This residency program is for 6 years.

Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.

The Cardiac Surgery program is organized so that it provides a stepwise graded increase in responsibility as the residents go from their junior to their senior years.

The first two years provide a core experience in which the residents have opportunities to learn the core principles of surgery with a high degree of focus on basis sciences and physiology. These are taught both at organized structured lectures as well as throughout each rotation informally.
The residents have an opportunity to utilize these and integrate them in to complex patient management. A variety of rotations in various surgical disciplines are provided to give a broad–based experience. The residents become part of a team and contribute to it.

The next two years provide more training in research as well as a much more clinical exposure with more emphasis on problem diagnosis and management. The residents have more responsibility both on call and in the operating rooms but still have both senior residents and attending staff available to help with clinical issues.

Ongoing academic learning is provided through academic half days as well as research days and journal clubs. The next two years provide a senior residency experience where the residents are expected to provide leadership and direction to the cardiac surgery team and have a direct link with the attending staff. They are also expected to teach the junior house staff including the medical students and junior residents. A heavy emphasis is put on intraoperative clinical skills with increased responsibility through the rotations as the residents transit from being first assistants to primary operators with the staff’s help.

The final six months is the chief residency year in which the residents are expected to take on an administrative function in terms of organization of house staff, rounds and cases. They are expected to “run” the service. They have the opportunity to make independent decisions although attending staff are available at all times. They are expected to be able to skillfully perform all the technical skills as outlined in the Royal College goals and objectives and also be able to teach intraoperative skills to more junior residents. The Program provides ample opportunities to meet all the requirements as set forth by the specialty committee and function as independent surgeons once the residency training is complete.

As our program goes further into CBD, there will be less emphasis on the above and more on the specific assessments, increased emphasis on indirect and direct observations, timely feedback where resident progression and promotion is based on evidence.

Seminars

There are scheduled weekly rounds on all cardiac surgical rotations as well as an academic half day every Wednesday. The academic day is comprised of two parts: a technical wet lab which involves live animals, cadaveric specimens and technical simulation stations all focused on improving the surgical skills of all levels of residents; alternating with didactic sessions which involve both resident and attending-led seminars. Residents participate and present during monthly journal clubs and attend research journal clubs every 3 months. We also provide opportunities for all residents to attend national and international meetings and conferences and it is expected that every resident will present and publish their research on an annual basis.