Training Sites

Residents in this program will have a number of opportunities unique to Northern Ontario.  While the majority of the training takes place in Sudbury, the opportunity to have clinical experiences in various centers across the North, from small rural hospitals to other major centers such as Thunder Bay, provides a unique chance to understand how anesthesia is provided outside of the major teaching center, and exposure to potential career opportunities.

Core academic learning experiences take place at hospital sites throughout Northern Ontario. In addition to the communities listed below, NOSM University has affiliations with 22 hospitals where additional experiences may be sought, including, but not limited to Dryden District Health Centre, Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora, Meno-Ya-Win Health Centre in Sioux Lookout, Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare, Riverside Healthcare Facilities Inc. in Fort Frances, St. Joseph’s Care Group, Temiskaming Hospital, Timmins and District Hospital, and Notre Dame Hospital in Hearst, which allows for a wide variety of unique learning opportunities.

Sudbury
Health Sciences North (HSN)

Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC)

North Bay
North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC)

Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Area Hospital (SAH)

Anesthesiology Services

The Departments of Anesthesiology offer a number of services throughout their respective hospitals. The Anesthesiologists are constantly challenged to update their practices and offer different services which align with the changes in the nature of medicine and overall healthcare.

Operating Rooms/PACU
Health Sciences North (HSN) site has provided Royal College training in anesthesia for over 10 years. It is well known to be an outstanding clinical rotation. The service to education ratio is strongly in favour of education and the clinical faculty members routinely receive outstanding evaluations.

We offer a balance of Royal College trained anesthesiologists and Family Practice Anesthesiologist with a low learner to staff ratio. This affords learners a tremendous opportunity to enhance their education.

Preoperative Assessment Clinics
Residents will be regularly scheduled in the pre-anesthetic clinic as they progress through the residency. There are a number of urgent inpatient consults that are handled on call and the residents will be the first to assess these patients.

Obstetrical Service
HSN and SAH have active obstetrical services. Residents often are called upon to place labor epidurals during the day and while on call. There is a staff person assigned to cover obstetrics 24 hours a day with an OB person during the daytime and the first call anesthesiologist after hours. We are involved in operative deliveries, planning of high-risk deliveries and emergencies.

Acute Pain Service (APS)
At HSN, residents have to opportunity to be a part of the Acute Pain Service team for select days during the course of their training.  Currently, our service follows up on patients having received intrathecal narcotics, single shot, or continuous nerve blocks and manages patients with an epidural and patient control analgesia pumps.

At SAH residents will be given the opportunity to follow their own patients who receive blocks, PCA, or epidural through their post-operative course.

Regional Anesthesia
The formal block room at HSN helps to facilitate resident exposure to a wide range of regional anesthetic techniques including upper limb, lower limb, and truncal blocks, single-shot peripheral nerve blocks, and continuous peripheral nerve catheters.

Chronic Pain Program
HSN currently has 2 anesthesiologists who are also fellowship-trained chronic pain specialists.  A multi-disciplinary chronic pain clinic has recently opened its doors in Sudbury while TBRHSC has a long-standing interventional and multidisciplinary chronic pain program in place.

Arrest and Trauma Service
The main affiliated hospitals of NOSM University have highly active anesthesia departments and busy emergency practices. HSN is a major trauma referral center. Residents will do regular call shifts and also will be actively sought during any emergencies during daytime hours to involve them as much as possible.

At SAH the anesthesia resident is encouraged to attend all traumas and code blue situations whenever they occur and are felt to be the most rewarding educational experience available at the time so long as it doesn’t compromise the care of any patient the resident is currently managing.

Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Both HSN and TBRHSC have tertiary ICUs with longstanding clinical rotations. The HSN rotation is with an ICU group in a closed 29 bed Cardiac/Medical/Surgical ICU. There are a low number of learners to faculty (usually 1-2 learners at a time) that facilitates close supervision and individualized teaching.

Echocardiography
Echocardiography is becoming an increasingly important part of anesthesia practice. Already essential in Cardiac anesthesia, it is becoming more readily available in other parts of anesthesia practice. Our residents all receive some basic training in transesophageal echocardiography during their cardiac rotations. In addition, we will also likely be able to provide a focused transthoracic echocardiography course. Residents are encouraged to incorporate these skills into their practice on a regular basis.