Interior - Psychiatry

University of British ColumbiaInterior, British ColumbiaCompetitive RoS stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPP

Open on carms.ca

CaRMS program description, 2026 match, last approved 25 Aug 2025

From the 2026 match (R-1 2026). See the 2027 version

Positions (approx. quota): 1 position
Length: 5 years
Stream: Competitive RoS
Discipline: Psychiatry
Applications per year: 51–200
Applicants offered interviews: 51–75%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 29724

Bands are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS. They describe past cycles, not your odds.

Summary

The UBC Psychiatry Interior Track offers a comprehensive 5-year residency program located in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, with primary training sites in Kelowna and Kamloops. The program provides diverse psychiatric training across multiple clinical settings, emphasizing a distributed model of medical education that serves the unique healthcare needs of British Columbia's interior region.

Training

Research

Residents have protected research time, with 2 dedicated Research Track positions offering 1 day per week of research time, annual Research Day, and opportunities to pursue scholarly projects throughout training.

Training setting

Training occurs across multiple urban and community hospitals in British Columbia's Southern Interior, including Kelowna General Hospital and Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, with a mix of inpatient, outpatient, and specialized psychiatric services.

Teaching approach

Follows Competency By Design framework, emphasizing progressive skill development through four stages: Transition to Discipline, Foundations, Core, and Transition to Practice, with a focus on developing comprehensive psychiatric competencies.

Setting types

Academic medical center
Community hospital
Tertiary care center
Rural clinic

Focus areas

Adult Psychiatry
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Geriatric Psychiatry
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry
Emergency Psychiatry
Addiction Psychiatry
Forensic Psychiatry
Rural and Community Psychiatry

Patient populations

Adult psychiatric patients
Child and adolescent patients
Geriatric patients
Patients with addiction disorders
Emergency psychiatric patients
Patients with complex mental health needs
Rural and community populations

Highlights

Distributed training model across multiple sites
Protected research time for Research Track positions
Competency By Design curriculum
Comprehensive psychotherapy training
Annual Research Day
Opportunities for interprovincial/international electives
Multiple subspecialty fellowship options

Strengths

Comprehensive training across diverse psychiatric subspecialties
Integrated academic and clinical training
Strong emphasis on research and scholarly activity
Multicultural and diverse training environment
Flexible elective opportunities

Enhanced skills

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship
Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship
Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship
Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship

By year

PGY-1

Psychiatry2 blocks
Transition to DisciplinePsychiatry setting1 month
Internal Medicine1 block
Family Medicine1 block
Pediatrics1 block
Neurology1 block
Emergency Medicine1 block

PGY-2

Adult Inpatient Psychiatry6 months
Adult Outpatient Psychiatry6 months

PGY-3

Child & Adolescent PsychiatryBC Children's & Women's Hospital6 months
Geriatric Psychiatry6 months

PGY-4

Chronic Care Psychiatry6 months
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry3 months
Addiction Psychiatry6 weeks
Emergency Psychiatry6 weeks

PGY-5

Selectives6 months
Electives6 months

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at

Medical Student Performance Record
Personal letter
Reference documents
Interview performance
Academic performance
Research and scholarly activities
Interpersonal skills

Applications per year

51–200

Applicants offered interviews

51–75%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match): 20, 27 and 28 Jan 2026

Programs can change interview dates. Confirm on carms.ca.

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 2 Sep 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Salaries from April 2027.

Annual salary by PGY level, British Columbia
Level	Annual salary
PGY-1	$71,390 / year
PGY-2	$79,571 / year
PGY-3	$86,655 / year
PGY-4	$93,230 / year
PGY-5	$100,215 / year

One provincial scale for British Columbia, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 5 levels this program covers.

Benefits

Benefits as listed by CaRMS in 2022–2024; check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual vacation: 4 weeks
CMPA dues paid: Yes. Mandatory
Dental plan: 100% Premiums Paid
Educational leave: Yes
Extended health insurance: 100% Premiums Paid
Frequency of calls: 1 in 4 onsite/1 in 3 offsite
Life insurance: 100% Premium Paid
Long-term disability insurance: Yes 100% Premiums Paid
Maternity leave: 17 weeks, plus up to 78 weeks Parental Leave
Meal allowance: No
Provincial dues (% of salary): 1.5%
Provincial health insurance: 100% Premiums Paid
Sick leave: Yes
Statutory holidays: 2 x pay plus extra day with pay

Call

Call (provincial max): 1 in 4 in-house

The union agreement’s cap for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. Check with the program.

RDBC agreement, 1 Apr 2025 to 31 Mar 2029.

Teaching sites

Kelowna General Hospital
Royal Inland Hospital
Penticton Regional Hospital

Hospital facts

Public figures for hospitals named above, each with its source and reference period. They describe the hospital, not the program, and are not a ranking. We match names to the province’s lists by name, so check each source before you rely on it.

Kelowna General Hospital

Matched to Kelowna General Hospital (Kelowna) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 15,707 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 4,090 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Royal Inland Hospital

Matched to Royal Inland Hospital (Kamloops) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 10,812 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 2,914 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Penticton Regional Hospital

Matched to Penticton Regional Hospital (Penticton) in the province’s hospital list.

Elective surgeries completed, 2025/26: 3,482 All procedure groups, for the fiscal year (1 April to 31 March). Scheduled surgery only: emergency surgery is not in the file.
Elective surgeries completed, 2026/27 Q1: 837 One quarter (April to June), interim figures, all procedure groups. Scheduled surgery only.

Sources and licences

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.

Unfilled positions in past years

No repeated vacancies in CaRMS’s lists of open positions, 2019–2026.

Positions at this site, all streams.

A position can go unfilled because of where the site is, because it is open to IMGs only or to another restricted stream, or because the quota changed late. It says nothing about the quality of the training. Verify with the CaRMS lists. Source: CaRMS’s lists of positions open after round 1 and after round 2, as read in October 2026 (latest: 2026 round 1 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab), 2026 round 2 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab)). A site’s numbers are shown when it had positions open after round 1 in at least 2 of 8 years or at least 3 in one year.

Contacts

Contacts weren't collected for the 2026 match.

The current program director and contacts are on the 2027 version of this program and on the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab).

Location

Interior, British Columbia

Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on CdnMD 5 Oct 2026.