Undergraduate Education
Clinical
• Continuity of care
Students have opportunity to assess patients with cardiac disease during new in-patient consultations or during pre-operative assessment in the pre-admission clinic. Students then present their history and physical findings to an attending surgeon, with a subsequent review of the pathophysiology of disease, treatment options, and indications for surgery. Students are encouraged to observe or participate in that patient's surgery and to follow the patient post-operatively.
• Intensive Care Medicine
A unique feature of our service is the potential for exposure to the critical care environment. All patients are initially cared for in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). This provides exposure to the complexity of hemodynamic physiology and the manipulation that follows cardiopulmonary bypass. Our CICU has 24 hour attending intensivist coverage and therefore allows for direct bedside interaction post-operatively. Indeed, we are the first CICU in Canada to have attending staff qualified in both Cardiac Surgery and Critical Care Medicine (Drs. Arora and Manji). Students are encouraged to examine their patients in the ICU and participate in bedside rounds.
Graduate Education (Residency)
The cardiac surgery residency training program is fully accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Our residents have a 100% rate of successful completion of training. Three trainees have also obtained either an MSc or PhD graduate degree during their residency.
Presently we have eight full-time surgeons who contribute expertise in extracorporeal mechanical support, cardiac transplantation, minimally invasive and robotic techniques, adult congenital surgery, endovascular stenting procedures, cardiac imaging, and critical care medicine. In addition, three of our surgeons have PhD degrees, while two have fully operational basic science laboratories.
Click here to navigate to the web pages of the Cardiac Surgery Residency Program.