The Northern Regional Integrated Clerkship (NRIC) is a new Year 3 clerkship experience for medical students in the Northern Medical Program – the most northern and rurally oriented site of the UBC Faculty of Medicine's distributed MD undergraduate program (MDUP). The NRIC launched a first pilot in the summer of 2024 and will be a regular part of the curriculum starting in the summer of 2026.
Clerkship in Year 3 is a busy and immersive year of medical training, where students get their first extended experience working with patients and physicians. The UBC MDUP offers a rotational clerkship which learners rotate through discipline-specific training experiences in succession. It also offers an Integrated Community Clerkship (ICCs) through which learners undertake discipline-specific training more concurrently within a longitudinal patient care setting in a small community.
The NRIC is a new clerkship model. As a blended curriculum, it builds on the success of both models, while still meeting all the same outcomes. NRIC strives to provide the best possible training in rural generalism - an important skill set for rural physicians - while also preparing learners for any area of medicine they may choose.
The schematic figure below summarizes the learning of different disciplines in NRIC vs. traditional rotational clerkship and ICC. Note: Half of the students in NRIC will experience six months of community placement prior to condensed rotations at the University Hospital of Northern BC (UHNBC) in Prince George, while the other half will start at UHNBC prior to the community placement.
Placement Communities:
NRIC Communities
(Northern Regional Integrated Clerkship)
Chetwynd Smithers
Daajing Giids Tumbler Ridge
Hazelton Valemount
Mackenzie Vanderhoof
McBride
ICC Communities
(Integrated Community Clerkship)
Fort St. John
Terrace
PLEASE NOTE:
All areas of northern B.C. are challenging to navigate without a vehicle, and all highways in northern B.C. (except Haida Gwaii), require winter tire use by law.
Other Resources:
- UBC MDUP: Integrated Community Clerkships (which are different, but have a similar philosophy regarding the longitudinal community placement)
- Northern Divisions of Family Practice
- UBC Family Med Residency: Rural Immersion
- Destination BC - Northern British Columbia
- Explore (northern) BC: The Great Wilderness