Areas of Focused Competence (AFCs) are areas of specialty medicine that address a legitimate societal and patient population need that was unmet by the system of primary and subspecialty disciplines. Akin to current clinical fellowship and post-secondary training in that they are equivalent to one to two years of additional training, the AFC category is intended to:

• Establish national standards for training and specialist competence, designed to improve quality of care and patient safety
• Prevent unnecessary fragmentation of specialty training, care and practice by providing credentials in highly focused areas of practice that may otherwise be considered for recognition as a subspecialty.
• Provide fellows with additional opportunities to acquire nationally and internationally portable credentials – the Diploma of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (DRCPSC), and
• Offer universities opportunities to enhance the academic environment.

There are two levels of AFC application processes. At the national level, specialties can apply to have a discipline recognized as an Area of Focused Competence at the Royal College. Once the Royal College has recognized a discipline as an Area of Focused Competence and has approved the specialty specific documents, then individual universities can apply at the program level for accredited AFC programs in that discipline. This section of our website covers the application for programs in already recognized AFC disciplines. For information on applying for discipline recognition at the national level please see additional information on the Royal College website available here.

A complete list of available AFC disciplines can be found on the Royal College website.

A complete list of current AFC disciplines at University of Toronto can be found here.