Surgical Foundations

INTRODUCTION TO SURGICAL FOUNDATIONS

Surgical Foundations (SF) is a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada accredited residency program which runs alongside, or parallel to the main surgical specialty programs. For the first 2 years of residency, residents are automatically enrolled in the Surgical Foundations Residency Program in addition to one of the Specialty programs listed below:

• Cardiac
• GenSurg
• Neuro
• OBGYN
• Ortho
• Otolaryngology (ENT)
• Plastics
• Urology
• Vascular

The University of Toronto Surgical Foundations Program is the largest in Canada with approximately 65 residents per year. Dr Mark Wheatcroft is the Program Director for Surgical Foundations and the Postgraduate assistant is Helen Nguyen. Please do not hesitate to reach out to pgme.surgery@utoronto.ca with any questions, issues or concerns.

Prep Camp

The SF program commences early July with an Induction day followed by Prep-Camp; an intensive hands on practical course held at the Mount Sinai Hospital Surgical Skills Centre and coordinated by Alexander Nuberg, SSC Course Coordinator and Shunne Leung, SSC Senior Manager.

SF Lecture Series

The Surgical Foundations Lecture Series commences at the start of September, is held every Tuesday morning from 8:00am to 11:30am, and runs for the rest of the academic year. Topics covered include those listed by the Royal College as core knowledge requirements and also topics relating to clinical care and professional development. Currently a hybrid system of virtual and in-person lectures is used. An attendance score of 75% is required to pass the Surgical Foundations course, with full details of how this is achieved being described in the Surgical Foundations Handbook.

QI Project

Residents are divided into small groups and through a series of lectures and home work, are guided through a QI project of their own design. This takes place over the course of the PGY1 year and culminates in submission of a completed project together with a presentation day where all projects are presented and judged by a panel, the three best project presentations are awarded as “winners”.

Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs)

An entrustable professional activity or “EPA” is a defined task deemed essential to be competent in for the Specialty. Each EPA is made up of a selection of Milestones which are definable individual skills. Surgical Foundations has its own set of EPAs set out by the Royal College. Residents must complete all SF EPAs in order to complete the program. EPA completion is one set of data that is closely monitored for each resident by the Competence Committee.

Surgical Foundations Practice Exam

The SF practice exam is created independent to, but in the same style (MCQ) as the formal Royal College Surgical Foundations Exam. It is created by the Canadian SF Programs to provide residents with a method of assessing their knowledge acquisition and preparation for the formal exam. It is generally held towards the end of the PGY1 academic year (May / June). A pass is not required to pass the SF program.

Royal College Surgical Foundations Exam

The Royal College SF exam requires that you register for eligibility to take the exam and that you pay the appropriate fees. Registration and fee payment are the sole responsibility of the resident. It is mandatory to pass the SF exam to be eligible to take the final FRCSC exam, but it is not required to pass the Surgical Foundations stage of training. It is therefore not a requirement to progress to Core of Discipline. Click here for more details.

The following are key components of the SF program:

1. Prep Camp
2. SF Lecture Series
3. QI Project
4. Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs)
5. SF Practice Exam
6. Royal College SF Exam

Meet our Surgical Foundations Resident Representatives

SURGICAL FOUNDATIONS LECTURES SERIES

Tipsheet.pdf

Surgical Foundations Lecture Series 2026 - 2027: 

Full schedule in PDF here.