Electives
There is one block of elective time in the PGY1 and PGY2 year and a total of twelve blocks of elective time in the PGY3 through PGY5 years. These twelve blocks of electives generally are taken toward the end of the
residency, however the program allows the flexibility to insert
elective time at any point in the PGY3 to PGY5 years. These electives
have been used for a variety of purposes, both to round out education
and enhance areas of interest or weakness. Some examples of popular
electives are as follows:
Toxicology - EMS
This elective allows the resident to get concurrent experience in EMS
and Clinical Toxicology. One half of this elective involves being
on-call for Clinical Toxicology through the Poison Control Centre at
Sick Children's Hospital in Toronto. The resident on-call will take
calls from Poison Control nurses, and direct the management of
toxicologic cases that come through this large Poison Control Centre.
The resident is backed up by a board-certified medical toxicologist to
discuss cases as they come in. In addition, the resident attends weekly
rounds at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and is
occasionally responsible for a case presentation and discussion. As the
call for this elective is every other week, in the "off weeks" the
resident can focus on the EMS portion of the elective.
This elective provides the resident with opportunity to gain
clinical and administrative experience in emergency medical services.
The resident is responsible for frequent ride-outs with the paramedics,
both on land and through the Air Ambulance Station at the Island
Airport in Toronto. In addition to these clinical observation periods,
the resident is responsible for one project done in concert with the
Medical Director of Prehospital Care. This project may involve audits,
literature reviews in prehospital care, or small research projects.
Clinical Teaching Skills
An elective in clinical teaching skills provides the
senior level resident with experience and feedback at clinical teaching
in the emergency department. The resident is on-duty for case review
with more junior level housestaff in the emergency department. The
resident is not responsible for seeing patients primarily and is there
only to provide an educational experience for more junior housestaff.
The residents are observed and given feedback on their teaching skills
by the consultants on-duty. Additionally, the resident is expected to
supervise, in an observed way, a small group teaching session. Finally,
at least one lecture-based presentation is given by the resident and
feedback on the lecture provided by consultants. In addition to these
practical teaching skills with feedback, the resident is expected to
work on one scholarly project on medical education during this two
month elective. This may involve the development or revision of an
innovative curriculum in education for emergency medicine, the
initiation of a research project in medical education, or a literature
review on an educational topic of interest.
Trauma
An elective experience has been negotiated through the Maryland
Institute of Emergency Medical Services at the University of Maryland.
During this one month elective, the resident acts as a member of the
Trauma Team at the Shock/Trauma Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. Here,
the resident sees a wide variety of inner city penetrating trauma at
one of the world's busiest trauma centres. This popular elective allows
residents exposure to a high volume of trauma not normally seen in
Canadian centres. Residents are eligible to receive support for travel
and accommodation from the program for this elective. This elective is
currently under review due to difficulties in obtaining adequate
malpractice insurance for the residents. The program director is
actively exploring other US trauma elective experiences for those
residents desiring a US trauma experience.
Miscellaneous Electives
Residents are encouraged to use elective time towards areas
of interest. Residents looking to pursue further training in
subspecialty areas of emergency medicine are encouraged to try and
incorporate some of their subspecialty training into their elective
time. Residents in the past have used this time toward certification in
critical care, anaesthesiology, medical education, advanced degrees in
clinical epidemiology, tropical medicine and Masters of Business Administration. Other
opportunities exist and are generally supported by the program
committee
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