I lived with my partner for the first year. Then I moved in with my co-resident in a house we rented.

Our community navigator is a very helpful resource, and in our second year my co-resident and I moved into a house.

I visited SWN as a 4th year medical student. During my 4 weeks here, I felt so much appreciation from my patients and so much respect from my staff that I knew it was a welcoming place to train for residency. The next aspect that stood out to me was how many graduates from the SWN program stayed post-residency to work, which meant that they were happy here and that there would be a good group of young professionals to lean on and call friends one day. Finally, SWN offered all of the services I was looking to train in GP-OB, GP-ED, clinic, hospitalist, addictions, and palliative (among many others). I feel truly appreciated as a GP in SWN and your scope can be as broad or narrow as you'd like. The flexibility of a truly longitudinal schedule means you have some autonomy over your learning, and this was possibly the most important piece when choosing a program for me. One bonus aspect was that my family lives in Saint John, NB, and the Digby ferry offers a quick and comfortable trip home whenever I'd like!

The willingness to listen and make real actionable changes to best suit the needs of the collective program as well as individuals.

The ability to mould your two years into the "right fit" whatever that means for you. The great strength of this longitudinal program is that it can "fit" anyone because it is not a box that you have to fit yourself into, rather a mould that can be tailored to you (there are still some standards to be met!).

I’ve been around long enough now that some of the early grads are now preceptors themselves, which goes a long way because they know the ins and outs of the site program and can help not only with the clinical learning but a kind support if need be.

100%, by our second year we often have a small, informal, panel of patients we have been seeing over the past year and know relatively well. Additionally, in acute settings like ER and OB, we are introduced to independence in a safe stepwise manner so we gradually gain more responsibility as we move through training.

Every week is different! You have to be willing to allow for change and the first 6 months can be the hardest but after that it is refreshing to work on a different services daily. In our 1st year we have on average 2 days a week in FM clinic, while in 2nd year it goes up to 3 days a week. The other 2-3 days are a rotation of PEDS, OB, ED, surgery, IM, addiction, palliative, geriatrics etc. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into making our individual schedules. Every second month, we do a week of inpatient hospitalist work or ICU coverage. Finally, we have 7 call shifts a month that are spread out between in-house hospitalists and home specialist call. These can be some of the best learning opportunities.

Twelve residents (6 per year) are based in the same community of Yarmouth! This is a contrast to most other sites where residents are spread out and hardly see each other. This model creates built in friends because you are often working along side each other in the hospital or doing fun activities after work. The community is always highlighting fun activities and there are a lot of community activities to get involved in. Work-life balance here is what you make of it.

There is a lot of community and preceptor support. If you are struggling I'm sure anyone would be happy to reach out and lend a hand or a listening ear and strategize how to fix the problem. Additionally we have one designated staff member who is not involved at all in our grading and she is a great resource to talk to.

The population is relatively homogenously rural, small town Nova Scotia, although there are some newcomers from different communities. The socio-economic background greatly varies with some wealthier areas from the fishing industry, as well as some quiet underserved populations as well. We have a relatively geriatric population but there is still a reasonable amount of deliveries and young children, enough to sustain a few pediatricians. A lot of people do not have a family doctor so they can often present quite complex. Finally our site serves everywhere from Digby - Yarmouth - Shelburne so there is also great pockets of diversity amongst the different communities.

Yes! As above.

Take ownership for your education, seek out opportunities, and if you want a skill set go out and learn it. SWN is all about what you make of it!