The Ottawa Hospital is the major tertiary centre for the nation’s capital and the primary teaching centre for the University of Ottawa. It is home to the largest non-military simulation centre in North America. The Regional Anesthesia Fellowship program is well established and nationally recognized. Our subspecialty core group has received Regional Anesthesia Fellowship training from a variety of locations: Brigham and Women's, Harvard University, Duke University, The Monash University in Australia, The Virginia Mason Center in Seattle, The University of Toronto, University of Alberta and locally at the University of Ottawa. Our members have been honoured with teaching awards for outstanding contributions to resident, fellow and medical student teaching and administration in Regional Anesthesia. Former graduates of our fellowship training program have been instrumental in the development of their own Regional Anesthesia training in their home base both nationally and internationally.
Two one-year fellowship positions are open for each academic year that spans from July 1 to June 30. The fellows spend 6-month rotations at The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic and General campuses. This program focuses on a variety of orthopedic, breast, general surgery, gynecological, plastics and vascular surgeries, as well as pain management for trauma. A significant portion of the training is also on acute pain management, where fellows learn to manage this vital service.
The Riverside Campus is the site of all ambulatory surgery and also the base site for our outpatient ambulatory catheter program. Use of ultrasound and continuous catheter techniques in Regional Anesthesia are fully integrated into our fellowship training programs.
Fellows are expected to take an active role in our education programs including our competency-based residency program; to pursue at least one research project; and to publish at least one article during the term of the fellowship. Our faculty collaborate with many other centres around the world including University of Toronto, University of Melbourne, Cork University, and the University of Dundee, to name a few.
Former Fellows graduating from our program have established Regional Anesthesia programs in Saudi Arabia and Singapore. In Canada, Fellows are leading regional programs in Halifax, Montreal, Saskatoon and Vancouver.
"The Staff at TOH were very involved and proactive in teaching. At the same time they would try to create additional opportunities for RA exposure. Working at 3 different campuses offered a variety of opportunities and challenges, from major trauma cases at the Civic Campus to ambulatory surgery at the Riverside Campus and finally elective cancer surgery at the General Campus. There was also ample opportunity for peripheral nerve catheter insertion for elective orthopaedic surgery at all of the campuses. Anesthetic assistants are experienced, provide great support and help in the block room and in the theatre. Everybody is keen on conducting research and will help with your project. Despite all of this there is also another perk of this fellowship and that is no night on-calls, which is difficult to beat.
Ottawa is a great city with a plethora of restaurants, bars and entertainment. It’s located close to a few small skiing areas and 2 hours from Mont Tremblant, which will definitely satisfy your skiing and snowboarding needs. It's also well situated geographically for travel to Toronto and Montreal for a weekend getaway.
Overall, the TOH Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine Fellowship was a great experience. I feel this fellowship prepared me well to start my journey as a regional anesthesia specialist." From past fellow alum.