Thoracic Anesthesiology

The Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine offers a Thoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship Training Program at The Ottawa Hospital. The Ottawa Hospital is a tertiary care centre in the National Capital Region. Thoracic surgical services are provided at the General campus of The Ottawa Hospital, which is a referral centre for thoracic surgery in the Champlain LHIN for Eastern Ontario.

We have a strong clinical program with five thoracic specialty surgeons and we are proud of our collegial multidisciplinary approach to the care of these patients. There are approximately 7 ORs per week for thoracic patients.

The fellowship is structured for anesthesiologists seeking to advance and build a solid clinical approach to the care of the thoracic patient with a view to becoming a leader in this subspecialty area. Fellows will gain expertise in the care of routine thoracic surgical patients. There are more than 450 lung resection procedures and over 50 esophageal resections performed each year, done open, hybrid or MIE techniques. Fellows will also gain experience in the care of patients for tracheal resection, resection of mediastinal masses, VATS and sleeve resections. High Frequency Jet Ventilation is used for advanced airway procedures. Proficiency will be gained in perioperative optimization of the thoracic surgery patient, advanced lung isolation techniques and postoperative analgesic techniques. We are fortunate to work daily with a fantastic team of thoracic surgeons and nurses. We do not perform lung transplants in Ottawa.

Fellows are expected to pursue a scholarly project during their training period and be active in the education of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine residents and students in the program. We have approximately three Thoracic Anesthesiology Journal Club, where the Fellow is expected to present one article out of a few to review. Monthly informal meetings with the Thoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship lead to review Thoracic Anesthesiology topics, literature, cases and for ongoing review of the Fellow’s progression are held. A formal Grand Round presentation is expected at the end of the academic year. The Fellow will be actively involved in resident education with the competency by design (CBD) curriculum, in addition to any ongoing educational activities that related to Thoracic Anesthesiology.

The Fellow will:

• Develop skills to become a leader in the care of thoracic surgery patients
• Gain experience in the preoperative assessment and optimization of thoracic surgery patients
• Describe anesthetic considerations for specific respiratory diseases
• Describe the anesthetic considerations for routine thoracic procedures and introduce approaches to more complex problems in thoracic anesthesiology
• Develop an approach to postoperative management of thoracic surgery patients
• Refine skills required for adequate analgesia, lung isolation, and monitoring of thoracic surgery patients.

Larry Byford
Sylvain Gagné​​​​​​​

Colleen McFaul
Stéphane Moffett

Calvin Thompson

Position available: 1 candidate per year

Duration of Fellowship: 12 months (July 1st - June 30th)

Please see Application Instructions if you are interested in applying. Thank you for your interest in our program and we look forward to hearing from you!