Goals and Objectives | Family Medicine | School of Medicine

Postgraduate Education is a core activity of the Department of Family Medicine. Our current program has a special interest in rural and remote medicine and communities in these regions have articulated the need for family physicians with enhanced skills training in anesthesia. In response to community needs, the Queen's University Department of Family Medicine has articulated the following goals for the Family Medicine Anesthesia program:

To develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to function competently and confidently as a family physician anesthetist in a community hospital.
To master the objectives of the program in a thorough manner and with excellence such that Queen's University is prepared to attest to the competence of its Family Medicine Anesthesia graduates.
To ensure that graduates of our program are prepared to accept leadership roles in their communities in regard to operating room procedure, administration of anesthetics, quality assurance, and provision of resuscitative services in other areas of a community hospital.

OBJECTIVES AND LEARNING RESOURCES - FAMILY MEDICINE ANESTHESIA PROGRAM

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the Family Medicine Anesthesia Program are based on the CanMEDS Physician Competency Framework. This entails the physician integrating the following roles in becoming and functioning as a Medical Expert, Professional, Communicator, Collaborator, Manager, Health Advocate and Scholar. A full description of this framework can be found here.

The objectives of the Family Medicine Anesthesia Program and each of its components, the evaluation systems, and general program organization are all based on the CanMEDS principles. The College of Family Physicians of Canada has developed standards for the accreditation of Family Practice Anesthesia training programs. In 2011 the Queen's program was reviewed by the College and received a full approval status, having met all of the standards with flying colours!

RESOURCES

The resources utilized to meet these objectives are extensive. The primary resource is the teaching faculty of the Department of Anesthesiology at Queen's University. The faculty will supervise the resident in their clinical work at both the Kingston General Hospital and the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston. It should be noted that while at the Hotel Dieu Hospital in Kingston, the resident will have an opportunity to work with family physician anesthetists who are adjunct members of the department and play an important role in the provision of service at that hospital.

The other significant resource is faculty in the Department of Family Medicine. The Department of Family Medicine will remain "home base" for the residents during the PGY3 year. Residents are encouraged to attend departmental rounds or other educational activities that they feel may be of interest. The Program Director for the Family Medicine Anesthesia Program has a joint appointment in both the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Anesthesia. The Family Medicine Anesthesia Program Director is directly responsible for program organization, resident selection and resident evaluation.

All residents are expected to do one block of a Family Medicine Anesthesia rotation in the community with a family physician that still maintains a Family Practice and also practices Anesthesia. This will ideally be organized towards the end of the program to ensure an opportunity to "brush-up" on Family Medicine skills prior to completion of the program.

Other training opportunities include an ICU rotation at the Kingston General Hospital or Lakeridge Health in Oshawa, a Pediatric rotation at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, an anesthesia rotation in Peterborough, as well as experience in pre-op clinics and acute pain management services. All residents have acces to the computer systems in the Department of Anesthesia and the Department of Family Medicine.

Good library resources are available. All Family Medicine Anesthesia residents will be appointed a mentor from the Department of Family Medicine who can be called upon to act as an advocate at any time. Each resident receives $800 to be used for educational purposes during the year. All other University resources that support residents are available to trainees in the Enhanced Skills Program.

Each resident is expected to attend and participate in the Department of Anesthesia grand rounds. Family Medicine Anesthesia residents are also expected to attend the "core teaching program" for anesthesia residents on Wednesday afternoons when the topics are appropriate to Family Medicine Anesthesia.

In cooperation with other family physician anesthetists in the region, there will be learning opportunities and journal clubs specifically designed to address issues pertinent to Family Practice Anesthesia.

EVALUATIONS FAMILY MEDICINE ANESTHESIA PROGRAM

Because the Family Medicine Anesthesia trainee will often be working with a number of different anesthetists while on rotation in Kingston, a daily evaluation form has been developed. The resident is encouraged to supply this form to the faculty member they are working with each day. These will then be collected in the Department of Anesthesia and a summative evaluation will be completed. Summative evaluations will then be reviewed in a meeting between the Family Medicine Anesthesia Program Director and the resident on a quarterly basis. For rotations outside of Kingston a monthly evaluation form will be used.

There will be formal testing of knowledge base utilizing the AKT: the Anesthesia Knowledge Test. This test will be administered at the beginning and end of the summer and at 6 months. Although it is formative in nature, it is expected that residents achieve a satisfactory performance on these examinations since there is no formal written evaluation at the end of the year.

It will also help the resident and Program Director to gauge the trainee's progress in the essential knowledge necessary for the safe practice of anesthesia.