June 2007

Welcome!  

The upcoming CPS Annual Conference is always an exciting time for many residents. This particular conference is not only an opportunity for us to learn about the cutting-edge paediatric research emerging from Canadian centres, but also to refine our knowledge on a wide array of topics of particular interest, make contacts and develop new friendships. Whether your purpose is solely academic or to rub shoulders with great minds, the experience will likely be memorable and one you’ll want to repeat.  

This edition of the Residents’ Corner reflects our own anticipation of this conference, however, read on to also find updates on the section activities and site reports.  

Resident section meeting
We look forward to seeing you at our section meeting on Saturday morning June 30, 2007 from 0830-1030. We hope to give you a formal update on all of our activities over the past year as well as our plans for the future. Site representatives will also have the chance to report on their programs/activities, as well as exchange ideas. Elections will also be held for the position of resident section vice-president.  

Advocacy dinner
This year’s Resident Advocacy Dinner will be held on Friday June 29, 2007 . The dinner’s guest speaker will be Dr. Gilles Julien, one of Montreal ’s most beloved and innovative social paediatricians. Advocacy is truly the hallmark of Dr. Julien’s career, devoting much of his efforts to advance the rights and the quality of health care of kids and their families in some of Montreal ’s poorest communities. After a presentation of the project accomplished by last year’s winner, the winner of this year’ advocacy grant will be introduced. An after-dinner party will follow in true Montreal style!  

Resident hosted session
This year the Residents Section is hosting a two topic session on Thursday, June 28 from 1600-1730. Dr. JoAnna Leyenaar, who recently completed her paediatric residency, will be speaking about her experiences coordinating and working in a large paediatric HIV treatment clinic in Lesotho . Dr. Lindsay Crowshoe will be giving the second talk describing the development of Aboriginal medical education at the University of Calgary . Hopefully you can make it to hear these two interesting speakers.        

CPS elective database now online
The CPS paediatric elective database is now available. The electives are geared toward paediatric residents and include both subspecialty and general paediatric electives. We hope to include international electives in the near future. You can contribute new electives via a submission form available on the website. The database can be accessed in the member centre at:  http://www.cps.ca/English/Membership/MemberOnly/Sections/Residents/ElectiveSubmission.htm (you will need your CPS username and password). Please let us know if you have any suggestions/comments.

LIAISON AND SITE REPORTS

Heather Davis
Memorial University of Newfoundland  

Hello from St. John’s, where it is finally Spring! We will soon be losing three great senior residents and welcoming in six new ones, evening out the numbers across all four years. Overall we are a pretty happy group. A few months ago we were able to raise over $300 for a local family in need and made a big donation of food and toys to the Salvation Army, by gathering donations at our Christmas Rounds.  

The University has recently moved to a new online system for evaluations, which is working well. We finally have new structure and guidelines for research. Residents have instituted weekly “Senior Resident Teaching,” where a team senior presents a common paediatric topic or new clinical practice guideline to junior residents and clerks. We are also thrilled to have formal monthly multidisciplinary mock codes.  

Ongoing issues here remain improvements to academic teaching scheduling and frustrations with not having a “hospitalist” system for inpatient wards. We also await word on possible changes to exam timing and standardization of fellowship applications.

Patricia Li
McGill University

McGill paediatrics tests out online call schedule maker

Bonjour à tous! This year, the McGill paediatrics programme has been fortunate once again to have bright, enthusiastic, and fun individuals comprising its group of residents.  As always, we are continually evaluating our curriculum and trying to effect positive change. One such change involves the role of the chief residents. Our chiefs have always been fourth year fellows in any subspecialty program. In the past, the government funded an extra 6 months to allow time for these fellows to perform their duties as chiefs as well as train in their respective fellowships. Since last year, these additional 6 months have been taken away. As such, our chiefs have been greatly challenged with balancing their time to fulfill both academic and administrative duties. It has been particularly difficult to create and maintain the call schedule. Therefore, this upcoming year, we will be trying out a computer-based online call schedule builder with the company CHYMA. This will hopefully take away some of the time spent on making the call schedule.   

In other news, a new collective agreement was reached between the Quebec government and the FMRQ (Fédération des médecins residents du Québec). Highlights of the agreement include a small monthly stipend for in-house calls, provision of an extra meal during overnight calls and clarification of rules for pregnant residents on call. Details can be found on the FMRQ website (www.fmrq.qc.ca). We look forward to meeting our colleagues at this year’s CPS Annual Conference in Montreal !

Julie-Maude Racette
Université de Sherbrooke 

News from Sherbrooke
There have been several changes and additions to our program in recent months. First, on the academic side, the program accreditation has now been increased to 54 months, i.e. six months more in our setting.  Second, the inter-hospital transportation program is increasingly taking shape. Because the paediatrics department of CHUS serves a paediatric population spread over a fairly large territory, our program now allows us to take part in transportation by ambulance for patients requiring intensive, paediatric or neonatal care. In coming weeks we will have a day of training in this area.  

Finally, on a lighter note, an innovative project has been developed in Sherbrooke in recent months, thanks to the creativity of Marie-Claude Roy, resident 5. The goal is to improve the wellness of paediatric residents and promote healthy lifestyles. Twice a week, during 30-minute periods included in our work schedule, we do light physical conditioning and relaxation, which enhances our effectiveness back on the care units. We expect the upcoming year to bring several more changes to the paediatrics department of CHUS.  

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That’s all for now.  We look forward to seeing many of you in Montreal this June!  

Posted June 2007