North York General Hospital is one of Canada’s leading community academic hospitals. The hospital’s major programs include Cancer Care, Maternal, Newborn and Paediatric Care, Emergency Medicine, Family and Community Medicine, Genetics, Maternal Newborn, Medicine and Elder Care, Mental Health, and Surgery.
They are supported by a number of departments including Medical Imaging, Laboratory Medicine and Pharmacy Services. The hospital has over 300 active staff physicians, with most having a faculty appointment at the University of Toronto.
Education program
At North York General Hospital, there is a long-standing tradition and commitment to medical education, dating back to the inception of the hospital in 1968. Since 2004, a renewed commitment to training medical students and residents has resulted in a significant increase in the medical learner days. At the University of Toronto, one out every five medical learner days in the community takes place at NYGH. All of the programs and departments are involved in medical education. The largest contributors include Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Paediatrics, Psychiatry, Medicine and Surgery.
North York General programs are the training site for four core clerkship programs and provide a site for core rotations to 22 different University of Toronto Residency Programs. North York General is actively involved in pre-clerkship teaching. Family physicians and specialists teach year 1 and 2 medical students in Clinical Skills, Health in the Community and Case-Based Learning courses. As well, Portfolio courses are taught to students throughout the four-year program.
All departments at North York General Hospital offer elective opportunities for senior medical students and residents from University of Toronto, across Canada and internationally. To arrange electives, individual departments need to be contacted. In addition, please note the following:
For students
All visiting elective students (those not from University of Toronto) must also register directly with the Visiting Electives Office at the University of Toronto.
Placement prerequisites
The following prerequisites are required in order for a student to start a placement at North York General Hospital:
Mask fit testing
You must have completed mask fit testing within the past 24 months. The following information will be requested upon registration:
Date mask fitted
Location mask fitted
Size/Model
Mandatory training
All mandatory training modules must be completed prior to the first day of your rotation. These modules are part of your registration requirements on the Nirv registration system. You will receive a link to register three weeks prior to the start of your rotation or upon approval of your rotation
You should receive an email from our registration system (NIRV) 3 weeks prior to your start date with information and links to register for your rotation. If you have not received this information, please let us know.
Complete the online registration.
Complete the necessary requirements as indicated in order to complete your registration process and prepare for your rotation. This includes the electronic health record training modules as well as the mandatory training modules.
In the registration system (NIRV), go to your Event Calendar for specific training dates and location of events (this information may not be available until 1 week prior to your start date).
Please Note: accessing any of the systems utilizing someone else’s username and password contravenes the hospital’s privacy policy.
Bring with you:
Government issued photo ID. This is required in order for you to receive a hospital ID.
Credit Card — you will be required to fill out a credit card authorization form which would give us permission to charge your credit card for any borrowed items not returned to us on your last day. Items include: your ID badge (security access card), pager and scrubs, dosimeter, etc.
Payment method for parking (debit or credit card)
At the hospital:
Parking (if applicable) — Monthly costs of $85 (debit or credit card accepted). Daily rates are also available by contacting the parking office. Parking at the hospital is available in the Staff Parking Lot. Please park in Visitors Parking on your first day, once you pay for your monthly pass, your parking ticket for that day will be validated. The Parking Office is located at the parking deck, ground level, adjacent to the exit gates. The hours of operation are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday to Friday and 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and holidays.
Obtain photo ID — This is required in order for you to receive a hospital ID security badge. Your badge will be available at the Centre for Education office on 6N 630. The Centre is open Monday – Friday from 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Attend your scheduled department orientation
Dictation number Residents will be required to use the Health Records Digital Dictation System. A dictation number and information sheet will be available in the Hospital Details section of your registration profile in NIRV.
PowerMic Mobile App Clerks and residents in Ob/Gyn and Paeds will be using the PowerMic App for dictation directly into the electronic health record (Cerner). Instructions on downloading the app are available in the Hospital Details section in the NIRV registration system.
On-Call rooms/Lounge The medical learners’ lounge and On-Call rooms are located on 6 North Room 626. The call rooms and lounge are available for use by medical learners 24/7. Each call room has a networked computer for personal or hospital-related use. The door code to this space is available in the Hospital Details section in the NIRV registration system.
Call room procedures
Call rooms can be reserved starting at 8 a.m. on the day of call by writing your <name>, <date> and <service> on the white board on the door of the designated call room.
Call rooms can be used exclusively by the trainee on-call who reserved the room only after 4 p.m.
Do not leave your personal items in the call room till after 4 p.m.
All call rooms are available to be used by any medical trainee between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on a first-come basis.
If you use the call room between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., you must
allow hospital staff to clean the room
change the linen on the bed with clean linen if you use it.
Call stipends A completed and signed Call Stipend Form and a copy of the master call schedule for each calendar month should be submitted to the Centre for Education Office by the 6th of each month.
Travel reimbursements
Travel reimbursement claim forms should be returned to the Centre for Education Office monthly. As outlined in the PARO agreement, the hospital will pay taxi charges to a maximum $70 per month (with appropriate receipts) under the following circumstances:
A resident is out of hospital on call and can respond within the Medical Advisory Committee’s approved regulations regarding response time
The resident does not have a parking pass
The requirement to attend for clinical duties occurs after 6 p.m. and before 6 a.m.
Vacation request All vacation requests need to be approved by the service you will be on and your base program.
Library access
The Library is located on the main floor and is staffed Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Access outside of these hours is available to all residents and students with secure card access or by contacting security.
Enriching Educational Experiences for University of Toronto Medical Students
The Enriching Educational Experiences (EEE) Program provides University of Toronto medical students with opportunities for clinical placements either as a required part of the Foundations Curriculum or as non-curricular activities. EEE activities play an important role in a student’s career development, and allow students to experience and explore different practices and specialty settings. These experiences are organized directly between students and supervisors and take place during designated self-directed learning times in Years 1 and 2.
University of Toronto students seeking an experience
Steps for students seeking an experience at North York General Hospital:
Find a preceptor. Students are required to find a preceptor on their own or by reaching out to the appropriate department contact. The Centre for Education is unable to facilitate the coordination of these experiences.
Arrange and confirm date(s) with preceptor.
Register the EEE in MedSIS. Students will NOT be able to register at NYGH or start their EEE until the activity is logged into MedSIS.
Contact the Centre for Education at cfe.med@nygh.on.ca to notify us of your EEE date(s) and name of supervisor.
Register for your experience upon receiving a welcome email with information and link to the NIRV registration system.
a. Ensure you have registered your EEE date(s) in Medsis.
Visit the Centre for Education (6N – 630) on the day of or the day prior to the EEE to obtain:
a. An NYGH ID badge
b. Scrubs – if needed
At the conclusion of the experience, return the ID badge and scrubs to the Centre for Education.