What we offer
Under the leadership of Dr. Christine De Meulemeester, our Residency Program has continued to thrive.
Established in 1969 and fully accredited in 1971, our program boasts a 100% pass rate on the Royal College examinations for over 20 years.
Numerous initiatives (expansion of longitudinal clinics, hierarchical resident integration on-call and on CTU, OSCE, etc) have enriched the neurology residency program resulting in residents expressing high levels of satisfaction with their education. This has lead to recruitment of excellent Canadian Medical Graduates and International Medical Graduates over the past number of years.
In addition to traditional weekly neuroscience rounds, the Division of Neurology has gradually integrated a wide spectrum of subspecialty rounds: neurovascular, stroke research, neuromuscular, journal club, basic neuroscience.
The philosophy of our residency program has always been to offer a wide exposure to all aspects of clinical neurology as well as the basic sciences, which are so vital to understanding neurological disease. Our resident graduates are prepared to undertake further training through Fellowships and to ultimately pursue any career path they may choose- from pure clinical to pure research. We are proud of our resident graduates who have assumed both community Neurology and geographical full-time academic positions at prestigious hospitals and institutions throughout Canada and the US.
Twelve of our former residents are presently staff members in the Division including five GFT staff.
Program overview
Our five-year program includes one year of core Internal Medicine and subspecialties, as well as rotations in Neurosurgery, Psychiatry, Neuroradiology and Physical Medicine/Rehabilitation.
Approximately 2 ½ of the 3 ½ core Neurology years are clinical, including Neurology CTU, an inpatient consultation service, various subspecialty clinics, and the Pediatric Neurology service. Residents also attend their own monthly General Neurology Clinic longitudinally throughout the last three and a half years of the program.
The Neurological Sciences rotations include neuropathology, EMG, EEG and neuroscience research blocks. Six months of elective/selective time are also available, allowing residents to cater their education experiences according to their career goals. In the PGY 4 year, residents act as PBL tutors for the neuroscience undergraduate block.
As well, our Postgraduate Program takes pride in its dynamic didactic program, arranged in the form of academic half-days, case rounds and journal clubs.
Tuesday afternoons are protected time for residents to attend their academic half-day, where a rich 2-year interactive curriculum covering clinical neurology, neuroscience and core CanMeds competencies is presented by the University of Ottawa teaching staff and invited speakers from across Canada.
Over the summer months, the half-days are run by residents and focus on basic sciences and neuroanatomy.
On Wednesday morning case rounds, a patient from the ward is examined and the selected condition is discussed.
Friday morning grand rounds are comprised of one hour of neuroradiology case discussions, followed by a roster of highly academic presentations by local and invited speakers (neurology, neurosurgery, neuropathology, basic sciences, pediatric neurology).
Monthly clinical epidemiology journal clubs teach residents to critique the neurological literature, and less formal monthly subspecialty dinner journal clubs allow residents to keep abreast of current developments in neurology. Bi-weekly stroke journal club review latest publications and trials in vascular neurology.
Our residents are frequently evaluated: bi-annual Royal College-style written exam and OSCEs (including standardized patients), annual RITE exams and a monthly Preston session, where a senior resident undergoes a long-case exam, allowing assessment of examination techniques (STACER) and diagnostic formulation. Resident progress is closely monitored and the passing rate at fellowship exams for the past 20 years has been 100%.
If you require further information about our program, contact:
Janis Crawley
Neurology Residency Program Administrator
Email - [email protected]