Alberta Health Services (AHS)-Edmonton Zone is pleased to offer various opportunities for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) and Foreign Trained Doctors/Physicians. These programs are managed and administered by the Physician Preceptorship Program office within Medical Affairs. Please click on the links below for more detailed information.

In AHS-Edmonton Zone, clinical opportunities for IMGs are typically two-six month clinical preceptorships within a specific clinical service time. Following the preceptorship period, a formal evaluation is completed determining if pre-defined program specific clinical learning objectives have been met. Successful candidates are then eligible to be offered opportunities as Clinical Assistants or Surgical Assistants. Clinical positions as IMGs with AHS-Edmonton Zone do not result in full licensure with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta nor independent practice opportunities.

Clinical Assistants and Surgical Assistants in AHS-Edmonton Zone work under the supervision, guidance and direction of licensed physicians in AHS-Edmonton Zone facilities.

Clinical Assistants usually provide acute care coverage on nights and weekends and manage patients admitted to a service by assessing patient progress and responding to patient medical needs as they arise over the course of the shift. In consultation with the attending physician, Clinical Assistants will, for example, perform patient interviews, histories and physical examinations, perform selected diagnostic and therapeutic interventions, and interpret patient laboratory and radiological results. More generally, Clinical Assistants collaborate with other health care team members in the provision of patient care.
Surgical-Clinical Assistants provide acute care coverage services in the role of a clinical assistant to in-hospital surgical patients. The Surgical-Clinical Assistant’s duties include pre-op consultation, pre- and post-op co-morbidity management of surgical patients, management of post-op complications, and consultations in the emergency department, as well as working as an assistant to the operating surgeon during the intra-operative phase of surgery.
Surgical Assistants serve as an assistant to the operating surgeon during the intraoperative phase of surgery.
Program benefits for successful graduates – “what’s in it for me, why do it?”

Expand your clinical knowledge and skill set
Enhance your professional competencies
Hone your communication skills
Assist you in assimilating into the Canadian medical environment
Supply you with valuable Canadian work experience
Facilitate opportunities for you to remain up to date with current trends and best practices