Welcome Message
Welcome to the Comox Valley MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) Integrated Community Clerkship (ICC) Site, scheduled to launch in 2025.
Clerkship marks a pivotal phase in the clinical journey, where medical students engage in the rewarding experience of learning while providing patient care. At the Comox Valley ICC site, we are dedicated to providing a supportive and well-rounded training environment for our students. We work collaboratively and flexibly with students so they can gain the confidence and skills required to transition to residency.
As a busy community site, we offer ample patient volume to meet Year 3 learning objectives. The Comox Valley has long been an established clinical teaching site, having offered Year 4 electives in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry for many years including accepting visiting students from across the country and around the world. Our family medicine and specialist preceptors are keen to support local clerkship students.
The Comox Valley MDUP ICC site best suits flexible and energetic students. As Site Director, I look forward to personally welcoming you to our beautiful corner of Vancouver Island. Alongside our dedicated Comox Valley MDUP ICC administrative support team, we are here to guide and support you throughout this immensely rewarding year.
Dr. Patricia Murphy
ICC Site Director, Comox Valley
Dr. Patricia Murphy is a graduate of McMaster Medical School and of UBC Family Medicine. She has completed clinical fellowships in emergency medicine and geriatrics and studied toxicology in Indiana. She has practiced emergency medicine in the Comox Valley since 2005 and has been involved with medical student and resident teaching for 25 years. She currently splits her time between the ER and a community geriatrics practice.
General Program Overview
The Comox Valley MD Undergraduate Program (MDUP) Integrated Community Clerkship (ICC) site is part of the expansion of UBC’s MD undergraduate program for 2025. We are proud to be part of a vibrant community, with enthusiastic medical teachers. Additionally, we are home to the UBC Postgraduate Strathcona (Comox Valley) Family Medicine Program.
Specific Experiences
Our schedule starts with orientation weeks in core generalist specialties including General Surgery, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and Emergency Medicine. Following orientation, students have longitudinal exposure to Family medicine and other disciplines will be scheduled throughout the academic year. In our family medicine community, we have physicians who practice Obstetrics, Addiction Medicine, Sports Medicine, Gender-affirming care, Oncology, Hospitalist and Geriatric Medicine. Each student will have a Primary Preceptor and have the opportunity to work with them in their varied roles.
- Family Medicine/Emergency Medicine – Orientation at the start of the academic year followed by longitudinal exposure.
- Specialty Training – Orientation week(s) and or longitudinal exposure to General Surgery, Anesthesia, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics and Pediatrics.
- Academic Half Days – Combination of on-site academic sessions with local physicians and resident teaching, as well as shared academic sessions with our Island Medical Program (IMP)/ICC counterparts.
- Independent Study Time – Scheduled for Friday afternoon.
- Longitudinal Community Experiences – Indigenous Health clinic, Musculoskeletal, Dermatology, Ski Patrol medical clinic, Elderly Care, MAID, Gender-affirming care, Pain clinic, Oncology, Long Term Care, Foundry Clinic, Women’s Health Clinic, Bone and Joint Clinic and Multi-disciplinary care with allied healthcare providers.
Participating Hospital Sites
North Island Hospital – Comox Valley
- Opened on October 1, 2017, North Island Hospital – Comox Valley is a relatively new Island Health facility with 153 beds.
- Some Comox Valley family physicians provide in-patient care to their own patients, and in addition some of our community doctors work on a team providing hospitalist care. Specialists and family doctors collaborate daily to provide support to our growing community.
- Our specialist physician community also includes Urology, Otolaryngology, Critical Care Medicine and Geriatric Psychiatry. We have access to Plastic Surgery, Nephrology and Stroke Clinic in Campbell River and Nanaimo.
- A dialysis unit is located in Cumberland, one of the three communities that make up the Comox Valley.
- The hospital also features UBC space, including a centralized education area, clinical skills room, lockers, lounge and on-call sleep areas. This facility provides opportunities for ICC students to interact with both local and visiting residents.
Community Profile
The Comox Valley, consisting of the communities of Comox, Courtenay, and Cumberland, has an approximate population of 76,000, which increases slightly during the summer months.
The Comox Valley is truly a home for nature enthusiasts. From Mount Washington, Vancouver Island’s largest ski resort, to the Cumberland Forest, a popular destination for mountain bikers, the area offers year-round outdoor activities. The area is packed with hiking trails, swimming holes and spectacular beaches.
For travel, the Comox Valley is well-connected. The local airport offers several international flights and multiple daily connections to Vancouver and Alberta. The marina provides float plane service to Vancouver in the summer season. We are a 3-hour drive to Victoria, 1.5 hours to Nanaimo, 45 minutes to Campbell River and about 3 hours to Tofino. The local ferry goes from Comox to Powell River on the Sunshine Coast.
Check out the Experience Comox Valley website for more information.
“The Comox Valley is the traditional territory of the Puntledge, E’iksan and K’ómoks peoples. Today the three tribes are known as the K’ómoks First Nation. Comox, Courtenay and Cumberland are the three main communities that make up the Valley, stretching from mountains to sea. The Town of Comox is a seaside community that attracts recreational mariners to the Comox Marina where the catch of the day is only a cast away. Courtenay is the Comox Valley’s largest urban centre, where you’ll find urban amenities wrapped in small town charm and character. Cumberland celebrates its coal mining past while embracing the hip and contemporary.”
[From the Experience Comox Valley website, 2024]
For further information, please contact:
Dr. Patricia Murphy
ICC Site Director, Comox Valley
patricia.murphy@ubc.ca
Aldyth Booton
ICC Site Coordinator, Comox Valley
abooton@uvic.ca
We would like to acknowledge that the Comox Valley Integrated Community Clerkship site operates on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the K’omoks First Nation.