Committee on Examinations - Family Medicine
Who we are
The Committee on Examinations – Family Medicine is made up of experienced and certified family medicine physicians who develop content for the Certification Examination in Family Medicine. This group of volunteers meets four times a year to develop five Simulated Office Orals (SOOs) and Short Answer Management Problems (SAMPs) for the written component.
Chair
Dr. Lisa Graves, Ancaster, Ontario
Members
Dr. Marlow Anduze, Montreal, Quebec
Dr. Doug Dalton, Montreal, Quebec
Dr. Shumona De, Halifax, Nova Scotia
Dr. Pauline Desrosiers, Montreal, Quebec
Dr. Aaron Digby, Fredericton, New Brunswick
Dr. Lauren Eastman, Edmonton, Alberta
Dr. Jason Hosain, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Dr. Jacob Jung, Calgary, Alberta
Dr. Christopher Koo, Edmonton, Alberta
Dr. Sanja Kostov, Edmonton, Alberta
Dr. Kathy Lawrence, Regina, Saskatchewan
Dr. Isabelle Leblanc, Montreal, Quebec
Dr. Nirvair Levitt, Vancouver, British Columbia
Dr. Susan MacDonald, Paradise, Newfoundland
Dr. Andries Muller, Warman, Saskatchewan
Dr. Ginette Poulin, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Dr. Andrew Rossiter, Mount Pearl, Newfoundland
Dr. Kevin Shi, Vancouver, British Columbia
Dr. Lina Shoppoff, Ottawa, Ontario
Dr. Gabrielle Trepanier, Sherbrooke, Quebec
Consultants
Dr. Judy Belle Brown, London, Ontario
Annabelle Torsein, Toronto, Ontario
Coordinators
Manager, Operations and Administration Certification and Assessment
Exam Production Coordinator
Test Development Coordinator
What we do
Short Answer Management Problems (SAMPS)
The Committee on Examinations – Family Medicine develops Short Answer Management Problems (SAMPs) for the written examination which are designed to test a candidate’s recall of factual knowledge and problem-solving abilities related to health problems, management of health problems, and critical appraisal.
Simulated Office Orals (SOOs)
The Committee also develops five simulated office orals (SOOs), each 15 minutes in length, for the oral examination.
SOOs are designed to duplicate, insofar as possible, the actual “setting” in which the family physician conducts a practice. Family physicians are trained to role-play patients with specific complaints. The physician playing the role of the patient notes how the candidate manages the case and will score the candidate according to predefined criteria.
This examination will assess both the definition and management of health problems. The scoring system focuses on the candidate's approach to dealing with patients—including their ability to understand the patient’s unique experience and to establish a positive doctor-patient relationship.
Getting the “right diagnosis” plays only a minor role in the scoring. There are no hidden agendas.
The College of Family Physicians of Canada believes that physicians who use a patient-centered approach best meet their patients’ needs. The patient-centered clinical method is explained in detail in the book, Patient-Centered Medicine: Transforming the Clinical Method.*
*Stewart M, Brown JB, Weston W, McWhinney I, McWilliam C, Freeman T, eds. Patient-Centered Medicine: Transforming the Clinical Method. 3rd ed. London: Radcliffe Publishing; 2014.
