Education

Residents no longer attend the core academic half-day program. To ensure adequate clinical exposure the core academic program has been incorporated into our Foundational BootCamp lecture series and the Learning Cases. During the Core 2 and Transition to Practice Stages of training, residents are given protected academic time once per week to have group study time for exam preparation. To ensure residents are given a wide array of teaching formats the previous Core Academic Lecture series are available for self-directed learning on a shared cloud drive. Each lecture is linked to the specific Core module using a curriculum map.

We have built an online case-based learning curriculum which mimics the format on the Royal College Oral Exam. There are approximately 5 specific learning cases per module, and we have amassed over 200 learning cases on our system to date. Each case comes with a case stem, questions, and 2-4 high yield references based on the most recent scientific evidence. Residents prepare for the cases at their own time, and when applicable initiate a review with the faculty to develop a deeper understanding of the topic. The learning cases help us assess core knowledge and practical information to help demonstrate an understanding related to milestones. 

The formal Curriculum is reviewed annually to ensure the learning cases are kept up to date, and resident evaluations for the rotation are shared with the module lead. SurveyMonkey links are appended to the end of each learning case for faculty and residents to provide comments on errors, omissions or updated resources. 

Learning Case Platform

The trainee will post a self-reflective entry for the specific CanMEDS role and the Intrinsic Role coach will have the opportunity to respond for a one-on-one dialogue. Each intrinsic role will have a minimum of 1 posting per year. Postings are confidential between trainee and faculty intrinsic lead champion. Notifications will be sent out via email when coaching platform postings are due.

CanMEDS Coaching Platform 

The landscape of simulation has shifted over the last few years with the advent of our Competence By Design residency training program.  Its consequent ripple effects are felt, not only in what we are teaching and assessing in our trainees, but also in the scholarly activity of our simulation faculty members. Our simulation sub-specialty group is composed of 10 faculty with experience in teaching and/or research in simulation:  Drs Michelle Chiu (Simulation Director), Meghan Andrews (Montfort), Sylvain Boet (TOH), Dylan Bould (CHEO), Simone Crooks (TOH), Amy Fraser (TOH), Heather O’Reilly (CHEO), Dan Power (Canadian Armed Forces), Purnima Rao (TOH) and Amy Roeske (CHEO). Our faculty are recognized for their expertise in simulation and medical education, with many presentations at national and international conferences and a successful track record in education research. 

Our simulation curriculum for anesthesia residents continues to evolve. We have made significant changes to accommodate our transition to a competency-based residency training program, while maintaining an excellent, well-rounded simulation-based educational experience for our existing trainees.

First year residents participate in our 12 week Foundations Boot Camp, which is situated in the first half of the Foundations of Discipline Phase of training and is tailored to accelerate acquisition of skills needed to function independently in the clinical environment. Aside from multiple workshops using part-task trainers (i.e. epidural insertion models), residents participate in theatre-based (mannequin) simulation scenarios.  Following our Foundations Boot Camp, the residents then take part in our Global Simulation Curriculum, which involves all of our trainees over the remainder of the residency training program.  Residents also partake in simulation-based education at CHEO.

We conduct ongoing curriculum renewal to curate our Global Simulation program, which cycles over four years.  Our goals and curricular developments are summarized in the table below:

The philosophy underlying our simulation curriculum has always been to “Innovate to Educate” – we are very proud of our program and look forward to seeing you at the Simulation Center!

Resident Rounds occur every Tuesday morning at the Civic and General. They are mandatory for all on service Anesthesia residents at the Civic and General. These tend to be Royal College formatted case presentations. They start at 07:00AM and last for a ½ hour.

Additional Resources

Oral Exams

Anesthetic Considerations

Grand Rounds occur every Wednesday morning across all TOH sites. You will be assigned a date to present at some point in your residency.

Critical Appraisal Rounds

This forum is meant to complement our Department of Anesthesiology’s Journal Club, as part of our academic program.

These run on Thursday, alternating weeks. Weekly announcements are sent with the dates and topics. They are videoconferenced between campuses. They begin at 07:05 and last 25 minutes. They are mandatory when you are rotating on anesthesia.