St. John's - Orthopedic Surgery

Memorial University of NewfoundlandSt. John's, Newfoundland and LabradorCMG stream

Program websiteWebsite CANPREPPCANPREPP

Open on carms.ca

CaRMS program description, 2026 match, last approved 4 Sep 2025

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

Positions (approx. quota): 3 positions
Length: 5 years
Stream: CMG
Discipline: Orthopedic Surgery
Applications per year: 51–200
Applicants offered interviews: 76–100%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 29181

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

Summary

Memorial University's Orthopedic Surgery Residency Program is a five-year Competence by Design program designed to produce a 'general' orthopedic surgeon. Located in beautiful Newfoundland & Labrador, the program offers a tight-knit resident group, comprehensive training, and a focus on work-life balance in a welcoming environment.

Training

Research

Residents participate in Resident Research Day, can engage in independent local research, multi-centre trials, and potentially complete a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology.

Training setting

Training occurs primarily in St. John's, Newfoundland, across multiple hospital sites including St. Clare's Mercy Hospital, Health Sciences Centre, and Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre, with additional community hospital experiences.

Teaching approach

Follows a longitudinal training model with mixed subspecialty experiences occurring concurrently, emphasizing constant exposure and preventing skill stagnation. Focuses on producing well-rounded practitioners capable of collaboration and cooperation.

Setting types

Academic medical center
Community hospital
Pediatric hospital
Rural clinic

Focus areas

General Orthopedic Surgery
Trauma Surgery
Pediatric Orthopedics
Community Orthopedics
Rural Medicine

Patient populations

Adult orthopedic patients
Pediatric orthopedic patients
Trauma patients
Rural and community patients

Highlights

One mandatory three-month rural rotation
Three-month elective in PGY 4
Opportunity to complete Masters in Clinical Epidemiology
Research opportunities with biomechanical lab
Team Broken Earth educational collaboration
Weekly specialized rounds
Monthly journal clubs

Strengths

Comprehensive surgical training
Strong research infrastructure
Excellent rural medicine exposure
Supportive and tight-knit resident community
Diverse clinical experiences

Enhanced skills

Trauma
Arthroplasty
Hand & Wrist
Upper Extremity
Spine
Orthopedic Oncology
Pediatrics
Foot and Ankle
Sports Medicine

By year

PGY-1

Adult Orthopedic SurgeryHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital36 weeks (9 blocks)
Adult Orthopaedic SurgeryHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital28 weeks (7 blocks)
Adult Orthopaedic SurgeryHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital28 weeks (7 blocks)
Adult Orthopedic SurgeryHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital24 weeks (6 blocks)
NeurosurgeryHealth Sciences Centre12 weeks (3 blocks)
Community Orthopaedic SurgeryAt an approved site in NL12 weeks (3 blocks)
Subspecialty ElectiveAt an approved site.12 weeks (3 blocks)
Pediatric Orthopedic SurgeryJaneway Children's Health andRehabilitation Centre12 weeks (3 blocks)
Pediatric Orthopedic SurgeryJaneway Children's Health andRehabilitation Centre12 weeks (3 blocks)
ICUHealth Sciences Centre8 weeks (2 blocks)
Plastic SurgeryHealth Sciences Centre8 weeks (2 blocks)
Night FloatHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital4 weeks (1 block)
Night FloatHealth Science CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital4 weeks (1 block)
Night FloatHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital4 weeks (1 block)
Night FloatHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital4 weeks (1 block)

PGY-3

Adult Orthopedic SurgeryHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital20 weeks (5 blocks)
Pediatric Orthopedic SurgeryJaneway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre8 weeks (2 blocks)
Night FloatHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital4 weeks (1 block)
Emergency MedicineHealth Sciences CentreSt. Clare's Mercy Hospital4 weeks (1 block)
General SurgeryHealth Sciences Centre(Acute Care Service Team)4 weeks (1 block)
Vascular SurgerySt. Clare's Mercy Hospital4 weeks (1 block)
RadiologyHealth Sciences Centre4 weeks (1 block)
Internal MedicineSite to be determined4 weeks (1 block)

From the program's rotation list.

Selection

What the program looks at

Academic achievement
References and CV
Scholarly activity interest
Extra-curricular interests
Interview performance

Applications per year

51–200

Applicants offered interviews

76–100%

Interviews

Dates (2026 match): 19 Jan 2026

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

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 23 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Contract expired, may change.

Annual salary by PGY level, Newfoundland and Labrador
Level	Annual salary
PGY-1	$69,175 / year
PGY-2	$74,779 / year
PGY-3	$79,848 / year
PGY-4	$85,137 / year
PGY-5	$90,868 / year

One provincial scale for Newfoundland and Labrador, 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)

Additional optional benefits: 100% employee paid
Annual vacation: 4 weeks/year
CMPA dues: 100% reimbursement
Conference leave: 7 days/pd
Extended health insurance: Mandatory medical, basic life and AD&Dhttp://www.exec.gov.nl.ca/exec/hrs/working_with_us/employee_benefits.html
Frequency of call: Excess in-hospital call > 7/28 weekday – $225, weekend – $360;Call stipend – $115 Home call > 7/21 – $75;Call stipend – $57.50
Maternity/Paternity leave: Up to One year
Meal allowance: $105 per month
Parking fees: $5/year
Provincial health insurance: Contact Medical Care Plan1-866-449-4459
Resident Student: Full-time status
Sick leave: 1 day per month
Statutory holidays: 1-1/2 x pay or paid day off

Call

Call (provincial max): 1 day in 4 in-house, on average

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

PARNL agreement, 10 Aug 2022 to 30 Jun 2024. The term has ended; its terms continue until a new agreement is signed.

Teaching sites

St. Clare's Mercy Hospital
Health Sciences Centre
Janeway Children's Health and Rehabilitation Centre
James Paton Memorial Hospital
Western Memorial Regional Hospital

Hospital facts

Hospital size and activity: Newfoundland and Labrador doesn't publish this as open data.

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

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

About the city

Public statistics for the place named by this program’s location label, each with its source and reference period. They describe the place, not the program, and are not a ranking. Check each source before you rely on it.

Climate

Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020. Each value comes from the nearest weather station that reports it, not from the city itself.

January average: −3.6 °C St. John's (West), 4.3 km away
July average: 16.5 °C St. John's (West), 4.3 km away
Snowfall: 363.4 cm a year St. John's (Airport), 9.0 km away
Days below −20 °C: 0.3 days a year St. John's (West), 4.3 km away

People

2021 Census. Figures are for the municipality of St. John's, not the metropolitan area. Statistics Canada rounds counts, so small places are approximate.

Population: 110,525 people up 1.5% from 2016
Official languages: English only 90.3% · French only 0.0% · English and French 9.2% · neither 0.5% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 7.0% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 2.5% · non-permanent residents: 3.8%
Indigenous identity: 3.3% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 84.4% · public transit 5.4% · walking or cycling 7.2% · other 3.0% Average commute: 15.4 minutes. Shares are of people who commute.The way Canadians commute was altered in 2021 by the pandemic, with lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 and changes in how and where Canadians worked leading to 2.8 million fewer commuters, compared with five years earlier. Statistics Canada, The Daily, 30 Nov 2022(opens in a new tab)
Median household income: $75,000 before tax $65,000 after tax · income year 2020, in 2020 dollars

Rural and remote

This describes the place named by the program’s location label. Programs can train in several towns, so it is not every site.

Population centre: St. John's, a large urban population centre (100,000 or more people) 185,565 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.247 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.

Housing, cost and work

Each figure names the area it covers. A missing line means the source publishes nothing for this area.

Rental vacancy rate: 2.1% October 2025 survey, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (census metropolitan area). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $53,849 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, for two adults with two children. A modest, basic basket (the poverty line), not a resident’s budget. A size-class region is not the town itself.
Unemployment rate: 6.6% September 2026, three-month average, seasonally adjusted, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (census metropolitan area); standard error 0.6 points. A survey estimate.

Job outlook

Employment and Social Development Canada’s rating for the occupation in the economic region. It is not a count of jobs, and says nothing about CaRMS positions or your match.

Outlook, 2025–2027: Very good The employment outlook will be Very good for specialists in surgery (NOC 31101) in the Avalon Peninsula region for the 2025-2027 period.
Canada-wide, to 2033: Strong risk of Shortage ESDC’s projection for specialists in surgery, 2024–2033. Recent conditions, 2021–2023: Strong signs of Shortage.

Sources and licences

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. Adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Cartographic Boundary Files.
Adapted from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Rental Market Survey, October 2025 (vacancy rates), and Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0130-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation or Statistics Canada of this product.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada, Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS), 2024 to 2033 projections).
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada (Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020).
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada, 3-Year Employment Outlooks).
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Index of Remoteness (17-26-0001), 2021. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0459-01 Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted, reference month 2026-09. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 11-10-0066-01 Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by Market Basket Measure region, component and base year, 2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0011-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and population centres, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0002-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0057-01 Household income statistics by household type: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0173-01 Mother tongue by knowledge of official languages: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0266-01 Indigenous identity by Registered or Treaty Indian status: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0307-01 Immigrant status and period of immigration by place of birth: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0458-01 Main mode of commuting by commuting duration, time leaving for work, age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

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.