—Dr. Michèle Farrugia, Director, Residency Program
A big thank you to everyone who works so hard to ensure our residents are learning and thriving. It takes not just a village but a big city to ensure our 75 (75! Biggest group ever!) residents have the skills and knowledge they need upon graduation.
Improving the learning environment
Our work on the learning environment continues. As you may recall, this was the only significant area of concern raised at accreditation in 2020. An action plan has been developed and we are working towards resolving this issue by the time we submit a follow-up report to the RCPSC in 2023. Thank you for your continued and sustained attention to ensuring all our residents can learn and grow in an environment that is suitably challenging but also nurturing. Thank you to Dr. Suzanne Wong for keeping this issue front and centre at Faculty Professional Development Day.
New educational leadership across the city
In this newsletter, I would like to highlight the work of our colleagues in the community who welcome our residents and have responded to our requests for both continued and new learning opportunities:
Michael Garron Hospital (Dr. Anjali Aggarwal, Site Supervisor) continues to be a fabulous learning site for all levels of learners. In the last 18 months, the General Surgery Department reached out and asked us to consider sending our PGY1s to this site for their General Surgery rotation and approximately half of our PGY1s now do so.
North York General Hospital welcomed a new residency site supervisor last spring, Dr. Alice Pham. North York continues to be a highly valued, busy site popular with residents at all levels.
St. Joseph’s Health Centre (Dr. Clarissa Bambao, Site Supervisor) is a favourite learning site for our PGY3 core Ob-Gyn rotation as they are there solo (without a chief resident) and can develop an even greater sense of responsibility with many, many surgical learning opportunities.
Credit Valley Hospital (Dr. Siobhan Mark, Site Supervisor) is also a fan favourite. I hear tremendous accolades about the faculty, volume and acuity of cases that contribute to great learning. It’s a little further away, but worth the drive!
With COVID-related capacity limits and increased residents in some cohorts, we have sought to offer some rotations at new sites. Many thanks to the faculty at these hospitals who, without exception, responded positively to our requests for learning opportunities:
Dr. Lynn Sterling and Dr. Abheha Satkunaratnam have put together a new site for the LGTD (Lower Genital Tract Disease rotation – a.k.a. colposcopy and vulvar conditions) jointly between Humber River Hospital and North York General Hospital. Thanks to Humber for purchasing a video colposcope specifically for this purpose!
Dr. Sony Sierra has opened her clinic to the program as a new site for the REI (Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility) portion of the REIM rotation.
We have also sent a few residents to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, under the supervision of Dr. Alison Ball, for elective oncology experiences.
Residents continue to seek out selectives and electives at other hospitals across the GTA to deepen the breadth of their experience and exposure.
Ob-Gyn Surgeon Scientist Program (formerly known as the Clinician-Investigator Program)
Dr. Stephanie Lapinsky (PGY5) successfully defended her MSc thesis in October: "Twin pregnancy and maternal mental illness: A Canadian population-based cohort study."
Dr. Maria Cusimano (PGY5) was the recipient of the 2021 CSCI/CIHR Resident Research Award for her PhD work (completed in spring 2021): “Assessment of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy vs Lymphadenectomy for Intermediate- and High-Grade Endometrial Cancer Staging.”
Our current Surgeon Scientist Resident, Dr. Allan Kember (PGY3), is working towards an MSc in Health Services Research with emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the Institute for Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) and applying AI to the study of sleep pathophysiology in pregnancy.
Other Updates
Our PGY2s wrote the Royal College Surgical Foundations exam in October with excellent results. Congratulations!
The CaRMS 2022 resident selection process is well underway. The AFMC has informed us that the CaRMS resident selection process will remain virtual this year as well as in 2022-23, and we assume likely forevermore. We successfully adjusted our processes in 2021 and will continue to do so. A dedicated working group has reviewed our processes with an eye to ensuring equity, diversity and inclusion.
Our robust Academic Half Day (AHD) program continues with laparoscopic skills labs led by Dr. Eli Shore and Dr. Alysha Nensi, and anatomy labs led by Dr. Andrea Simpson with assistance from Dr. Liz Miazga (Clinical Fellow) and Dr. Jason Hermenegildo (PGY4). These labs form the backbone of the upcoming winter term. An introduction to robotics by Dr. Paulina Cybulska as part of the AHD summer schedule was well received and, if we are lucky, will be followed up by some hands-on robotic sessions in the spring!
We have eight new babies born to resident-parents in our program, with two more on the way. Definitely a bit of a baby boom. Welcome coronials!
We also have several newly married residents! Congratulations!
