Fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine
Dr. David Creery MD, FRCPC
Medical Director, PICU
Dr. Kusum Menon MD, FRCPC, MSc
Dr. Hilary Writer MD, FRCPC, MSc
Dr. Sonny Dhanani MD, FRCPC
Introduction
The University of Ottawa Program in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine is a two year program with the possibility of a third year for further research or academic pursuits. The fellowship is open to trainees who have satisfactorily completed at least 3 core years in pediatrics, or who have certification in general surgery, emergency medicine, anesthesia or internal medicine and sufficient pediatric experience.
The program is located primarily at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) in Ottawa. CHEO is a tertiary care teaching centre which serves a population of approximately 1.5 million people. Virtually all pediatric medical and surgical subspecialties are available at CHEO which enhances the clinical and academic environment for the PICU fellow. The PICU is a 10 bed unit with 4 isolation rooms and receives approximately 600 admissions per year. Construction is currently underway for a new state of the art Unit which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2003.
Structure
The fellowship is structured as follows. The first year is comprised of 6 blocks in the PICU (no more than two in a row) and one block of anesthesia. The time in the PICU is spent as junior fellow with resident doing in house call and becoming comfortable with the knowledge and procedures necessary to become a pediatric intensivist. The remainder of the first year is elective time.
The second year of the fellowship is comprised of 6 more blocks in the PICU and one compulsory block of adult PICU. The clinical time in the PICU is spent as a junior attending with the resident running rounds three times per week and taking call from home. The remainder of their time is spent doing electives in consultation with the program director. Electives in the past have included PICU in Toronto or Montreal, cardiology, NICU, further time in anesthesia and transport.
In the PICU, residents are exposed to a wide variety of clinical cases including patients on ECMO, CVVH and post cardiac surgery. In addition, we also have a well-established Baffin Island Transport Program with which the residents have the opportunity to stabilize and transport patients from Baffin Island. There is also a pediatric cardiac surgery outreach program run by one of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgeons at CHEO whereby a team consisting of two intensivists (plus or minus a fellow), a cardiac surgeon, a pediatric anesthetist and a perfusionist go to Trinidad for a week to perform cardiac surgeries on children there.
Research
The PICU has four pediatric intensivists, three of who come from a pediatric background and one of whom did anesthesia as a base specialty. Each of the four faculty trained at a different institution (Montreal, Toronto, London and Vancouver), which has resulted in a rich and diverse academic environment for trainees. In addition, the PICU has a strong research program with the faculty having a wide variety of research interests.
Dr David Creery has an MSc in immunology and his research interests lie in the area of cytokine and co-stimulatory molecules and in the clinical arena in Northern Children’s Health.
In addition to the PICU faculty there are numerous opportunities for research projects and collaboration in both clinical and basic science areas via the CHEO Research Institute.
Teaching
There is a weekly academic seminar series which is specifically designed for the fellows and encompasses a combination of basic physiology and clinical topics and for which they have protected time. Fellows are also given protected time to attend the Adult ICU lectures series. Fellows in PICU are also welcome to attend any sessions of the Pediatric Academic Half Day that feel are relevant to them. In addition, the fellows are given time to attend at least one conference per year. Every effort is also made to send fellows for update courses.
Contact
For further information or to apply please contact Dr. Hilary Writer, Pediatric Critical Care Program Director at:
Tel: 613-737-7600 ext. 2887
e-mail: hwriter@cheo.on.ca
Address:
Pediatric Critical Care Unit
401 Smyth Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1H 8L1