—Dr. Michèle Farrugia, Director, Residency Program
Rotation schedule reverts to 3-block rotations
We have some curriculum changes coming for July 1, 2023! Based on discussion and feedback from our residents and faculty on the Residency Program Committee (RPC), we will be returning to 3-block rotations for our Core of Discipline/subspecialty rotations starting in July 2023. Our experiment with 2-block rotations proved challenging for teaching, learning, and scheduling. We are confident that the return to 3-block rotations will be an improvement on numerous fronts. There will be an opportunity for additional blocks in any rotation during the Transition to Practice (TTP) stage of training, but we are planning on mandating one additional block of Gynaecologic Oncology for all residents (four total between PGY3-5).
Holiday scheduling
There are changes coming to rotation scheduling for the holiday block in December 2023. We will be extending Block 6 by one week and beginning Block 8 one week early. Block 7 is thereby shortened to a two-week period, encompassing the December holidays. More details to follow as we work on a template for the holiday schedule. This will help facilitate our 3-block rotations.
Two-week vacation requests
All residents are entitled to four weeks of vacation throughout the academic year. This time is protected by their PARO contract. A reminder to all faculty members and rotation leads that a resident is entitled to more than one week of vacation in a row, should they request it. There may be issues with effective teaching and evaluation on a four-week block, which should be communicated to the resident at the time of the vacation request. For rotations longer than four weeks, the rotation is required to work with the resident to ensure their two-week vacation requests are not denied while ensuring clinical needs are met.
CBD update: Transition to Practice launches in 2023!
We are excited about the launch of the final stage of training for our first CBD cohort (current PGY4s) as they embark on the final stage – Transition to Practice, or TTP. This stage will start following their Royal College written exam in September – yes, new timing! Their Oral Royal College exam will be in the spring. During TTP, residents will complete their remaining Chief Resident and Gynaecologic Oncology rotation blocks and then pursue individualized experiences to round out their residency training and dependent on their future directions.
They will also have a generalist Longitudinal Ambulatory Clinic Experience (LACE). We will be looking for community and tertiary care centre faculty supervisors of this longitudinal rotation soon! Clinic days will not be fixed, and scheduling will be determined between the faculty member and resident, for a minimum of 40 half days or 20 full days throughout the year. Faculty members will be required to provide clinic space and admin support, as well of course as supervision and teaching. We will be asking interested faculty members to let us know soon (watch your email!) and residents will then have some choice in which clinic they wish to join.
