UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA
DEPARTMENT OF ANESTHESIA
RESIDENCY PROGRAM
EDUCATING TO CANMEDS 2005
PREAMBLE
The CanMEDS roles have been adopted by the Royal College and describe the scope of
skills that are required of a specialist in modern medical care. These have been modified
to suit each particular specialty and can be found in the Objectives of Training and
Specialty Training Requirements. This document outlines the departmental plan to assist
residents in acquiring all the skills required for them to function in all of the CanMEDS
roles. In interpreting this document, it is important to emphasize that learning is an active
process driven by the learner. Each individual learner has unique pre-existing strengths
and weakness, as well as his/her own learning style. It is the responsibility of each
learner to use whatever resources are available to meet the goals and objectives that will
allow her/him to function as an independent consultant in all of the roles. The
responsibility of the program is to provide resources that will enable each learner to meet
his/her educational goals. In order for each learner to meet the goals and objectives, a
range of resources must be made available, with varying content and style. This
document outlines the resources that residents will have at their disposal in the course of
this program. Several are described in more detail in the relevant sections of this manual.
SUMMARY OF CanMEDs ROLES
For each of the individual CanMEDS roles, the program activities that provide
opportunities for the resident to acquire the relevant skills are listed. In addition, because
feedback is a part of the learning process there is a brief listing of the methods that will
be used to evaluate the success of the learning plan. More detail regarding the evaluation
of the resident and the program can be found in the separate document “Evaluation at the
University of Manitoba”. More detail regarding the individual non-clinical learning
activities can be found in relevant sections of the resident manual.
Revised 05-Feb-16
CanMed Role
Learning Activities
Evaluation Method
Medical Expert
Clinical exposure
Seminar series
One-on-One mentoring as needed
Clinical Evaluations
Written Examinations
In-house oral exams
Communicator
Clinical exposure
Simulator
Clinical Evaluations
Oral Exams
Rounds Evaluations
Collaborator
Clinical exposure
Simulator
Clinical evaluations
Health Advocate
Clinical exposure
Project
Clinical Evaluations
Portfolio
Scholar
See “Teaching the Scholar Role”
TIPS
Grand Rounds, Talk Rounds, Journal Club
Seminars
Simulator
TIPs
Journal Club Evaluations
Sch Act Evaluations
Med Student evaluations
Rounds Evaluations
SA Log/portfolio
Manager
Senior resident rotation
Senior Evaluations
Sch Act Evaluations
Professional
Clinical exposure
Mentoring
Clinical Evaluations
SPECIFIC LEARNING RESOURCES
Self-directed Learning
The largest source of factual information in the education of a resident comes from
reading the relevant literature and texts. No matter how many teaching activities are
undertaken by faculty, the sheer volume of factual information will never be imparted
with out extensive reading. The Program and the University provide a library of current
texts in the main University Department as well as key texts in each of the teaching sites.
In addition, computer access to all current literature is provided through the University,
with access through on site terminals in each of the above sites, or from home. In
addition, most residents will prefer to own their own copies of the main textbooks.
Clinical Teaching
The mainstay of clinical learning in most residency programs is direct teaching around
clinical exposures. Residents work on a daily basis in a one-on-one relationship with
staff. Methodical approaches to planning, problem-solving, crisis management, and
overall clinical thinking are practiced here, discussed and improved upon. Both the
faculty and the residents have a role in maximizing this opportunity. The onus on the
resident is to take an active role in this experience, to engage in care and to discuss the
rationale for decisions they make and that staff mentors make. It is obviously a graded
relationship, with residents gradually taking on greater autonomy. This delicate balance
Revised 05-Feb-16
is further elucidated in the document “Expectations Regarding incremental Achivement of
Goals and Objectives” elsewhere in this manual.
Didactic seminars
There are two parallel seminar series in the program. Each consists of a combination of
staff-led sessions and group study sessions.
PGY1-2 Seminar Series
The overall goal of this weekly series is to provide a fundamental knowledge of the
process of anesthesia, and a solid ground work in clinical problem-solving and thought
processes. The staff-led sessions deal with basic issues in how to deliver anesthetic care.
The group study sessions in this series have a specific curriculum, which is provided as a
PGY1-2 Group Study Manual. This curriculum takes residents through a review of basic
physiology and anatomy, then through several areas of clinical problem-solving.
PGY2-5 Seminar Series
The overall goal of this weekly series is to provide a venue for the discussion of
controversies and evolving areas of anesthesia knowledge. The staff-led sessions run
over a two-year cycle, and cover areas across the breadth of anesthesia. Within these
sessions, faculty discuss the evolving knowledge, to give residents a contextually relevant
and current appreciation of that field of interest. The group-study sessions vary from
year to year. In each year, the residents derive a specific plan for their use of group study
time, which is approved by the Program Director. The plan must provide a means by
which residents can explore similarly controversial areas as a group.
Talk Rounds
These are clinical case discussions involving staff and residents. Details are available in
the Terms of Reference for Talk Rounds.
Grand Rounds
The University Sponsors weekly city-wide Grand Rounds. Details are available in the
Terms of Reference for Grand Rounds.
Journal Club
The Journal Club is an integral part of our scholarly program. Residents each must
critically appraise and present an article of interest. Details are available in the Terms of
Reference for Journal Club.
Visiting Professor Series
The Visiting Professor Series is supported as a joint venture between the University
Department and the Manitoba Anesthetists Society as a CME activity. Speakers are
invited based upon input from faculty. Details are available in the Terms of Reference
for the Visiting Professor Program.
Revised 05-Feb-16