Plastic Surgery: the Practice Eligibility Route

How training is structured

The Royal College sets out the training for Plastic Surgery in the blocks below. An internationally trained specialist is assessed on whether their own training and practice record is comparable in structure and content.

Required experiences

Specific experiences the Royal College names for this discipline.

• 1.1 A minimum of five blocks and maximum of eighteen blocks in plastic surgery
• 1.2 A minimum of one block of critical care
• 1.3 A minimum of one block on a service that provides initial trauma management (such as emergency medicine, general surgery, trauma team, orthopedic surgery, or plastic surgery)
• 1.4 A minimum two blocks in each of the following, with a maximum of six blocks overall: 1.4.1 general surgery (with focus on the acutely ill surgical patient and/or surgical oncology); 1.4.2 orthopedic surgery
• 1.5 One to three blocks selected from: 1.5.1 community plastic surgery; 1.5.2 otolaryngology-head and neck surgery; 1.5.3 vascular surgery; 1.5.4 neurosurgery; 1.5.5 pediatric surgery; 1.5.6 surgical ophthalmology; 1.5.7 surgical oncology; 1.5.8 oral surgery; 1.5.9 urology
• 2.1 Exposure to the following plastic surgery subspecialty domains while on plastic surgery rotations: 2.1.1 burn surgery; 2.1.2 hand surgery; 2.1.3 aesthetic surgery; 2.1.4 craniofacial trauma surgery; 2.1.5 reconstructive surgery of the breast (2.1.5.1), trunk (2.1.5.2), head and neck (2.1.5.3), and lower limb and upper limb (2.1.5.4); 2.1.6 pediatric plastic surgery
• 2.2 Six blocks of responsibility as a designated chief resident
• 2.4 One block designated as "Consolidation" to take place in the final year of residency training (see notes)

Flexible or selective components

Where the requirements allow a choice.

• 1.6 A maximum of six blocks selected from one or more of the following, with a maximum of two blocks in any one area: 1.6.1 anesthesiology; 1.6.2 emergency medicine; 1.6.3 internal medicine; 1.6.4 dermatology/dermatopathology; 1.6.5 radiology; 1.6.6 rheumatology; 1.6.7 physical medicine and rehabilitation; 1.6.8 infectious diseases; 1.6.9 anatomy
• 2.3 A maximum of three blocks of scholarly activity and/or three blocks of elective, which must be approved in advance by the Plastic Surgery residency program director

Common questions

What is the Practice Eligibility Route in Plastic Surgery?

The Practice Eligibility Route (PER) is the Royal College process by which an internationally trained specialist can be assessed for eligibility to sit the certification examination in Plastic Surgery without repeating a Canadian residency. The Royal College reads your postgraduate training and practice record against the published Specialty Training Requirements for the discipline.

What training does the Royal College expect in Plastic Surgery?

The Specialty Training Requirements describe five years of approved residency training (one block equals four weeks). The full block-by-block structure is set out on this page, taken from the Royal College document for this discipline.

Does meeting the training requirements guarantee eligibility?

No. Eligibility is a committee decision made on your individual file, and other factors are considered. This page reproduces the published requirements so you can see how your own training compares before you apply; it is not an eligibility ruling.

Where do I start?

Read the six steps in the PER guide, then have your training mapped against the Specialty Training Requirements before you pay any fees. The free PDF for this specialty carries the steps, the document checklist, and the Plastic Surgery requirements in one file.

More on the route itself: the full PER guide covers the six steps and the document checklist. Royal College examination dates for every discipline are on the Deadline Radar, and Canadian clinical fellowships in Plastic Surgery are in the Fellowship Finder.