Glossary & Common Acronyms
There are hundreds of terms and acronyms used throughout the university community. To help you get familiar with things, here is a list of those most commonly used in our department.
TERMS
Faculty (capital F): The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry
faculty (lowercase f): Individuals with an academic appointment at the university to teach, do research or both
Staff: A non-academic employee of the university
Faculty Advisor: Orients residents to family medicine, discusses program and individual learning objectives, assists resident in finding resources to meet their learning needs, help define residents’ career plan.
Preceptor: Any individual who in involved in medical student or resident learning
Medical Student: A student in undergraduate medical education
Resident: A learner who has completed Undergraduate medical education is in undergoing training for a specific medical field.
Rotation: In-clinic training for a resident specific to a medical field (e.g. surgery rotation)
Clerkship: In-clinic training for a medical student specific to a medical field (pediatrics clerkship)
ACRONYMS
DoFM: Department of Family Medicine
FoMD: Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
AH: Alberta Health
AHS: Alberta Health Services
UME: Undergraduate Medical Education
PGME: Postgraduate medical Education
PGY: Postgraduate Year, refers to residents in either year 1, 2 or 3 of the program.
CaRMS: Canadian Resident Match Service (the independent service through which eligible medical students apply for available residency positions across Canada)
NAAFP: Northern Alberta Academic Family Physicians
AFPC: Alberta College of Family Physicians
CFPC: College of Family Physicians of Canada
ASA: Annual Scientific Assembly (conference)
FMF: Family Medicine Forum (conference)
NAPCRG: North America Primary Care Research Group (conference)
EBM: Evidence Based Medicine
DSPMC: Department Strategic Planning and Management Committee
DBG: Department Business Group.
CBAS: Competency-Based Achievement System