department of anesthesiology - university of ottawa · describe the narcotic effects of the plant...

residency pro-grams at Univer-sity of Ottawa did not fare as well, resulting in pro-bational approval or even the in-tent to withdraw.

On March 28 – 31, there was an accreditation visit of our Medical School. Our De-

partment UGME Director, Nikhil

Rastogi; Lucie Filteau as the freshly retired UGME Director; and Julie Ghatalia as the UGME Assistant, were busy getting some of the reports ready and meeting with the reviewers as a group. Stephane Legault, the lead person at Monfort as the Franco-phone stream was also there and meeting with the reviewers. It is important to also point out that our residents have played an important role in teaching medi-cal students. The Faculty of Medi-cine provides RATS (Residents as Teachers) course to teach resi-dents as teachers for medical students, and provides the START (Set-up, Teaching Mo-ment, Appraise, Review/Rehearse/Role Model and Teach) cards.

(continued on page 17)

It is always worth-while to reiterate the appointment of new people since the last Newsletter. De-siree Persaud is now our Program Director Desig-nate to assume her new role on July 1st. Nikhil Rastogi is now our UGME Director, replacing Lucie Filteau. Don Miller is our new Site Chief at the General, starting March 2010. Greg Bryson is our new TOH Director of Research, helping Howard Nathan who is continuing as the Vice-Chair of Research. Dermot Doherty from CHEO has taken up the organiz-ing of our annual Winerlude Symposium. The search process for the Site Chiefs at the Civic and at the Riverside Campus has come to an end and Dave Ewing and Robert MacNeil have been named as their successors.

During Winterlude this year, we organized (as an additional paral-lel event) the celebration of the 40th anniversary of our Residency Program. Jocelyne McKenna and Geraint Lewis did all the organiz-ing for that celebration. Jack Kitts as an alumnus of our Program spoke of our great successes and our future as national leaders.

Gary Johnson, as the founding Program Director spoke at the event as well. Of course, he spoke for 50 minutes instead of 5, as requested. The event was a great success and the attendance at the Winterlude Symposium was a record high. I wish to thank Jocelyne, Geraint, and most definitely, Dermot Do-herty, for all the hard work. Any-one who knows our Program of course also knows that the real “mother” behind all these events is Lynne McHardy. Thank you, Lynne.

I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the education team and Linda Wynne for successfully bringing our Residency Program through the Royal College Ac-creditation. The official report just came in and speaks very highly of our program. It is unfor-tunate that some of the other

Left to Right: J. Earl Wynands, Keynote Speaker Linda Duxbury and Homer Yang at Winterlude

Chairman’s Report I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Chairman’s Report

1

Program Direc-tor’s Report

2

Trivia 3

Chief Resident’s Corner

4

Undergrad Report

5

Holiday Brunch & CHEO News

6

Site Chief Memo-ries

7

Events, Research,

Awards

8

Alumni News &

Changes

9

Music Day 10

Winterlude

Report

12

Announcements 14

AA Corner, Re-

cent Events

16

A Word from the

Editor & Admin.

Corner

18

40th Anniversary

Report

13

U N I V E R S I T Y O F

O T T A W A

Department of Anesthesiology

Winter/Spring Newsletter S P R I N G 2 0 1 0 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

P A G E 2

“Thanks again to

everyone who has

made this such a

pleasurable and

educational

experience for

me”

Linda Wynne

Program Director’s Report

This will be my last newsletter submission as Program Director. It’s been a great 5 years which I’ve thor-oughly enjoyed. The memories will be almost always good, occasionally amusing. I think I grew into the job OK. Certainly, when I started I knew too little - al-most my first act as PD had all the PGY5s that year threatening to go on strike!!!! That hasn’t happened since, so I guess I’m capable of learning from my mis-takes!

It’s a good time to step down. The first draft of the National Curriculum is completed. Accreditation is behind us. The RCPSC Accreditation is a good, if somewhat nerve-racking process. It’s a 6-year cycle with Internal reviews every 2 years to check things are on track leading up to the real thing. Several ex-ternal accreditors descended on Ottawa and every postgraduate program was examined from every direction - Clinical, Research & Education. We were even given instructions on what snacks/food to pro-vide...Anesthesia is one of the bigger programs now and had a 2 day accreditation process. Every resident was interviewed (we even skyped in Chris Pysyk from New Zealand more successfully than we can some-times videoconference within the city!) and as many of the teaching faculty that we could spring from the O.R. at 10 am in the morning. At the end of the 2 days, we were given a couple of minor things to work on but otherwise passed with flying colours! I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to thank Holly Videto for her usual sterling work and everyone else whose hard work contributes to this program being as great as it is!

Next came the Winterlude conference combined with the Residency Program 40th Anniversary cele-

bration. Many alumni came from all over the world and it was a pleasure to catch up with them. A slide-show of memories (thanks Lucie Filteau!) played and was lots of fun to watch. Thanks must go to Jocelyne McKenna for the excellent organization of this event.

Another successful CaRMs year is behind us. We are delighted with our match and have some really interesting characters for you to meet over the next while. We have 10 new PGY1s starting July 1st plus 2 FPAs with a 3rd FPA starting in September.

Making a Mark was its usual success & declared a great help by all the PGY5s that were there. The BMO centre in Toronto seems settled as its venue and it’s an excellent facility. Once again we went to dinner at Madeline’s to decompress after their gru-eling written exam/oral exam/lecture program.

We are in the final run-up to the 2nd part of the “big test”. The writtens are over and never again will there be an anesthesia resident ignorant of the 7 CanMeds roles after seeing that question 2 years in a row!

Everyone is asking me what I am going to do next. Well, for a while I’m going to relax! CAS this year is in Montreal, which is celebrating both Jazz Festival and St. Jean-Baptiste Day that weekend. I think that is an appropriate way to bow out! We will have to defend the Glottis Cup though I haven’t heard what the competition is this year. With so much fun stuff going on in the city, we’ve decided not to have the big dinner this year.

Of course my traveling will continue unabated - and I hope to take a month next winter to spend in Guatemala after this last trip at Christmas/New Year reminded me how much I love that place...

Thanks again to everyone who has made this such a pleasurable and educational experience for me. In particular Homer Yang who has been amazingly supportive; Paul Bragg, my predecessor and mentor in all this; The members of team-RPC; Holly Videto who has been unbelievable help and of course Lynne McHardy who is keeper of the memory! Also thanks to Jessica Ladouceur for hounding me till I actually sat down & wrote this!

I pass the torch to Desiree Persaud confident in the future.

Linda Wynne

D E P A R T M E N T O F A N E S T H E S I O L O G Y

Anesthesiology Trivia P A G E 3 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

Last Issues Trivia Question was:

Q: The word “anesthesia” was first used in which century and

by whom?

A: The word “anesthesia” was first used by the Greek phi-

losopher Dioscorides in the 1st Century of the current era to

describe the narcotic effects of the plant mandragora (Miller,

Chapter 31. Depth of Anesthesia)

The first person to send in the correct an-swer to our Trivia Question will receive a $20

Chapters Gift Card!!

Congratulations to Sandra Bromley for correctly answering last issues Trivia Question

Thanks to Marie Jo Plamondon for this Issue’s Trivia

From Left to Right: Marie Jo Plamondon, Desiree Persaud, &

Firas Al Qadhi getting snuggly

In 1907 _______________ invented the

___________; the first short-term respirator.

This apparatus was initially used to resuscitate

miners. Three years later, this device was used

to save electrocuted and drowned patients.

Shortly after, the rescued patients were named

the __________.

Don Miller and

Chris Pysyk

P A G E 4

“With full

accreditation

status granted,

the accreditation

process

reaffirmed how

great our

program is.”

Chief Resident’s Corner

As the academic year comes to a close, I keep asking myself where that time has gone!

Let’s recap since the last update in the fall…

Some great traditions continued again this year: The residents at the Civic cooked and baked up a storm for their staff colleagues at the annual Christmas Lunch. At the General, the staff dis-played their fantastic culinary skill by providing a tasty lunch for the residents.

Carrying on with the festive season, the Civic Campus Christmas party was well attended and a great time for staff, residents, and support staff alike. Joel Berubé and his wife Kristyn gra-ciously hosted the Resident Christmas party at their home. Good times were had by all…(even if a certain overseas caller interrupted festivities for a few minutes;) Thanks to the General Cam-pus staff for their continued support of this great tradition.

And what would the holiday season be without the Resident Christmas rounds video presenta-tion…what unearthed talent we have! To those who participated in that production, thanks for the laughs!

After the holiday season, the much anticipated Royal College Accreditation of our Residency Program occurred in the 2nd week of January 2010. With the full accreditation status granted, this process reaffirmed how great our program is. Thanks to everyone for making the effort to be a part of this vital step in improving and building upon the greatness we have in Ottawa!

Shortly after accreditation, CaRMS interviews lasted for nearly a week in early February. To properly showcase our program and inform

candidates, the spirit your fellow residents and sup-port staff demonstrated was second-to-none; Thanks to everyone who assisted with the two pub nights, applicant site tours, information sessions, and other details throughout the CaRMS process making it such a success.

At the Residency Program Committee (RPC) level, some changes have occurred during the year. Based on resident feedback of NICU rotations at the Civic versus General, it was decided to consolidate all future resident exposure in NICU to the Civic Spe-cial Care Nursery starting in the 2010-2011 academic year. Though the matters discussed at RPC are im-portant, perhaps the biggest change will be in the people discussing those matters next year. This is the end of Dr. Linda Wynne’s term as Program Di-rector; her guidance, support of residents and their issues throughout her term are beyond description and accolades. Her impact on the program is far-reaching. I want to thank her, on behalf of all resi-dents, for her tireless efforts to make this program what it is today. Stepping into the role of Program Director is someone well attuned to the Program, the residents and their needs: Dr. Desiree Persaud. We welcome and look forward to Dr. Persaud as the new Program Director.

Finally, as the snow is gone and the days become longer, we know what time of year it is…exam preparation time! After travelling to Scarborough for “Making A Mark” in early March, our PGY5’s are diligently preparing the final steps for Royal College exams in June. We wish them all good luck!

It has been an honor serving as your Chief Resident for the 2009-2010 academic year. At this time, I would like to welcome the Resident Representatives for the 2010-2011 academic year: Marc Doré will be the CHEO Rep, Alim Punja will be the Senior Resi-dent for the General, and Marie-Jo Plamondon will be the Chief Resident.

Seeing the unique spirit and feel our program has amongst residents, staff, and support members, I am very proud of what we have in Ottawa. Indeed, the outstanding reputation we have across the country is befitting; I know we will continue to make it great in the future!

With warmest regards,

Chris Pysyk, Chief Resident


Don Miller and Chris

Pysyk

Undergrad Report P A G E 5 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

The undergraduate program in anesthesia continues to thrive. We’re seeing 160 U of O students in the 3rd year core rotation and welcome 50-60 students in 4th year electives, from all over Canada. This past year, we also accommodated several re-quests from 1st and 2nd year students for 10-hour elective ob-serverships (arranged with individual staff during their call shifts). Students overall feel very well received and are gaining much from their exposure to our specialty. The rotation evaluations are very positive and reflect this high level of satis-faction.

The University is also benefiting from Anesthesia Department contributions. We have provided 10 CBL tutors for the 2009-2010 academic year, across all subject areas. (Stay tuned this spring for the 2010-2011 tutor recruitment emails!) Alan Chaput has done a tremendous job in revamping the entire Pharmacology curriculum at the U of O Medical Program. We’ll no doubt see the fruits of his labour in future Ottawa students coming to the O.R. His efforts are being recognized with a national award, the CAME Certificate of Merit, which will be given to him in Newfoundland in May. Congratulations Alan! John Penning and Cathy Smyth have also worked tire-lessly to create an entire week dedicated to Pain Education. This week will take place in the 2nd year curriculum and, after more than a year of planning, the first launch will be this April. The Pain CBL tutorial sessions and lectures (both English and French) for the Pain week will be given almost entirely by An-esthesia residents, fellows and staff. Thank you in advance for this wonderful and important contribution to medical student education!

If participating in the above activities seems a bit daunting to

you but you’d like to “dip your toes” into the pool of un-dergraduate education, consider the OSCEs! Three times per year, the students undergo Objective Structured Clini-cal Exams. They go to several stations and are tested on their ability to take a relevant history or interpret an EKG or manage chest pain, etc. The University is always looking for evaluators to score the students (based on an estab-lished checklist) and provide feedback. The OSCEs take place in the evening (scheduled well ahead of time) and participants are given a stipend for their time. If you’re in-terested in signing up for one, talk to Julie for more information.

On the administrative side, Julie Ghatalia has com-pleted her Master’s in Education and has been with us for over a year now. She has done a tremendous job coordinating everything Undergrad and beyond. She has helped the Department with Winterlude planning and many other behind-the-scenes tasks. She’s also started working with Vern Naik in Medi-cal Education Research at the Simulation Centre. Her contributions in such a short time have been substantial and we’re truly fortunate to have her!

In the Fall, a group of medical students got together to form an Anesthesia Interest Group. This initia-tive was spearheaded by students Karim Abdulla and Jupinder Bains. The group occasionally meets to attend lectures and they maintain an email list to keep informed of anesthesia events of interest. Anyone interested in doing anything for this eager group (e.g. a Career Night talk) should contact Julie.

Finally, many of you know from my emails that I have stepped down from my role as Undergraduate Director. I’d like to sincerely thank everyone who has helped me carry out my duties, especially Homer, Lynne, Simone, Julie, Judy, France and the many residents who participated in the air-way workshop/lecture on the Anesthesia Education Day. I’d also like to enthusiastically welcome the new Undergradu-ate Committee: Nikhil Rastogi as the Undergraduate Direc-tor, Antoinette Corvo as the Pre-Clerkship Coordinator and Amy Fraser as the Anesthesia Education Day Coordina-tor. I’m really excited about this team and am sure that under Nick’s direction we will see many improvements in the Undergraduate Program in the years to come!

Cheers,

Lucie Filteau

“….many of you know from my emails that I have stepped down from my role as Undergradu-ate Direc-tor….” -Lucie Filteau

“Students overall

feel very well

received and are

gaining much from

their exposure to

our specialty”

News from CHEO

P A G E 6

“I am very proud of

all the folks putting

in the effort and

time to make our

Department a

little bit more of a

family”

-Homer Yang

Holiday Brunch Due to the overwhelming responses, the Holiday Brunch December 6, 2009 reached its maximum capacity of 185 people! The Brunch took place at the Centurion Center and kept the kids busy with arts and crafts and a special jolly visitor.

The event was once again a wonderful opportunity to socialize with colleagues from all the hospitals and see our kids growing up year after year.

Pediatric Investigators Network of Canada (PINC)

A new national collaboration of investigators for Pediatric Anesthesia was initiated in November. Spearheaded by members of the Department at CHEO, a grant-funded meeting was organized and attended by 13 anesthesia team members from across Canada.

The outcome of this meeting was the creation of the Pediatric Investigators Network of Canada with a mandate to promote excellence and col-laboration in Pediatric Anesthesia Research.

There was broad consensus that a national strat-egy was needed to answer some of the impor-tant questions concerning Pediatric Anesthesia.

In attendance from CHEO were Drs. Dermot Doherty, Philipp Mossdorf, David Rosen and Kim


Dermot Doherty at the Annual Winterlude Anesthesia Symposium 2009.

News from CHEO Varrin AA. We’ll tell you how we came up with the group’s name some time at the Rochester!

Phillipp Mossdorf

Site Chief Memories P A G E 7 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

Riverside Site Chief Memories

May 2005 – April 2010

In May 2005 Dr Yang asked me to accept the position of Site Chief at the Riverside Campus. Dr. Don Wilson was step-ping down after six years of guiding the Riverside Anesthesia staff through the changes associated with the amalgamation of the three hospitals (Civic, General and Riverside) to form The Ottawa Hospital. I had been the Chief of Anesthesia at the Riverside Hospital for seven years (1992-1999) before the merger, so I did have some inside knowledge about how the administrative management at the Riverside campus worked… or at least I thought I did. Needless to say in every new job there are new things to learn and nothing stays the same forever.

In the past five years the Anesthesia Services at the Riverside Campus have gone through a number of changes that in time have proven to be an improvement in patient care and effi-ciency. The major factor responsible for the implementation of these changes was the addition of Anesthesia Assistants to Department of Anesthesia at The Ottawa Hospital. The An-esthesia Assistant in the OR was the extra trained staff re-quired to allow the regional anesthesia program at the River-side Campus to function in a time efficient manner. Under the leadership of Dr. Desiree Persaud and her fellow “blockheads” (as they are affectingly known) and with the much needed assistance of the AAs, the regional program has flourished and is very much appreciated by the Orthopedic Surgeons and most of all by their patients.

The other area where the Anesthesia Assistants had a major impact was at the Eye Care Centre. Before their arrival we had as many as four Anesthesiologists providing anesthesia services per day for four operating rooms. Today one Anes-thesiologist supervises five AAs to provide anesthesia ser-vices for the four operating rooms and patient preparation in the bed bay area. The redeployment of the other three An-esthesiologists to areas where their expertise was more needed was essential because of the manpower shortage of Anesthesiologists at that time.

As Site Chief, one is faced with the challenge of change, whether the change is minor or major, throughout each year. For the change, no matter what the size, to be successful, the Site Chief requires the cooperation of his fellow colleagues and excellent communication with management of the other health services. Over the past five years I have been fortu-nate to have that kind of cooperation from the three perma-nent Anesthesia Staff (Dr. Frost, Dr. Oneschuk and Dr. Wil-

son) and the transient staff from the Civic and the General. I would also like to express my appreciation for the cooperation I received in working with the nurse managers of the Operating Room (Kerry Cook), Eye Care Center (Patty Mitchelmore, now retired and Jason Hann) and PAU (Carolyn Riley). Also a special thanks to the working staff (Nurses, RPNs and Orderlies) of the OR, Litho, ECC, PACU, PAU and Day Care for providing a high quality patient care environment that all of us (staff and patients) truly appreciate.

I have enjoyed my five years as Site Chief at the Riverside Campus. Thanks to Dr. Yang for his sup-port and ideas, especially in the implementation of the AA program. Like most good bosses he works harder than anybody else. Last but certainly not least multiple thanks to Judy Dureau (scheduler el su-preme) for, without her expertise, we would all be lost.

There are more big changes coming (electronic records) which should keep my successor busy for the first year at least. Looking forward to working at Club Riv as just another worker bee! See you there.

Robert McBurney

Robert McBurney with his second grandson Jake. Jake was born January 7, 2010. For photos of his

first grandson turn to page 14!

“In the past five

years the

Anesthesia Services

at the Riverside

Campus have gone

through a number

of changes…”

P A G E 8

Mark Your Calendars…. The Academic Year is drawing to a close, but there a few more events to watch out for before getting geared up for summer vacation time:

⇒ May 1—5, 2010: The Canadian Conference on Medical Education, St. John’s, Newfoundland

⇒ May 8, 2010: The Acute Pain Service Retreat (Subacute and Chronic Pain Issues), Novotel Ottawa Hotel

⇒ May 14, 2010: The 27th Annual Gary Johnson Postgraduate Research Day, Roger Guindon Hall, Amphitheater A

⇒ May 14, 2010: Year End Dinner and Awards Ceremony, National Arts Centre

⇒ June 23, 2010: Last Rounds for the Academic Year


Denise Wozny was awarded the annual COM-PASS award at the COMPASS Award Ceremony April 2010. Denise was recognized for her dedica-tion and help in keeping the research infrastructure turning like a well-oiled machine (and getting our grants in on time). Congratulations Denise!

Susan Madden was nominated for the TOH COMPASS Awards. Her dedicated hard work and compassion in Pain Management was recognized at the ceremony.

Homer Yang was selected as one of the top five 2011 Physician Leader Champions by the Physician Management Institute (PMI) which is the Canadian Medical Association’s physician leadership develop-ment program. He was also chosen to be part of PMI’s Physician Leadership in Action Campaign.

Alan Chaput was awarded a Canadian Associa-tion for Medical Education (CAME) Certificate of Merit Award. This award acknowledges his excel-lent work in Medical Education and is a national recognition of his work on pharmacotherapeutics. He will be recognized at the CAME Annual General Meeting in St. John’s May 2, 2010.

J. Earl Wynands recently was awarded another named lectureship. Wednesday April 28, 2010 marked the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesi-ologist (SCA) Foundation’s Inaugural Earl Wynands Lecture. The lecture was delivered by Michael P. Grocott, MBBS.

Chris Pysyk was awarded the distinction of one of the the most important articles published in

Faculty of 1000 Medicine for his article “Ultrasound assessment of the height of the palpated intercristal line”, published in the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia January 2010.

Abeer Arab was awarded her first peer-reviewed research grant in December. Her project is entitled “Simulation Assisted Oral Examination of Anaesthesia Certification in Canada” and was one of only seven proposals accepted by the Academy for Innovation in Medical Education (AIME) for funding. Abeer is the PI on this multicenter study.

Cathy Smyth and members of the Chronic Pain Clinic have received funding from the “Audrey and Dennis Forster Endowment” for Chronic Pain Re-search. The endowment will be disbursed over the next 18 months to 2 year In the amount of approx. $750,000.

Research & Awards

Aloha! Bill Splinter and Naveen Eipe at the IARS Meeting in Hawaii March 2010

Congratulations to

all our award

winners and

nominees!

Changing of the Guards…. P A G E 9 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

Marie-Jo Plamondon will be the new Chief Resident for the 2010/2011 Academic Year. Alim Punja will be the new Senior Resident and Assistant Chief. Marc Doré will be the new CHEO Representative.

Don Miller replaced Bob Elliott as Site Chief at the Gen-eral Campus March 2010.

Dave Ewing replaced Michael Curran as Site Chief at the Civic May 2010.

Robert MacNeil took over from Robert McBurney as Riverside Site Chief May 2010.

Desiree Persaud will be replacing Linda Wynne as Resi-dent Program Director as of July 2010.

Anna Wyand will replace Desiree Persaud as Civic Resi-dent Coordinator July 2010. Ilia Charapov will assist until January 2011.

Anne Lui will succeed Desiree Persaud as Civic Regional Director as of July. Anne will be supported by Michelle Chiu. Caroline Tallmadge will oversee equipment needs and evaluations.

Sylvain Gagne replaced Greg Bryson as Corporate PAU Director April 2010.

Alan Chaput succeeded Greg Bryson as the Civic and Riverside sites’ Medical Director as of April 2010.

Gregory Bryson was appointed Research Director as of April 2010.

Nikhil Rastogi has taken on the role of Undergraduate Director from Lucie Filteau as of January. Antoinette Corvo is now working on the Department’s involvement with pre-clerkship activities. Amy Fraser has taken on the role of coordinating the MS-3 Anesthesia Education Day.

Kimmo Murto has taken on the role of Chair of the Gary Johnson Resident Research Day. Howard Nathan has stepped down from this position after 5 years.

Rob Anderson is now Resident Program Director for the Sudbury program. He took over from Joanne Madden July 2009.

Bernard McDonald has taken over as Medical Director of CSICU at the Heart Institute. Michael Bourke has stepped down from this position.

Peter Wilkes took on the role of Head of Cardiac Re-search in 2009.

Lawrie Garnett will be leaving Anesthesia July 2010 and will continue to work in Civic ICU.

Our new PGY1’s for the 2010/2011 academic year will be: Takpal Birdie, Kurt Domuracki, Ashleigh Farrell, Lilia Fung, Kristine Hales, Yvonne Kaethler, Sarika Mann, Sarah McIsaac, Chris Mercer, Annie Pang, Steve Tremblay, Richard Waldorf, Brock Wilson.

Alumni News Nuoer Sang sent the Department a quick update over the winter:

I am working in Beijing. It is very busy. The weather here is not so cold, but it snowed twice last month. It is very unusual in Beijing and people here are very excited. I like snow after coming back from Ottawa! I took some photos in the park under my apartment.

I miss you all very much!

Nuoer Sang

Nuoer Sang at home in Beijing. Nuoer finished his Clinical Fellowship

with our Department May 31, 2009

P A G E 1 0

“Each year the

program proves to

be entertaining

and engaging….”

Anne Lui shows off her musical prowess


2010 Music Day The second annual Music Event hosted by Homer and Kristine Yang opened with a rendition of a “Hard Day’s Night” by mystery artists MJ McCartney and John Dragon Lennon. Each year, the program proves to be enter-taining and engaging. Not only are the phenomenal musical talents of many in the department show-cased, but more im-portant, creativity and collaboration are

highlighted in this activity. Last year we were intro-duced to Welsh music. This year we heard an an-cient Chinese Folk melody arranged for Western musical instruments. Our Editor in Chief for the CJA provided some fascinating editorial on Beethoven Sonatas. Kris’ string ensemble performed a delightful piece “The Best of ABBA”.

Dr. Nolan (a repeat winner from last year for most entertaining award) and partner Roberta received the prize for most original performance singing a duet named the Coconut Song. MJ won the prize for most courageous venue of “name that tune” that generated fierce competition amongst the audience. MJ co-shared the prize with Dr. Miller for his mag-nificent interpretation of the Beethoven Sonatas. The most entertaining prize was awarded to Ruth Ann Green for her virtuosic performance of the Chopin’s Grand Valse Brillante.

Music was only part of the event. The food and wine were outstanding. Kristine, you make the best hors d’oeuvres, and healthy ones too! Who would have thought that tofu and bok choy can taste so wonder-ful with an exotic hint of anise (apparently recipe passed down from “mama” Yang)? This dish paired well with the Trius Red. Louise’s smoked salmon bruschetta disappeared rapidly paired with Sauvi-gnon Blanc or the “Twisted White”.

Thank you so much Homer and Kris, for another fabu-lous afternoon.

P.S. I have already received the music for next year’s piece from Homer. I guess this means I have to start working on the next event.

Anne Lui

Words from a Resident; MJ:

As highlighted by Dr. Lui, the 2010 music day was a forthright success, and I just can’t wait for next year’s edition! I was, without any doubt, amazed by the hid-den talents and the camaraderie that was reigning there. This was true teamwork. The music diversity was unparalleled, and everyone added a little personal touch to those masterpieces. My ears’ appetite has now become gargantuan!

I would like to take this opportunity to invite all staff members and residents to next year’s edition. No need to be a musician, and remember that only imagination can delineate the limits!

This event has now become part of a life long tradition of the department of Anesthesiology!

Thank you very much everyone for sharing with us and hoping to SEE YOU NEXT YEAR!

MJ McCartney

John Dragon Lennon and MJ McCartney

P A G E 1 1 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

Music Day in Pictures

P A G E 1 2

Winterlude Report Our Annual Winterlude Anesthesia Symposium saw a record number of participants this year with 203 registrants! We had an excellent array of speakers presenting on the spectrum of perioperative challenges and controversies encountered by clinicians.


Dr. Greg Bryson’s talk: Neurocognitive Outcomes Re-lated to Anesthesia and Geriatric Anesthesia

Left to right: Diana Noseworthy, Sandra Bromley, Natalie Clavel, Rebecca Moga, and MJ Plamondon

Dr. Abeer Arab demonstrates neonatal and pediatric resuscitation in the Code Neonate workshop

Dr. Patti Murphy discussing helpful hints for the Royal College Exam in the afternoon PBL session

Dr. Victor Neira leading the Vascular Access in Adults and Children Workshop

Linda Duxbury delivers the J. Earl Wynands Royal College Lecture: Dealing with Boiled Frogs

P A G E 1 3 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

Dr. Gary Johnson next to the 40th Anniversary Ice Sculpture

40th Anniversary Report that has been the key element in developing the Anesthesi-ology Program at the University of Ottawa to its current status as the best in Canada.

CEO of The Ottawa Hospital and program alumnus, Dr. Jack Kitts, also addressed the audience in his trademark motivational style. Dr. Kitts reemphasized the pivotal role of resident and staff selection as the foundation for excel-lence in our program. He also reminded us how, over the past 20 years, anesthesiologists have successfully extended their field of expertise outside the operating room, develop-ing areas such as Acute Pain Management, Preoperative Assessment and Perioperative Medicine to name a few. Anesthesiology in Ottawa has the potential to be a major contributor to the future of Health Care in Canada. We are all urged to be part of it.

Thanks to the generosity and sponsorship of our current Chair and Program Director, we were able to mark the 40th Anniversary Cele-bration with a $ 5000 donation to Operation Smile, an organization that has been the focus of alumnus, Dr. Wayne Barry’s humanitarian work over the past several years. Dr. Barry spoke of his experience with the project and his images of patients in developing countries whose lives were changed with the simple correction of a facial deformity. His talk left a lasting impression on all those attending. Several of Ottawa’s residents have partici-pated in Medical Missions with Dr. Barry & Operation Smile; the rewards of such an experience could also be seen through their eyes and in their smiles.

The formal part of the evening concluded with a few words from another alumnus, past Program Director and current Vice-Dean of Postgraduate Education at the University of Ot-tawa, Dr. Paul Bragg. In his inimitable style, Dr. Bragg re-minded us of the human side of anesthesia education: the collegiality and traditions that have also been a trademark of the Ottawa Program.

Finally, door prizes were awarded to several lucky atten-dees: Registration to Winterlude 2011 was won by Dr. May Peng. A Prince Edward County Week-end Getaway was won by Dr. MJ Plamondon who gave it to Holly Videto in recognition of all of her hard work. “Anesthesia and Coexisting Disease” by Stoelting was won by Dr. Marie Jo Plamondon.

(continued on page16)

“ The Department

would like to

extend a heartfelt

thank you to

Jocelyn McKenna

for chairing this

event and working

tirelessly. Thank

you to Geraint

Lewis as well”

-Dr. Yang“”

Winterlude presented us with an ideal opportunity to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the University of Ottawa Anesthesiology Train-ing Program. At the beginning of our fifth decade, it was the perfect moment to take a look back not only at the program’s evolution over the years, but also at the accomplishments of the many indi-viduals who have made the program what it is today.

We enjoyed excellent representation from colleagues from the National Capital area (active and retired) as well as visiting alumni from our program. Conference attendees were also welcome, giving them a “behind the scenes” look at the University of Ot-tawa’s Department of Anesthesiology and its residency training program.

An upscale cocktail party Saturday evening turned out to be the perfect way to optimize mingling and promote an easy flow of con-versation. Epicurean stations were set up in the reception hall, which was decorated with an impressive ice sculpture, in keeping with the Winterlude theme. Fittingly, the sculpture depicted an enormous number “40”; it was the brainchild of Mrs. Lynne McHardy. As usual, Lynne and her staff were central to the organi-zation of the event and we owe them all a debt of gratitude for the well attended and entertaining evening.

People mingled & reminisced to a variety of music from our string quartet. From Jazz to classical, there was something to suit every-one’s taste.

We had an opportunity to hear from our Department Head, Dr. Homer Yang, our current program director, Dr. Linda Wynne as well as the program’s first Director, the indomitable Dr. Gary John-son. Dr. Johnson spoke of our Faculty’s commitment throughout the program’s 40 year history, reminding us of its humble begin-nings and the many challenges of the early years. Throughout our history, it has always been the selection of outstanding residents

P A G E 1 4


Justine Burnie married Matthew McNeely September 19, 2009.

Dr. Shawn Hicks and Allyson welcomed Simon Shawn William Hicks on September 16, 2009.

Alec was born to Dr. Igor Andonov and Vicki Septem-ber 28, 2009. His sister Matea is all smiles.

Dr. Robert McBurney and Lynda holding their first grandchild. Jack was born December 31, 2009.

Announcements & Babies!

Dr. Tom Polis and Zaneta welcomed Adam Christo-pher April 22, 2010

Congratulations on all the new

additions!

More Babies! P A G E 1 5 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

Dr. Anna Wyand and Martin welcomed Béatrice Claire Wyand Kreuser March 30, 2010 at 02:54am.

Dr. David Goulet and Tiffany welcomed twins Chloe and Abby in March 20, 2010.

Dr. Dan McIsaac and Laura welcomed their first son, Aden, born November 27, 2009. Dan extends a big thanks to Nat Clavel for

her slick epidural.

Dr. Marc Dore and Caroline welcomed their first baby boy, Colin, November 13, 2009. He was just over 37 weeks gestation, and

mom delivered with only 9 minutes of pushing!!

Dr. Andy Roberts and Roya welcomed their daughter Poppy Anne Inez Roberts October 6, 2009.

Drs. Tania Di Renna and Nicolas Guay are proud to introduce Rosabelle Celine Guay born September 29, 2009.

P A G E 1 6


These past few months have been both busy and productive for the AA team. Kristin, Carrie, and I have completed our Anesthesia Assistant program through The Michener Institute in Toronto, bringing the number of fully trained staff to 6. Although we had some great times travelling together, I'm sure both Carrie and Kris would agree that it's a relief to be finished!

Algonquin College has now completed its first session of their new AA program, and 9 of our staff were enrolled this semester: Erin, Paul, Lucie, Manon, Elise, Christine, Mohammed, Marie-Eve, and Genevieve. At the time of this article, they had written their final exam and were awaiting the start of their clinical phase. To ensure adequate staffing coverage at all campuses, two students will enter clinical at a time, which means it will take approximately 18 months to have our entire team fully trained.

Staff Appreciation Luncheon The Civic Staff Appreciation Luncheon 2009 was a real success with dishes from around the world prepared by our fabulous resi-dents. Thank you to all the phenomenal residents/cooks!

Right: MJ Plamondon serves. Left: Anne Lui and Susan Goheen en-joying the cuisine

An exciting trip to the Olympics for both Paula and I took place in February. We served on the Health Emergency Response Team (HERT) through the Pub-lic Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). We were as-signed to the Mobile Medical Unit that was set up at Whistler. Our unit was a GE custom built transport truck and trailer with trauma and surgical capabilities, and our mandate was to provide care to the Olympi-ans, Paralympians, and their family members while on site for the games. Paula was assigned to the team in place from February 11 to February 22, and I was assigned to February 20 to March 2. We are excep-tionally proud to be two of only five RT/AAs chosen from across Canada to participate, and will hopefully be able to regale you all with great stories and photos now that we are home!

Ivanette Stubbert

sive collection of Riverside staff photos and Joel Richard for his aptitude with the scanner.

Special mention is reserved for Dr. Lucie Filteau whose massive (over 1400) photographic registry of departmental social events: baby showers, retire-ment dinners, CAS meetings, alumni dinners etc. formed the backbone of the show.

Jocelyne McKenna

Finally, several U of O commemorative coffee mugs, filled with goodies, were awarded to the most “energetic” participants. Throughout the evening, a slide show with an amazing collection of photos from our past was dis-played and brought back many fond memories. I would like to thank all those who shared their photos and memories with us. In particular, Lynne McHardy for her resourcefulness in finding photos in the most unusual locations, Traci Laperriere R.N.A. for sharing her impres-

40th Anniversary Report (con’t)

Anesthesia Assistant Corner

Chairman’s Report (continued)

Mentor Event: Aerial Adventures P A G E 1 7 V O L U M E 9 , I S S U E 1

both locally and nationally. Since these awards are high-lighted elsewhere in the Newsletter, I won’t repeat them here, except to express our pride and felicitations to all those who have deservedly won such awards.

On that note, I look forward to seeing everyone at the Gary Johnson Day!

Homer Yang

These are all steps to help orient residents as teachers of medical students.

We have been saying for a long time that our specialty should play a key role in the teaching of pain manage-ment at the Medical School. One ought to be careful in what one wishes for. John Penning was asked to lead the pain curriculum development as part of curriculum re-form at the Medical School. Now the Pain Block is viewed as primarily anesthesia, and we are asked to field a number of lecturers and tutors for the “Pain Week”, April 19th & 22nd. John Penning and Julie Ghatalia have been working very hard in organizing this. With the sup-port of the residents and fellows, as well as consultants from the Heart Institute, Civic, General, CHEO, and Monfort, I was just informed by Julie that the lecture and tutorial slots have all been filled. The tutor training will occur in early April. This is truly a system-wide effort with great cooperation from all quarters in the system. I would like to congratulate John Penning, Cathy Smyth, and Julie Ghatalia for their hard work in organizing this, and thank many others who have agreed to help out in making this possible.

Our Department has been receiving its share of awards,

“….the mind

over matter

that facilitates

success; the

discipline that

keeps you

safe…”

Anesthesia’s 2009 Graduating Class

September 19, 2009 turned out to be a glorious sunny day when the mentors and mentees converged at the Camp For-tune Aerial Park for the annual ice-breaking getting-to-know-you event. This much anticipated event was met with contro-versy, testing the physical and mental agility of the participants.

When the Mentor Program Director clamored up the tree and first appreciated the obstacle ahead of her, a little speech bubble popped above her head:

The course has its analogies with resi-dents coping with the challenges of Anesthe-sia: the technical challenges, the fear of the unknown, the mind over matter that facili-tates success, the discipline that keeps you safe, and the learning curve that starts at what appears impossible but is possible with practice. All this plus the sense of team support, camaraderie, fresh air and healthy outdoor fun.

No wonder everyone arrived at the finish with ear to ear smiles, a great sense of accomplishment and charged with re-newed energy. Now that the motor cortex and cerebellum have been stimulated, next year’s ice-breaker event will in-volve a more sensibly sedate theme involving the olfactory and gustatory senses. And don’t forget the annual Music Event: Homer has been practicing since September!

Anne Lui

OMG ! Which #@*$ nut bar came up with this

A Word from the Editor

Summer Contributors

SUBMIT, SUBMIT, SUBMIT!!!

Please send any submissions to:

University of Ottawa

Department of Anesthesiology

The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus

1053 Carling Avenue, Box 249C

Ottawa, ON K1Y 4E9

Phone: 613-798-5555 ext. 17886

Fax: 613-761-5209

Email: [email protected]

I hope you enjoyed this season’s Newsletter! Thank you once again to all those that have contributed.

As you may have noticed, the theme of this Newsletter is CHANGE….and lots of it. There have been so many changes over the past few months, and I think its impor-tant to take a moment to reflect on where we’ve been as a Department and where we are going. I want to reiterate the thanks that has been expressed for those that are stepping down or moving on. We certainly look forward to the changes that those stepping into positions will bring with them.

In fact, in keeping with the “changes” theme, I would also like to announce I am giving up my role as Newsletter Editor. This will be my last edition and I will be passing the job on to a very able Julie Ghatalia. So you can expect to

see emails from Julie looking for news in the near future. Thank you Julie!

Jessica Ladouceur

The Department of Anesthesiology Newsletter will continue to be published 3 times per year: Fall, Winter/Spring and Summer. Send your photos, events, news, etc anytime! We’re on the Web

www.anesthesiology.org

A Word from the Editor

I would like to thank the numerous contributors who have once again made this newsletter happen. Your time and talent is much appreciated. Please forgive me if I have missed anyone of the many contributors.

Our contributors include: Homer Yang, Linda Wynne, Chris Pysyk, Robert McBurney, Anne Lui, Ivannette Stubbert, Jocelyne McKenna

and Marie Jo Plamondon, who all submitted reports for this publication.

A special thanks is extended to Marie Jo Plamondon for taking on the Trivia section on rather short no-tice. She certainly pulled through for me.

I would also like to thank the following individuals for sending me emails, news and photos: Michelle Chiu, Phillip Mossdorf, Nuoer Sang, and many of the staff members and resident contributed news of new additions to the family, engagements and marriages. Congratulations and thank you!

A big thank you to Lynne McHardy and Holly Videto who diligently forwarded me all sorts of emails that form the backbone of this issue. Most importantly, thank you once again to Lucie Filteau for the photos, advice and support. This newsletter would be impossi-ble without their constant support. So thank you ladies.

Jessica Ladouceur

Admin Update There are a few changes to report in terms of Administration:

Tara Nabi joined us as Administrative Assistant to Dr. Homer Yang. Tara worked as a Parliamentary Assistant from the office of the Honourable Bev Oda, PC, MP before joining us here.

Lisa Charrette joined us as our CME & Education Program Administrative Assistant. Lisa joins us from MD Management.

Joel Richard is now working as a Scheduling Assi-tant helping both Judy and France with the new Scheduling Program.

In other news:

Joel Richard is now playing for the Ottawa Fat Cats Semi Pro baseball team.

The 2nd Annual Anesthesia Support Staff Retreat was held March 18, 2010 at the Novotel Ottawa. We concluded the day on a lighter note with a “Personalities Colours Test”. Lynne, Fran-cine, Justine, Carrie and Holly were Blues. Judy, Jennifer, Tara, Angie, and France were Golds. Lisa and Julie were Oranges, and Jessica was the only Green. Thank you once again to the De-partment for allowing us to hold this informative meeting.

department of anesthesiology - university of ottawa · describe the narcotic effects of the plant...

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