Career exploration

Integrated Clinical Experience: Career Advising and Preparation (ICE:CAP)

ICE:CAP is the first part of the CAP longitudinal curriculum, starting in Foundations and extending through Clerkship. The intention of the CAP curriculum is to provide students with an opportunity to: 

• Identify and explore your personal and professional goals and priorities to inform career interests and specialty choices.
• Reflectively examine your personality traits, evolving professional skills and clinical experiences, as they inform career and specialty interests.
• Use your skills of networking, informational interviewing and shadowing to increase knowledge of specialties and develop meaningful mentors.
• Examine the healthcare landscape and needs of our patient population and reflect on professional and social responsibilities when selecting a career. 
• Develop skills in CV writing that will support your research, leadership and residency applications as well as future career applications.
• Explore careers through Enriching Educational Experiences (EEEs), short-term, self-initiated observership placements which are logged on MedSIS
• Develop knowledge of careers in medicine 
• Understand how to choose a specialty, and how to prepare for CARMS
• Participate in informational interviews with physicians to have informal career discussions
• Hear from physicians, upper year students, and industry experts on topics including entrepreneurship, labour markets, best practices for career exploration

Enriching Educational Experiences (EEEs)

Enriching Educational Experiences (EEEs) are a key element of CAP. EEEs are short-term placements occurring during Foundations organized directly between students and physicians they are interested in shadowing. The purpose of a EEE is to spend time in a clinical setting with a physician observing their practice and learning about their particular specialty.  

The number of EEE hours required to complete the course will be determined yearly for the current time based on the opportunities available during the pandemic.

Important information on registering EEE experiences

Students may not participate in EEE placements that are not registered in advance on MedSIS. A placement agreement needs to be established between the University and the shadowing site, and unregistered placements will not have this important step completed. Only registered placements will be covered for liability. In the unlikely event of an accident or incident, it is important for you and the supervising physician that this coverage be in place. 

Placements in clinical settings outside of TAHSN hospitals must be registered a minimum of 3 weeks in advance, in order to ensure negotiation of an agreement. Where an agreement is not in place, shadowing may not occur. 

Students must use the EEE Module in MedSIS to register all activities and access important information including:

• supervisor-student guidelines 
• a searchable database to identify potential preceptors or areas of interest

Information for Supervisors

Please see the Supervisor Guidelines on MedSIS for additional information. 

All relevant information pertaining to EEEs and ICE:CAP can be found on MedSIS and Elentra.