Residency Curriculum Years 1,2
You will start off your first year with an Orthopaedic Boot Camp to give you all the skills you will need to work through all the services.
Boot Camp Details:
- details to follow shortly
PGY – 1
This year is part of an integrated core program in surgery, which involves the first two years of postgraduate training.
Rotations include:
- Orthopaedics
- Pediatric Orthopaedics
- Research
- Neurosurgery
- Emergency
- Anesthesia
- Rheumatology
- Geriatrics
Orthopaedics: During the first year the Orthopaedic rotation is meant to be an introduction to Orthopaedic Surgery at Dalhousie University. The first year residents are placed on a service, which is felt to be most compatible with their level of training.
Pediatric Orthopaedics: The first year rotation at the IWK is intended to supply the first year residents with a solid foundation in pediatric orthopaedic surgery and to help them learn the fundamentals of good casting techniques.
Research: The core lecture series in a mandatory component of the first year residents and is carried out during the summer months. Each resident is asked to meet with the resident research committee prior to the commencement of the rotation. Preparation of a presentation for the resident research day is strongly encouraged.
Neurosurgery: The neurosurgery rotation takes place at both the New Halifax Infirmary and the IWK Hospital. Residents gain exposure to the management of cervical fractures, elective spinal conditions, and head injuries during this rotation.
Emergency: The Emergency Department at the QEII hospital is a busy tertiary care emergency room in which wide exposure to all aspects of medicine can be gained.
Anesthesia: This rotation is usually done at the QEII hospital and the objective is to gain exposure to techniques of general anesthesia as well as regional anesthesia and resuscitation techniques.
Rheumatology: The rheumatology rotation in an ambulatory rotation at Dalhousie University where the resident is exposed to a wide array of arthritic conditions.
Geriatrics: On the geriatric service the Orthopaedic residents are given the duty of performing inpatient consultations for delirium and postoperative rehabilitation in elderly patients. The will also follow the patient on the inpatient service and will see many patient in the geriatric assessment unit.
PGY – 2
This year is part of an integrated core program in surgery, which involves the first two years of postgraduate training.
Rotations include:
- Vascular Surgery
- Research
- Plastics
- Surgical intensive care
- Orthopaedics
Vascular Surgery: The vascular service at Dalhousie University is a bus tertiary care service with three staff surgeons. The resident will attend clinics and surgery in the daytime in which great experience is obtained in assessing, treating, and operating on patients with a variety of vascular lesions. Nighttime call is another great learning experience in general surgery.
Research: During this block the resident is expected to meet with a supervisor in advance of the rotation and provide the supervisor with weekly updates on progress. This is the last research block and the project should be ready for presentation at research day and nearing final preparation for submission to journal.
Plastic Surgery: On the plastics service the resident will look after a wide variety of conditions but special emphasis are given to hand surgery and flap reconstruction of extremities.
Surgical Intensive Care: The intensive care unit at the QEII serves as the site for this rotation and is comprised of 13 beds. The resident will become very familiar with the care of very sick patients and the resuscitation of critically ill patients.
Orthopaedics: On the orthopaedic rotation the resident will be assign to one of the services described below. This is meant as a general guide to each service and is not meant to describe the objectives, which can be fond in a different section of this manual. In each case two surgeons are paired up together and for each of these services, the fracture clinic has been allocated to the same day of the week for optimal resident learning. Where there are some services that list two different subspecialties, each has been selected to complement the other and to fit into the work schedule efficiently.
