hands-on-style teaching provided the ideal training for safe rural emergency care. While the clinical rotations occur in hospitals in the GTA to facilitate exposure to high-acuity cases, SEME preceptors understand the constraints of rural hospitals. Many of them specifically sought out rural locums to better tailor their teaching. Around each acute case we discussed variations: For Mr Y’s head injury, what would make me lean toward early transfer for CT vs serial observation? In the trauma resuscitation of Ms X, what should I do to ensure that the big picture doesn’t get lost when I’m the only one capable of intubating and doing chest tubes? I confront these questions nearly every shift, and I always think back to my chats with SEME preceptors.

Academic days gave us solid and practical foundations. The simulations were so high-yield: under stress, we put together everything we know and worked as a team; the debriefs were full of clinical pearls, from resource management to team dynamics. SEME has made me a more knowledgeable and safer provider. My colleagues who have worked with me before and after notice the difference, and always ask “Should I do it too?” My answer is always unequivocally yes. SEME is unparalleled in its relevance to and support of rural providers. I can think of no other program more deserving of the CFPC Continuing PD program award.

— Dr. Yi Wei Hu – 2018

Fall 2017 Fellows

The SEME program is one of the best career decisions that I have made. The opportunity to attend weekly, high quality academic sessions taught by seasoned experts, participate in regular simulations, and do clinical rotations with leaders in emergency medicine made this an invaluable experience for me. While being a comprehensive rural physician was always my career goal, I seriously considered giving up rural emergency medicine after my residency training due to a lack of confidence dealing with higher acuity scenarios. During SEME, I witnessed my confidence and clinical skills rise exponentially; many of my mentors during the program commented on this as well. After attending the SEME program, I do feel qualified as a new staff, and am now working in a northern rural emergency department, where for the majority of my shift, I work as the only physician in the department. I have highly recommended the SEME to several current family medicine residents interested in rural emergency care, as well my colleagues currently practicing. There is a deep need for highly-skilled, committed, comprehensive rural general practitioners in this nation, and I strongly believe that the SEME program helping to meet that need.

— Dr. Heather Laasko – 2017

Fall 2016 Fellows

The SEME program was fantastic. I was interested in emergency medicine since the start of family medicine residency and did may electives. However, after all that training I still didn’t feel comfortable practicing in rural and remote areas where resources are low. The training in SEME made me more confident in my knowledge and my skills. Though the whole program was amazing, the trauma experience had the biggest impact on my current practice. In a trauma centre, many consultant services are involved in a single trauma. But in a rural trauma, I need to be all those services. Through the SEME training, I am now able to visualize what other consultants would be doing in a trauma setting, but be able to do it all with a small team of nurses and myself. There are many places in need for physicians and SEME prepares you to serve in low resource areas.

— Dr. Melissa Lui – 2016

Dr. Ashley White – 2017

The supplemental emergency medicine experience (SEME) program is a well-crafted pathway to clinical courage for rural physicians dedicated to generalist practice. While the program is designed by urban ER specialists, it is really for us. The SEME staff honestly care about the lived experience of rural doctors and so they’ve listened to years of feedback to make the program best in class for post graduate enhanced skills training in emergency medicine. Before I did the SEME program, I was certainly capable, but nervous a lot of the time. There were things I knew I hadn’t done or seen but could be expected to do on any given shift. This is still true. But the SEME program allowed me to see a little more and manage a little more in a structured, high-intensity way.

Dr. William Gott – 2016

I am a recent graduate of the SEME program and was very satisfied with the entire experience. Along with a solid clinical base, the program provided valuable knowledge through a wide range of educational modalities including simulation labs, small group lectures, technical skill seminars, and on-line modules. The program is designed for and administered with the learner in mind. I would recommend the program to any family physician looking to enhance their emergency medicine training.