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Subspecialty Training Requirements in Adult Infectious Diseases

2016

VERSION 2.0

These training requirements apply to those who begin training on or after July 1, 2016.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Royal College certification in Internal Medicine or enrolment in a Royal College accredited residency program in Internal Medicine (see requirements for this qualification). All candidates must be certified in Internal Medicine in order to be eligible to write the Royal College certification examination in Infectious Diseases.

MINIMUM TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

1. Two years (26 blocks) of approved residency in adult Infectious Diseases, a maximum of one year (13 blocks) of which may be undertaken at the fourth year residency level during training for certification in Internal Medicine. This period must include:
   1. Twelve (12) blocks or equivalent in the entire spectrum of acute, chronic and recurrent infectious diseases in hospitalized and ambulatory patients, including both consultative practice and longitudinal follow-up
      1. A minimum of eight (8) blocks on the inpatient consultation service
         1. Two (2) blocks in the role of junior attending on the inpatient consultation service, to be scheduled after sufficient training has been completed
      2. Two (2) blocks in pediatric Infectious Diseases
   2. One (1) half-day per week of longitudinal ambulatory care experience, or its equivalent, throughout the two (2) years of training. This experience must include a general Infectious Diseases clinic for a minimum of 6 months but may include any of the following (each for a minimum of 3 months to be considered a longitudinal experience):
      1. Allergy and/or immunology clinic
      2. Human immunodeficiency virus clinic
      3. Outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) clinic
      4. Sexually-transmitted infection clinic
      5. Skin and soft tissue infection or wound clinic
      6. Transplant (solid organ and/or stem cell) and/or immunocompromised host infectious diseases clinic
      7. Tropical and/or travel medicine clinic
      8. Tuberculosis and/or mycobacterial infection clinic
      9. Viral hepatitis clinic
   3. Three (3) blocks or equivalent of medical microbiology
   4. Three (3) blocks or equivalent of infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial stewardship
   5. One (1) block of training relevant to public health and preventive medicine, which may include placement in any one of the following:
      1. Municipal, regional, provincial, or federal government agency
      2. International inter-governmental organization
      3. Non-profit or private sector health or social services organization
      4. Community-oriented clinical practice with an emphasis on health promotion, disease prevention, and primary health care
      5. Other public health experience approved by program director
   6. A minimum of two (2) and a maximum of seven (7) blocks of additional approved residency in one or more of:
      1. Further residency training in the areas under sections 1.1 – 1.5
      2. Maximum of four (4) blocks of selectives relevant to the resident’s career path
         1. Allergy and/or immunology clinic
         2. Community-based infectious diseases
         3. Dermatology
         4. Global health
         5. Rheumatology
         6. Transplantation medicine
         7. Tropical and travel medicine
      3. Maximum of five (5) blocks in an approved period of research, quality improvement, educational scholarship, or creative professional activity at a hospital or university centre in Canada or abroad, relevant to the objectives of Infectious Diseases training

NOTES:

A block of training is equal to four (4) weeks. A block may be longitudinal over time, but must cumulatively be the equivalent of four (4) weeks, and its content must be assessed independently of other blocks.

In section 1.1, the junior attending role means that the resident assumes as much independence in patient care decisions, collaboration, and communication with patient care decision-makers as permitted by ability, regulation, and hospital policy. Junior attending also means that the resident assumes leadership in the education and clinical supervision of junior colleagues, where appropriate.

In section 1.2, this requirement may also be met with one (1) full-day every two (2) weeks throughout the two (2) years of training.

In section 1.3, any schedule that results in 3 blocks of residency training in medical microbiology is acceptable. Training should include virology/molecular diagnostics, bacteriology (including mycobacteriology), mycology, parasitology, and immunodiagnostics.

In section 1.4, an equal amount of time must be allocated to infection prevention and control and to antimicrobial stewardship. This may be accomplished by combining mornings in one clinical area, with afternoons in the other, or any combination thereof, over the period of three blocks.

In section 1.5, the residency training program has significant flexibility, because public health activities can involve a broad range of experiences. It is recommended that the experience involves supervision by a Medical Officer of Health, specialist in Public Health and Preventive Medicine, or by someone who functions in a similar capacity but holds Royal College Certification in another specialty (e.g. Infectious Diseases or Medical Microbiology).

In section 1.6.3, the training must be approved by the residency training program director and must have clear objectives, deliverables, and method of assessment. A creative professional activity is either an innovation (e.g., invention, conceptual innovation, new techniques, smartphone application, etc.) or a contribution to the development of professional practice (e.g., guideline development, health or government policy development, other development of standards such as a consensus conference or Delphi panel).

The resident may spend a maximum of five (5) blocks away from the home program throughout their training, unless required as part of the training requirements at that University.

REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTIFICATION

Royal College certification in adult Infectious Diseases requires all of the following:

1. Royal College certification in Internal Medicine;
2. Successful completion of a 2-year Royal College accredited program in Infectious Diseases;
3. Completion of a scholarly research, quality assurance, or educational project relevant to Infectious Diseases; and
4. Successful completion of the certification examination in Infectious Diseases.

The 2-year program outlined above is to be regarded as the minimum training requirement. Additional training may be required by the program director to ensure that clinical competence has been achieved.

• APROVED – Specialty Standards Review Committee – June 2012
• APROVED – Specialty Standards Review Committee – May 2016

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