Grand Rounds Policy (October 4, 2010)
Background
Preparing for and presenting Grand Rounds provides residents with excellent training in the
CanMEDS Scholar, Collaborator and Communicator roles. In the Department of Psychiatry, it has
been a formal expectation that residents present Grand Rounds once every academic year,
however, there has been little direction about how to operationalize this expectation and
ensure that Grand Rounds presentations are optimally used to teach and evaluate resident
performance in this important activity. The following policy aims to provide more direction to
the Program and to Site Coordinators regarding Grand Rounds.
1) Grand Rounds must be presented by each PGY-2 to PGY-5 resident in the Department of
Psychiatry once per academic year. Residents who cannot present Grand Rounds due to
extenuating circumstances must contact the Program Director in order to be released
from this responsibility. Usually a physician’s letter will be required. In most cases, the
resident must make up for the missed Grand Rounds by presenting Grand Rounds twice
during the following academic year.
2) Residents must not duplicate Grand Rounds from year to year although they are
permitted to choose similar topics each year. Residents will sometimes be invited to
present previous Grand Rounds at other sites but these presentations cannot count
towards the requirement for a new Grand Rounds presentation each academic year.
3) It is the joint responsibility of each Postgraduate Site Coordinator and each resident
themself to ensure each PGY-2 to PGY-5 resident present a Grand Rounds once per
academic year. Depending on the site, the chief resident and the grand rounds site
coordinator may also play a role. Residents who wish to be released from presenting
during the first 6-month block, must confirm to the Postgraduate Site Coordinator with
written documentation that they are booked into the Grand Rounds schedule of their
next 6 month block. This confirmation must be obtained prior to August 1 of the
academic year. Residents must present Grand Rounds at the site where they are doing
their current core rotations or senior selective rotation.
4) Postgraduate Site Coordinators in consultation with the Program Director may
sometimes allow residents to fulfill their Grand Rounds responsibility by presenting at
large, multi-disciplinary rounds that are evaluated by the audience. Residents presenting
in these alternate venues may not be eligible for best Resident Grand Rounds Awards
for their site. This decision will be at the discretion of the local Postgraduate Site
Coordinator and Psychiatrist-in-Chief.
5) Postgraduate Site Coordinators should assist residents presenting Grand Rounds by
making available mentors to help the resident choose an appropriate topic and review
the resident’s slides prior to the presentation. Residents are strongly encouraged to
work with a Grand Rounds mentor. Whether or not the resident’s mentor is their
primary supervisor, the resident’s primary supervisor should attend the resident’s Grand
Rounds presentation.
6) Residents who fail to present Grand Rounds (and who have not been released from this
academic expectation) or who duplicate previous Grand Rounds will be viewed as
having engaged in a breach of professional behavior.
7) Residents Grand Rounds presentations must be forwarded by the Postgraduate Site
Coordinator/Education Assistant to the Postgraduate Education Office for filing in the
resident’s file as part of their Grand Rounds portfolio. In addition, the summary sheet of
the evaluation of the resident’s Grand Rounds must also be forwarded to the
Postgraduate Education Office for filing in the resident’s file.
8) Residents are required to present their Grand Rounds individually. There are two
possible exceptions to this rule: a) the presentation of a QI project with their
collaborators or b) the presentation of an interdisciplinary/interprofessional rounds
where the contributions of the other disciplines are integral to the presentation. Under
these two conditions, the site coordinator in consultation with the Program Director
may allow a resident to deliver their Grand Rounds with a small number of copresenters. In both cases the resident must have a primary role for organization and
presentation.
9) QI projects are highly valued by the Department. However, there are other venues to
present these projects. In general, a QI project is not suitable as a Grand Rounds
presentation. A QI project may only be presented at Grand Rounds if there is some
additional scholarly content that raises the academic value of the project. This may
include but is not limited to literature reviews, or research into theoretical constructs.
Site Coordinators in consultation with the head of the QI projects and the Program
Director would make this determination.
Updated March 3, 2014