Vascular Surgery: the Practice Eligibility Route

How training is structured

The Royal College sets out the training for Vascular 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.

• Pathway 1 - 1.1 A minimum of two (2) blocks of critical care
• Pathway 1 - 1.2 A minimum of one (1) block that provides initial trauma management (e.g. Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, trauma team, Orthopedic Surgery or Plastic Surgery)
• Pathway 1 - 1.3 A minimum of four (4) blocks and a maximum of nine (9) blocks of Vascular Surgery
• Pathway 1 - 1.4 A minimum of one (1) block General Surgery
• Pathway 1 - 1.5 A minimum of one (1) block Internal Medicine or one of its subspecialties
• Pathway 1 - 2.1 Twenty six (26) blocks of Vascular Surgery, sixteen (16) blocks of which must be at a senior resident level
• Pathway 2 - 1. Sixteen (16) blocks of senior residency in Vascular Surgery; cannot be double-counted with the entry specialty/subspecialty
• Pathway 2 - 2. Ten (10) blocks of training completed at the level of a senior Vascular Surgery resident, selected from sections 2.1 to 2.8; cannot be double-counted with the entry specialty/subspecialty

Flexible or selective components

Where the requirements allow a choice.

• Pathway 1 - 2.2 Thirteen (13) blocks of selective rotations, including any combination of: (2.2.1) Cardiac Surgery (max 4 blocks); (2.2.2) General Surgery (max 3 blocks); (2.2.3) Thoracic Surgery (max 4 blocks); (2.2.4) non-invasive vascular laboratory (max 4 blocks); (2.2.5) vascular imaging (max 7 blocks); (2.2.6) vascular surgery in a community setting (max 4 blocks); (2.2.7) research in Vascular Surgery (max 10 blocks); (2.2.8) training relevant to the resident's career goals, approved by the program director and Residency Program Committee in advance (max 13 blocks); (2.2.9) additional Vascular Surgery training (max 7 blocks)
• Pathway 2 - 2.1 to 2.8: (2.1) max four (4) blocks of Cardiac Surgery; (2.2) max four (4) blocks of Thoracic Surgery; (2.3) max four (4) blocks of residency in a non-invasive vascular laboratory; (2.4) max four (4) blocks of vascular imaging or interventional cardiology; (2.5) max six (6) blocks of academic enrichment (may include research, or a university degree, diploma or certificate program), relevant to Vascular Surgery, approved in advance by the Residency Program Director; may be taken within another Royal College accredited program (e.g. Clinician Investigator Program); (2.6) max ten (10) blocks of further senior residency in clinical vascular surgery in a program approved by the program director; (2.7) max seven (7) blocks of other rotations approved in advance by the Vascular Surgery program director and residency training committee; (2.8) max ten (10) blocks of training in endovascular therapy

Common questions

What is the Practice Eligibility Route in Vascular 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 Vascular 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 Vascular Surgery?

The Specialty Training Requirements describe pathway 1 (Direct Entry): Five (5) years of approved residency training, incorporating increasing graded responsibility. Pathway 2 (Subsequent Entry): Two (2) years of approved residency training in Vascular Surgery, after successful completion of Royal College accredited training in General Surgery, Cardiac Surgery, or Thoracic Surgery. 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 Vascular 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 Vascular Surgery are in the Fellowship Finder.