Residents Section

Newsletter

RESIDENT’S CORNER – Spring 2008
The Newsletter of the CPS Residents Section

Message from the presidents

Welcome to the 2008 spring edition of Resident's Corner. We hope that everyone is enjoying the positive change in weather. As the trees start to blossom and the flowers start to bloom what better place to enjoy nature than Victoria, B.C.?  The CPS Annual Conference will be in Victoria, June 24 to 28. Residents receive discounted rates. The conference promises to be exciting, with a varied and well rounded program and exciting guest speakers. It is an excellent opportunity to meet fellow CPS residents and to network with paediatricians from across the country. We hope to see you all there.

Synchronized paediatric subspecialty application
RIn February we sent out a survey asking for your opinions on synchronizing fellowship applications. We received a good number of responses. They were analyzed and tallied and then discussed with the taskforce taking charge of this project. The taskforce has three resident members who have worked very hard to represent our opinions and interests. A draft of the proposed process has been completed and will be presented to the postgraduate deans' meeting in May. We hope to have more information after this meeting.

Program and liaison updates

University of Alberta
Erika Persson, Program Representative

Hello from Edmonton! This year has been another good year at the Stollery filled with many interesting and challenging cases alike. We welcomed six new R1s this year and they are a great addition to our program. Currently our 4th years are busy preparing for their RCPSC exams and we wish all of those writing across the country good luck! Our resident driven Medical Expert Academic Half-Day is continuing this year. We are in the process of evaluating the program and making any needed changes. We have also reevaluated our night float system and given the increasing acuity of patients being admitted, we have opted to give next year’s residents the choice of 1 or 2 week night float rotations. The Stollery continues to attract many excellent staff physicians and researchers and the resident group is appreciative of the new teaching opportunities that are now available. Changes for next year's program include the addition of a rural rotation in second year and continuation of our popular Yellowknife, NWT rotation in 3rd year.

The resident group here at the U of A is not just all work and no play - we had a very relaxing resident team building retreat in Banff including our U of A Paeds version of The Amazing Race - much fun and healthy competition was had by all. Evenings out for bowling and dinner and a movie continue and we were again excited to meet all of the medical students in the CaRMS match process in February at various nightspots in Edmonton. Overall 2007-2008 has been great and we wish everyone a fabulous spring and summer!

The paediatrics program in London continues to thrive. Major changes from last year include the introduction of CTU Windsor and some significant changes in staffing.  There continues to be small improvements to CTU as well as a new focus on resident evaluation and teaching.

The clinical teaching unit in Windsor was first trialed in April/May last year, and throughout this year has become an important part of our core curriculum.  The CTU consists of 1 consultant, 1 senior resident (R2 or R3), 1-3 junior residents (paediatrics and family medicine), and 2 clerks that take care of approximately 15 inpatients. The rotation includes managing the ward and the CTU outpatient clinic. For the CTU in London, a task force will deal with issues including strategies for more efficient morning rounds, having adequate clerk and resident teaching, and ensuring the best possible patient care.

The paediatric residents were sad to learn that we will be losing our two cardiologists and hospitalists.  However, it was recently announced that we will be filling these positions with two new cardiologists and two new hospitalists. In addition, we will soon have a paediatric dermatologist on staff.

We continue to work towards adjusting our curriculum for accreditation next year.  As part of this there are new standards being implemented for resident evaluation, including focusing on observed histories and physicals for each rotation.  In addition to complying with the new accreditation standards, this should help to ensure one-on-one resident level teaching from consultants.  The upcoming year will also include a focus on residents as teachers, with the option of a rotation that will focus on clerk and resident teaching and becoming a better teacher overall.

Overall, some exciting changes have been made that when added to a strong foundation, should continue to allow London’s paediatric program to succeed.  We look forward to another successful year!

Northern Ontario School of Medicine
Darcy Scott, Program Representative

Darcy, NOSM rep, coming to you from the shores of Lake Nipissing while on home call in North Bay.

The past year has been good to the CHEO/NOSM program. We had a retreat in Thunder Bay in the fall that brought together the two halves of all of the subspecialty NOSM programs (Ottawa/North-East with the McMaster/North West). We got a chance to see the brand new hospital in Thunder Bay as well as meet residents from both programs and from other specialties as well. It is always nice to know the other residents that are around when you show up in a new town every few months. The program itself continues to grow, with the first CHEO North-Eastern stream grad now working as staff paediatrician in North Bay and three new residents coming in for next year. Program administration is set to change in the upcoming year as it will soon be transferred over from CHEO and Ottawa to the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. The program isn't set to change at all, but it will become a NOSM program affiliated with CHEO instead of a CHEO program affiliated with NOSM – I am sure it will make a difference to somebody. We remain a part of the fabulous CHEO residency group, and look forward to the transition to a night float system for senior call for the upcoming academic year. With the long Ottawa winter that never seems to end, I am looking forward to being in sunny Victoria in June for the CPS conference, but wonder why we couldn't have moved it just a few months earlier this year.

University of Toronto
Dina Kulik, Program Representative

We’ve had a busy and exciting year at Sick Kids with lots of activities and action. The new Kidcom computer system is almost up and running and is in the last stages of testing. Some residents are piloting it and have some great feedback. Procedural skills workshops continue to go well in the emergency room as do the academic half days and the well organized mock codes. Our yearly resident-run holiday rounds of skits and entertainment was a hit as always and we continue to participate in many PAIRO activities. Resident Awareness Day in March was a huge success and parents learned about what paediatric residents do and who we are.

Our residents are so proud of the program that they nominated it for the PAIRO Residency Program Excellence Award, and it won! Many residents continue to travel abroad for international electives. These experiences enrich our practices back in Canada. We hope we touch the lives of all the children we treat.  Upcoming events include resident retreats in June and July and additional PAIRO activities.

McGill University
Patricia Li, Program Representative

This has been yet another great year of hard work and caring for kids by the residents of McGill paediatrics!  We sought to balance the clinical service and didactic learning in our program by increasing our protected teaching from a few hours to an entire afternoon.  After surveying all the paediatrics programs across the country, we concluded that this has become an important standard.  Although it is still a work in progress, we appreciate the support of our staff in pursuing this protected activity.  We continue to utilize an online web-based automated call scheduler and will be presenting the data for our experience at the CPS Annual Conference.  We look forward to meeting up with everyone in Victoria! 

McMaster University
Janice Tijssen, Program Representative

This year we have had a greater number of junior residents than ever before and therefore have been able to integrate a junior back-up call system. All residents are now expected to participate in program development by taking on an administrative role. This has led to rotation-specific improvements, mostly in the education to service aspect of rotations. An end-of-rotation quiz will soon be instituted in all rotations that will cover the Medical Expert objectives for each rotation. Also coming this summer will be a portfolio to be kept by every resident.  The goal is to assemble and keep track of all our clinical experiences and evaluations in CanMEDs format, as will be expected from us after we complete residency. Our advocacy projects continue to grow, specifically our SISO project, a bi-weekly refugee health clinic run by residents and faculty, and Ask Dr Mac, monthly workshops prepared and delivered by residents with teens under the Catholic Children’s Aid Society (CCAS) care and local inner city High School students on topics such sexual health, substance use, and mental health. More than 75% of our residents are involved in one or both of these projects. 

International Child Health Section
Gillian Morant, Section Liaison

This June, the International Child Health (ICH) Section will be celebrating its 10th anniversary! This means ten years of involvement in, and raising awareness of, the plight of children all around the world. This year the ICH Section has spearheaded the development of a curriculum in global health issues for medical students and residents. The section also provides a networking forum for those with an interest in international heath. Several of its members are actively involved in overseas projects and are more than willing to share advice and opportunities with those hoping to complete international electives. The ICH Section also awards four annual scholarships, the Don and Elizabeth Hillman International Child Health Grants, for paediatric residents who intend to undertake electives in a developing country. For more information, see:
http://www.cps.ca/ENGLISH/Awards&Grants/InternationalGrant.htm.

Membership in to the ICH Section is free for residents. I encourage you all to join by sending an e-mail to education@cps.ca. Also, if you are going to Victoria this year, you should attend the ICH Section symposium on scaling up projects of value on June 26, as well as the 10th anniversary celebratory dinner that night. Check out the conference program for details. See you there!

Hospital Paediatrics Section
Thea Chibuk and Heather Leonard, Co-Liaisons

The section has already had two “Hot Topics” forums via e-mail on “Intravenous Fluids for Hospitalized Children” in December and “Diagnosis and Management of Urinary Tract Infections” in February – a great opportunity to share information and learn. If you are interested in participating, please contact us to be added to the e-mail invite.

The section has also hosted widely viewed tele-health sessions on “Management of Empyema in the Paediatric Patient”, “Tracheostomies: Indications, Infections and Emergency Management Issues”, “The Past, Present and Future of Paediatric Hospital Medicine”, and “Analysis of the Urinalysis and Sub-topic: H.U.S: A Case Based Approach”.  Keep in touch so as not to miss future sessions.

We welcome resident members!

American Academy of Pediatrics Update
Amy Jost, Vice Chair, AAP Section on Residents

We had a wonderful record breaking attendance at the Annual Resident Section Assembly at the NCE in October. Over 300 residents attended. The executive committee met over the weekend and discussed many issues of interest to the Residents Section.
       
The Resident Section Executive Committee also met in February in chilly Chicago for our annual long range planning meeting. Several members of the executive committee stayed for a 2-day resident planning day with AAP staff to develop the section’s strategic plan for the upcoming year. The key issues are:       

1. Pedialink redesign – There is a committee at the academy working to improve the new Pedialink Resident Center website – to be released around the time of the NCE in October.
2. Fellowship application timeline – We are working with the newly formed Council on Pediatric Subspecialties (COPS) to standardize the application process for residents who are interested in applying for fellowship.
3. Annual advocacy campaign – This year’s focus is mental health. The focus for next year will be tobacco.
4. Loan Deferment Legislation – A recent act of congress eliminated the opportunity for economic hardship deferment. This is an issue the AAP and Resident Section are taking very seriously.

        
Finally, several members of the Resident Section Executive Committee recently attended the Annual Leadership Forum in March. At this meeting, resolutions submitted by various committees, chapters, sections, and councils are discussed with the leadership (section chairs, chapter presidents, district chairs, etc) of the Academy in a large forum. You can see all of the resolutions that were discussed at the ALF by visiting the Member Center under ALF (www.aap.org/moc/indexEntry.cfm).

Posted: May 2008