Winterlude Symposium

● For More Winterlude Coverage, see pages 2 and 3. ● For Upcoming Events, see page 14.

Newsletter

Winter/Spring 2006

Volume 5, Number 2 University of Ottawa Department of Anesthesiology

This year’s 12th annual Winterlude Symposium, entitled “Perioperative Challenges and Contro-versies”, was held on Saturday, February 4th, 2006, at the Château Laurier Hotel. There was an excellent line-up of speakers and many workshops to choose from. Three of our fine faculty presented in the morning lecture series: Drs Gregory Bryson, Ian Zun-der and Desiree Persaud. Many Ottawa faculty members were also involved in giving work-shops: Drs John Penning, Patti Murphy, Bob Elliott, Holly Evans, Elizabeth Renehan, Cathy Smyth, Michelle Chui, Anne Lui and Greg Bryson. As well, we had prominent guest speakers hailing from Toronto (Dr Richard Cooper) and New York (Drs David Reich and Richard Smiley) who gave both morning lectures and afternoon workshops. The meeting attendance was excellent and feed-back from the delegates was very positive. A spe-cial thanks goes out to Dr Ashraf Fayad, the Chair-man of Winterlude 2006, and the rest of the orga-nizing committee for all of their hard work. The participating faculty members should also be com-mended for their valuable contributions. As well, this Symposium would not be the ongoing success that it is without the countless hours put in behind the scenes by Lynne McHardy, Holly Ladouceur, Colleen Pomeroy, Heidi McBride and Leanne McHardy. The tremendous effort put forth by eve-ryone was very much appreciated by all of those who attended.

Lucie Filteau Dr. Ashraf Fayad

“The tremendous effort put forth by everyone was very much appreciated by all of those who attended.”

Lucie Filteau

Inside this issue: Winterlude 1-3

Chairman’s Report 4

Farewell to Abdualla 4

Program Director’s Report 5

Announcements 5

CaRMS Match Results 6

News from the CJA 6

Education Report 7

Trivia Question 7

Research News 8

Alumni News 8

Making a Mark 9

News from the General 9

Civic Ski Team Report 10

News from the Civic 10

FMG Dinner 11

Chief Resident’s Corner 12

Resident Poker Nite 12

Regional Report 13

Ellen Thompson Update 13

A Word from the Editor 14

List of Contributors 14

Upcoming Events 14

Winterlude

Page 2 Volume 5, Number 2

Top: Dr. David Reich Middle: Dr. Richard Cooper

Top (L to R): Drs. Ian Zunder and Ashraf Fayad Middle: Leanne and Lynne McHardy, Holly Ladouceur Bottom: Dr. Richard Smiley

Winterlude Sponsors and Exhibitors

Page 3 Volume 5, Number 2

A heartfelt thank you goes out to our generous Win-terlude Sponsors: Baxter Corporation Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Group Calea Ltd. Edwards Lifesciences Canada Inc. Janssen-Ortho Purdue Pharma Thanks also to those exhibitors who participated: Abbott Laboratories B. Braun Medical (Canada) Inc. Bayer Healthcare Caster Medical Systems City of Sault Ste. Marie Draegar Medical Canada Inc. Dyna Medical Elsevier Canada GE Healthcare Investors Group Financial Services Inc. Karl Storz Endoscopy Canada Novo Nordisk Organon Canada Pall Medical Pfizer Timmins & District Hospital Vitaid Ltd.

This year's Winterlude has been a great suc-cess. The attendance was over 200 and the quality of speakers was excellent. The PACU nurses were also included in the programming and, from all accounts, this was a great suc-cess. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in helping organize the conference: the Committee, Lynne, Holly, Heidi, Colleen, and many others. As we all know, it takes many people and tremendous energy to make such an event successful. In addition, I would like to recognize Ashraf Fayad's organization and leadership in bring-ing this event to new heights. Thank you Ash-raf. I want to take the opportunity to welcome our Department Manager, Mr Tim Howe. He has an MBA as well as an MPA. He previously worked in risk management at the CBS and most recently brought together the Simulation Centre for the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital. His credentials have brought him excellent skill sets to help us manage the department. He will be working for TOH Main OR Anesthesia as well as for the U of O Department of Anesthesia. Through Ellen Thompson, two visiting speak-ers spoke on pain, Dr Bennett and Dr Bas-baum. Both lectures were excellent and pro-voking. Our Professor Emeritus, Dr Earl Wynands, was recently ill and was admitted to hospital. I am happy to report that he is recovering well. He would like me to pass on his appreciation of all the well-wishers and of the great fruit basket.

Bill Splinter has stepped down now as Chief of Anesthesia at CHEO. He has built a tre-mendous department, through much hard work and commitment. Under his leadership, he guided the CHEO group through AFP and sig-nificant expansion to the present strong and thriving department. Bill will still be doing clinical anesthesia and will increase his contri-butions to palliative care. Thank you, Bill, for all of your invaluable contributions to the CHEO Department and to the University Department. Your leadership will be missed. David Rosen has taken up the Interim Chief position at CHEO. David has already had to deal with a number of administrative issues, including an external review by Robin Cox from Calgary. There will be a search process for the new Chief. In the meantime, please join me in welcoming David into his new role. These days, medical administration is interest-ing to say the least. David's leadership is well recognized and greatly appreciated by his peers. The department continues to undergo signifi-cant changes. Some of the changes have been stressful but a lot of positive changes are oc-curring. With over a hundred anesthesiologists in the system, communication is always a chal-lenge. I would like to emphasize my open invi-tation for people to contact me by e-mail or phone, should there be any questions or issues for my attention. My door remains open. Happy Dog Year!

Homer Yang

Chairman’s Report

Farewell Abdualla

Page 4 Volume 5, Number 2

“I want to take the op-portunity to welcome our Department Manager, Mr Tim Howe.”

Homer Yang

Mr. Tim Howe

It is with great sadness that we bid adieu to our beloved resident and recent fellow extraordi-naire, Abdualla Alsefaou. He has completed his regional fellowship and has taken a posi-tion at the Grand River Hospital and St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener-Waterloo. Just prior to leaving, Abdualla also announced that he and his wife, Tlitmas, are expecting their fourth baby in September. Congratula-tions, Abdualla!!

Dr. Abdualla Alsefaou on his last day at the Civic (left) and with his son Moad (above)

Program Director’s Report

Page 5 Volume 5, Number 2

Well, it’s been 6 months now since I took on the role of Interim Program Director. As I review these months, I realize that the learning process is similar to that of the PGY-1 year! It’s been a long while since I learned so much new stuff in such a short space of time. I had a vague idea of what the job entailed but Paul made it look so easy… Let’s just say it’s been a steep learning curve with lots of new experiences! There are many things to obsess over, such as deadlines. As I write this the ranking list for CaRMS is in, as are the FITERS for the PGY-5’s. Miss either of those deadlines and there is nothing you can do to salvage, so you’ll be pleased to know that I am being obsessively early with them! There are also perks. I am sitting in Banff taking a break from giving oral exams to the PGY-5’s. The sun is shining – but it’s cold. Yes, I should be outside (and will be very soon) but the deadline approaches for this article!

CaRMS was a great experience. It is uplifting to see the calibre of applicants to our pro-gram and also their outside interests and accomplishments. Ask some of our present resi-dents about their lives outside the hospital and you’ll get the idea! It was also gratifying to hear how good a reputation our program has. Our residents do an excellent job of pro-moting our program and time and again praised the enthusiasm of the Department for teaching. I was pleased to be able to describe the many teaching sessions that our resi-

Announcements

Dr. Linda Wynne dents are exposed to and also the opportunities for the residents themselves to be involved with teaching (Algonquin RT courses, medical student PBL’s and workshops, etc.). All in all, I feel quite proud of our program. I alluded to being in Banff. For those of you who don’t know, Organon has sponsored a course for the past five years called Making a Mark, coordinated by Dr David Archer from Calgary. Everyone who is taking the Royal College Exam is invited (PGY-5’s & IMG’s), along with faculty from each University. It consists of 2 ½ days of oral exams, lectures and practice MCQ’s. It’s very in-tense and very good. It’s a real chance to see how our crew compares to the rest (very favourably!) and to meet old friends from across the country. I even managed to meet up with a colleague that I hadn’t seen since we worked together in rural Newfoundland in 1988!! The Departmental social program continues successfully. Recent events such as the Holiday Brunch, Xmas parties and FMG/IMG Dinner have shown that the camaraderie between staff and residents continues unabated. In fact, this was identified by CaRMS can-didates as one of the strengths of our program. Wearing my other hat, as it were, construction continues on the Critical Care Wing at the General Campus, which will house the new Pain Management Unit. This is an amalgamation of the present PMU’s and we hope to see continued improvement of the links be-tween our services and those at the Riverside Campus. The space we will have is excellent and our initial fear that the hospital would reclaim the space has subsided. At the moment, it looks like we will get our own C-arm for blocks under X-ray control plus radiofrequency ablation, amongst other new practices. All very exciting. Unfortunately, the warm wet weather, as well as making Winterlude a rather soggy experience, has also delayed construction. We had hoped for a November 2006 deadline but February 2007 is looking more realistic. Stay tuned!

Linda Wynne

Kevin Gagné and Louise Beaton were engaged this past October and will be getting married this coming November in Australia. Chris Hudson and Jordan Cuthbert were also engaged, on Valentines Day. No news yet on their nup-tials.

It is with great pleasure that we announce the results of this year’s CaRMS match. The following residents have matched to Ottawa and we look forward to welcoming them into our anes-thesia community. Ottawa Program Gregory Krolczyk (University of Ottawa) Christopher Pysyk (University of Alberta) Matthew Quon (University of Ottawa) Robert Sikorski (University of Ottawa)

Sudbury Program Tara Baldisera (University of Ottawa) Jeremie Stewart (University of Ottawa) IMG Program Carla Lipan (Romania) Ahmed ElAlfy (Egypt)

Welcome to our New Residents!

Page 6 Volume 5, Number 2

Dr. Ahmed ElAlfy

News from the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia

The journal enhancement project was recently highlighted in the editorial: “Canadian Journal of Anesthesia: 2006 and Be-yond” (Can J Anesth 2006; 53:1-5). Feedback in response to the enhancements and, more importantly, regarding journal content, has been very positive. With monthly publication fre-quency and a revised printing schedule with our publisher (University of Toronto Press), subscribers may now expect to receive their printed copy by the first day of every month. Phase One of the digital archiving project (CJA issues from 1990-1999) is nearing completion. It is anticipated that the corresponding PDF files will be on-line, indexed and fully searchable by the time this Newsletter reaches publication. Phase Two of the digital archiving project (CJA issues from 1954-1989) will begin later this spring, providing additional benefits to accessing the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia online. Dr Orlando Hung, an international authority on airway manage-ment, has prepared the third CJA continuing medical education (CME) module on “The Airway”, which will appear later this spring. The feedback from the first two modules has been uni-formly positive. We encourage readers to take advantage of the excellent learning opportunity provided in these structured learning modules, while earning valuable CME credits at the same time. The Journal now also supports the documentation of CME credits for our Guest Reviewers undertaking reviews of manuscripts submitted to The Journal. Reviewers may earn

three or more credits per review (Category 4), providing addi-tional benefits for our cohort of over 250 Guest Reviewers. At the editorial office, we have been able to reduce peer review lag times and publication lag times, which has been greatly ap-preciated by our many authors. There is no doubt that the proc-ess of electronic submission and peer review, introduced in Sep-tember 2005, has been a key element in achieving these efficien-cies, and for attracting more manuscripts in consideration for publication. It is noteworthy that we experienced a remarkable 25% increase in the number of submitted manuscripts in 2005. Later this spring, a special supplement to The Journal will ad-dress the subject of perioperative hemostasis and thrombosis. This supplement should be of considerable interest to all practic-ing anesthesiologists and critical care physicians. Finally, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Keyvan Karkouti (University of Toronto) to the Editorial Board of the Canadian Journal of Anesthesia. His expertise in perioperative outcomes research and fluid resuscitation will further enhance the Board’s expertise in these domains.

Donald R. Miller Editor-in-Chief

Canadian Journal of Anesthesia

Trivia Question

Page 7 Volume 5, Number 2

This issue’s trivia question: What do an anesthesia machine, a rocket, a can of whipped cream and a bag of potato chips all have in common? The first person to send the correct answer to lucie_filteau@yahoo.ca will be awarded a $20 Chapters Gift Certificate. Last issue’s trivia question: Who used curare for the first time during anesthesia to produce muscle relaxation? When did this revolutionary event take place? Answer: Dr. Harold Griffith, who obtained his MD from McGill, made history in 1942 in Montreal when he became the first doctor in the world to use curare to relax the muscles of a patient under-going an appendectomy. Congratulations to Sanjiv Gupta for being the first person to answer the question correctly. He has won the trivia question for the second time in a row!

Education Director’s Report

Hi All! I’m excited about my new “job” as Education Director! This new position was the brainchild of Paul Bragg. It was born from his frustration at being too busy as Program Director to implement all of the changes and technologically innovative projects that he had in mind for the numerous educational con-sumers that our department entertains. We all know how much Paul loves to exploit technology! I’m going to start my job by familiarizing myself in-depth with all of the programs that are currently underway. Some of them I have experienced for myself (core program hasn’t changed much), or helped develop (medical student program/simulator). Some I have had little knowledge of, such as the program for PGY-1’s. So, if you’re involved with anything educational in anesthesia, expect to hear from me soon! The job description says that I’m going to “oversee” all of the various educational programs that we currently have going. I think that having one person to be familiar with everything will be beneficial, as duplication in effort can be minimized. For example, if a good learning module is developed for the medi-cal students, perhaps it can be reworked to suit the paramedics. Our dedicated staff anesthesiologists now assume a teaching role on the majority of working days in the OR, while providing anesthesia care to ever-increasingly complex patients. Students will always need to spend some time in the operating room, but one of my tasks will be to work with the current directors of the medical student, paramedic, RT and future anesthesia tech pro-grams to develop more independent study modules. The goal is to provide a good educational experience for students, and pro-tect the teachers from getting “burnt out”. I am delighted to be involved with departmental oral exams, as well as preparing PGY-5’s for THE exam. The Royal College, however, has very strict guidelines. I am not allowed to assume any more responsibility for this than the average member of my department. I’m also not allowed to prepare any oral exam questions, in case I inadvertently re-use an idea that’s too close to a current question. Desiree Persaud has graciously volun-teered to help me out in this regard, so that I can avoid a con-flict. I am still going to be involved occasionally with the simulator, but it will be much less frequent. Michelle Chiu will be taking on the lion’s share of work from the Civic Campus. Bob Elliott will still be involved at the simulator lab while keeping very busy with his other job as General Campus Site Chief. We may also have additional involvement from new people joining our staff who have had previous simulator experience. I’ll keep you posted! Cheers!

Patti Murphy

Dr. Patti Murphy

The research committee reviewed 7 applications to the Chairman's Research Fund and recommended departmental sup-port for 3. These are hard decisions to make, especially when the applicants and reviewers work together. In all cases, how-ever, each decision had a strong consensus among the committee members. We want to ensure the success of high quality re-search that will lead to sustained programs in the department. All committee members are willing to help in the development of protocols that could be submitted to future competitions. Several members of the Uni-versity department submitted proposals to the CAS Research Awards Competition and we anxiously await the results. Research projects previously supported by the Chairman's Research Fund are progress-ing well with good recruitment. These in-clude: POISE (Postop Ischemia - Homer Yang), APO-E (Postop Delirium - Greg Bryson), TEAM (Thoracic Epidural for Thoracotomy - Calvin Thompson). A new study is ready for recruitment: POET. This

Research News

Page 8 Volume 5, Number 2

is a study comparing epidural anesthesia and analgesia to multi-modal IV analgesia. The outcome is major morbidity and mortal-ity. This is a multi-center study headed by Peter Choi in Vancouver, however our local team has designed a local variation of our own that will give those who favour epidur-als a run for their money. CHEO has a very active research program with numerous studies. Come to Research Journal Club March 27 to learn about the interesting labo-ratory work on neuroprotection being done by Dr. Dermot Doherty. Dr. Jean-Yves Du-puis will also present his latest project on the effect of advanced ventilation modes on lung water and weaning from mechanical ventilation. ALERT TO ALL RESIDENTS! Gary Johnson Research Day is coming up. We'll be having preview day on April 13 where you can have help organizing your presenta-tions. Please approach research committee members anytime for assistance.

Howard J. Nathan

“All committee members are willing to help in the development of protocols that could be submitted to future competitions.”

Howard J. Nathan

Dr. Jean-Yves Dupuis

Newlyweds Dr. Scott Duggan and Lindsay Patterson

Alumni News

Greetings from Kingston! It seems like yesterday that I was finishing up residency and my fellowship in Ottawa. Well, a lot can happen in a year and a half. Since that time, I became engaged to a wonderful girl named Lindsay during a surprise trip to New York City in May. We were married on October 9th in a beautiful ceremony in Edmonton (Lindsay’s home town), by the priest who married Wayne and Janet Gretzky. Unfortunately, there haven’t been any improvements to my hockey game. The other big news for us is that we are expecting our first baby…the due date is March 20th. We’ll be sure to forward photos after the big day. Professionally, I am an attending staff at the Kingston General and Hotel Dieu Hospitals. There is definitely a smaller feel to the hospitals here, but I have been enjoying the variety of cases, along with the opportunity to practice both paediatric and adult anaesthesia. I have also started a research project examining the effects of traumatic brain injury on cardiovascular function. Hopefully, these re-sults will be presented at a conference later this year. Cheers,

Scott Duggan

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The 5th annual Making a Mark anes-thesia resident review course was held February 9-12th in Banff, Alberta. The Ottawa contin-gent consisted of the final year residents: Drs Kawchuk, Gagné, Ozard, Ghatalia, Tibar, and El Ghamudi, along with myself and Linda Wynne. This was Dr Wynne’s first time and, with an accelerated crash course on oral exami-nation, she is now a seasoned veteran—so resi-dents beware!! I gave the regional anesthesia refresher course lecture and, thankfully, our residents helped keep the audience’s mark up on “most of” my questions. We also met up with Ottawa alumnus Miriam Berchuk, who is working in Calgary. On behalf of the residents, I would like to thank Paul Walsh and Organon for once again sponsoring this educational event. Hopefully, a few more staff will join the Ottawa contingent next year!!

Desiree Persaud

Making a Mark

The year 2006 arrived without too much fanfare at the General, but lately the hospital administration has been repeating the mantra “More from Less!” The Ides of March has moved from the 15th to the 31st – the critical num-bers of cancer and total joint cases must be reached before time runs out! So we are busy-busy with “4-joint” lists and holiday and weekend extra lists. Fortunately, we have had some new help since October in the form of an Anes-thesia Technician. Manon Rousseau has joined our department, bringing experi-ence gained in la belle province de Quebec. She has been a big help in the total joint lists both by letting us out to do blocks and by assisting with the blocks when she is available. Even lunch breaks are now possible! Work on the new Critical Care Wing continues with the move to our new offices planned for June 2007 and the opening of the new OR’s for Sept 2007. Recently, there was a mini-tour to see the shell of the new OR 3, which will be used for minimally-invasive General Surgery. There were outlines on the floor for equip-ment and paper signs on the walls for computers, clocks and light controls. The most impressive sign was for a large plasma screen high on the wall at the end of the OR table. Someone asked if the Hospital will be subscribing to movies-on-demand but Kent Woodhall was non-committal. Lastly, as the long winter draws to a close, watch for the announcement for THE anesthesia social event, scheduled for Saturday, March 25th. It’s part talent show and part dance. It should be lots of fun and a welcome break for all. (Ed’s note: This event has been cancelled due to an insufficient response from the anesthesia community).

Bob Elliott

Page 9 Volume 5, Number 2

News from the General Campus

“On behalf of the residents, I would like to thank Paul Walsh and Organon for once again spon-soring this educational event.”

Desiree Persaud

Drs. Kevin Gagné (right) and Ian Ozard (below) “Making a Mark” on the Banff slopes...

The Civic Campus downhill ski team, in the form of Drs Hladkowicz, Curran and Lewis, have just returned from a successful pre-olympic training period at Fernie and Kicking Horse in B.C. All team members showed progressive improve-ment in form and no injuries were sustained in training, despite a "boil water" advisory at one of the training facilities. The training also included special dietary proto-cols, with emphasis on liquid refreshment for rapid rehydration. However, the team members are still working on ways to ensure that they do not fall foul of the ban on performance enhancing sub-stances. Some members of the team feel that the U.S. has better facilities and will urge the organizing committee to consider Vail as the site for future events. Security was provided by a for-mer member of the RCMP and the group suffered no attacks from any radical factions despite their politically incorrect behaviour at times.

Geraint Lewis

Civic “Ski Team” Report

Page 10 Volume 5, Number 2

Above, right: Dr. Rick Hladkowicz Right: Dr. Geraint Lewis

News from the Civic Campus

Things have been pretty slow since we all had a chance to recharge our batteries over the Christmas Break. It seems that people are already itching for that winter getaway and March Break is just around the corner. Wayne Barry has entered semi-retirement mode. After twenty-five years (second medical career) as an anesthesiologist, Wayne will begin to enjoy the fruits of his labour. He will continue to maintain his skills (albeit with a reduced workload) and still plans to vol-unteer his time for the underprivileged of the world. Over the last few months, there has been a lot of portfolio shifting involving various university positions and members of the Civic Campus. Paul Bragg has officially taken the post of Vice Dean of Postgraduate Medical Education (Congrats!). Paul will be busy at the University two days a week dealing with residents of all stripes. Linda Wynne has done a great job filling in during the transition as we now look to formally fill the role of Program Director. Patti Murphy has been acclaimed as the successful candidate for the new role of Education Director and will work closely with the Program Director. Geraint Lewis has completed his first term as a member of the Ottawa Hospital Physician’s Association (OHPA) and is looking for continued abuse in representing his colleagues at TOHAMO. He continues to be very active at the OMA (wearing many hats) and is currently wrapping up negotiations at the Operative Anesthesia Committee, a body which will redefine the way we provide service to our patients. Our PGY-5’s have just returned from “Making a Mark” in Banff and are now in 5th gear heading to the FRCP exams. Clear your schedules as they will be soliciting our help in preparation for the oral exams. I won’t wish them luck just yet.

Ian Zunder

FMG Dinner

Page 11 Volume 5, Number 2

This year’s Foreign Medical Graduate Dinner was held on Tuesday, February 7th at Biagio’s Italian Kitchen. It was a great turnout and, as per usual, many staff and residents brought their families. In her opening comments, Dr. Wynne mentioned that “FMG Din-ner” was perhaps no longer a representative name for this event. It was suggested (possibly by someone from The Rock?) that “The Annual CFA Dinner” would be a more inclusive moniker! Stay tuned next year for the official renaming…As can be seen by the photos below, a good time is had no matter what we call this event.

Lucie Filteau

Dr. Anna Shadrina and her husband Alex

Dr. Carla Lipan with daughter Ioana

Dr. Kim Walton and Dave Eibner

Dr. Nassir Tawfiq with his sons Ahmad and Eyad

Chief Resident’s Corner

Page 12 Volume 5, Number 2

Well winter is upon us and, as residents, we are quite aware that the academic year is whizzing along. We are well into our pediatric core and are looking forward to our regional core coming up this spring. On the social side of things, we have tried to diversify and think up some novel activities to bring the program together. We enjoyed our first ever gingerbread-making contest this year in December. They say you never really know your fellow residents until you have decorated a gingerbread house with them. We didn’t have a clear winner this year as each entry was unique in their own way…some more than others. Amy Fraser has taken on the winter social event. After the collapse of the roof of the curling rink last year she has switched the focus and we are looking forward to our first ever poker night. Tania Di Renna has once again outdone herself with the annual Christmas Rounds video. Who knew we had such budding actors amongst our staff and residents! Not only do we have creativity, but we also have athletic prowess. Amy Rodgers, a PGY-2, placed 3rd in her age category at this year’s Winterlude triathlon (turned duathlon due to the lack of ice on the canal this year). We are looking forward to having the PGY-1’s fin-ish off their rotating year and joining us on a more consistent basis in the OR. Finally, good luck to our PGY-5’s, who are hard at work with their studies.

Anna Wyand

L to R: Amy Rodgers, Anna Wyand, and Martin Kreuser

L to R: Chris Hudson, Natalie Dupuis, Carlo Arpin, and Kevin Gagné

L to R: Amy Fraser, Jessica Haussmann, Jordan Caveno (don’t be fooled by the halo!) and Gavin Gracias

Resident Poker Nite TM

The First Annual Residents’ Poker Nite™ was a grand success, despite inclement weather. Poker sharks and beginners alike came out to test their luck against their so-called “friends” for props, bragging rights, and the promised Fabulous Prizes. At the serious table, Chris “Unabomber” Hudson flamed out early after a masterful show of steely-eyed courage. Natalie Dupuis and Kevin Gagné share the Best Trash Talking Prize, as they continued what was clearly a long-standing tradition of belittling each other’s poker skills. Nat also received the Best Poker Outfit award for her stylish Panama hat. Elsewhere, at the “kids’ table”, as it was fondly known, exten-sive prizewinning also took place. Amy Rodgers was an early favourite for the Beginner’s Luck Award, but sacrificed her medal chances by leaving the party prematurely. In the end, Martin Kreuser, fiancé of Anna Wyand, took home the coveted title. Most Obvious Attempt at Cheating went to Jordan Caveno, who went bust a couple of times but mysteriously kept turning up with more chips. Lucky we weren’t playing for money (or at least, not a lot of money). Thanks to everyone for coming out and special thanks to Anna for bringing the beer.

Amy Fraser

All is good in the regional anesthesia world. With access to the jointly owned ICU-OR ultrasound machine, we have taken the opportunity to scan many staff, residents, and medical students. The first ultrasound guided intersca-lene block was performed by Drs’ Zunder and Tibar and, as a result, they are the new “Regional Kings”. Dr Abdualla Alsefaou recently joined us as our new Regional Anesthesia Fellow and it has been a thrill. Abdualla has been known to seek out block opportunities and infiltrate multiple potential rooms with blocks and has now set his sights on ultrasound guided blocks. In fact, the Regional Kings may soon be dethroned. Dr Evans, our city-wide paravertebral block expert, has been able to give us some tips and tricks on the performance of this useful technique for the mastectomy patients. Finally, at the recent Winterlude Conference, we were able to demonstrate our solid regional anesthesia pro-gram with 1 refresher course lecture and 5 peripheral block stations.

Desiree Persaud

Regional Report

Page 13 Volume 5, Number 2

Ellen Thompson to Participate in APS Symposium

On May 4th, 2006, I will be speaking at a symposium at the American Pain Society's Annual Scientific meeting in San Antonio, Texas. The subject is: Beyond psychogenic pain: "Explaining" unexplained pain. The APS symposium is the largest annual international meeting on chronic pain. The chair of the session is Karen Raphael, who published the definitive study (2001) showing there is no relationship between sexual/physical abuse in childhood and chronic pain in adult-hood. Dr. Harold Merskey, the man who wrote the definition of pain (as well as being the world's ranking psychiatrist in this area) will take apart the concepts of "psychogenic pain" and "somatization" (even though he at one time helped spread the idea that they were valid). "In light of current scientific data, these concepts no longer have validity", he says. Gary Bennett, who most of you have heard speak, will provide scientific data to explain the basis for so-called "non-anatomical pain". My job as a clinician will be to give examples of pain states thought to be "psychogenic", but which are now known to be organic, e.g. "the burning mouth syndrome". This syn-drome, which was believed to be a psychological distress symptom (most patients being middle-aged females) has now been shown to be caused by small fiber neuropathy. I have promised myself that this will be the last "big" job I undertake… unless I sit down to write a badly needed textbook.

Ellen Thompson

Above, right: Dr. Holly Evans and Winterlude Workshop attendees Right: Dr. Cathy Smyth and Winterlude Workshop atten-dees

Dr. Ellen Thompson

WE’RE ON THE WEB! www.anesthesia.org

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." -Douglas Adams I’m not quite sure what to say about this issue, other than it almost did not happen! Having received only three submissions by the extended deadline date, I had lost faith in my regular newsletter contributors. The tentative threat of cancellation, however, seemed to light a few fires and the keyboards across town started clicking away…and here you are reading a 14 page issue! That being said, this is not quite the process that I would like to follow for future issues. Once I do have the submissions, putting together a newsletter like this takes an enormous amount of time and energy: proofreading, photo editing/cropping, layout planning, etc. For that reason (in conjunction with my recently increased family demands), I would really rather not spend that many hours chasing after submissions by sending out individual email re-quests and several reminders. To date, I have not come up with a great solution to avoid the time drain of submission-hunting, other than sending a few mass emails (which this time resulted in such a low yield). I am certainly open to your suggestions! In the meantime, if you are a contributor, I am humbly begging you to please do your best to respect the deadlines. I know you are all incredibly busy, but let-ting them pass by several weeks seriously reduces the time I have left to put the whole thing together. I then find myself working many nights into the wee hours of the morning to get the issue out in a timely fashion. I hope I have not come across as being terribly demanding and ungrateful. I sincerely appreciate those of you who have contributed to the current and past issues and hope that you continue to do so. Each of you has helped to make the newsletter tremendously successful. Thank you! Lucie Filteau

University of Ottawa Department of Anesthesiology Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus, Box 249-C 1053 Carling Avenue Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4E9

Phone: 613-761-4940 Fax: 613-761-5032 Email: lucie_filteau@yahoo.ca or lmchardy@ottawahospital.on.ca

Newsletter

The University of Ottawa Depart-ment of Anesthesiology Newsletter is pub-lished 3 times per year (Fall, Winter/Spring and Summer).

Contributors to the Winter/Spring 2006 Is-sue:

Drs. Homer Yang, Linda Wynne, Donald Miller, Patti Murphy, Howard Nathan, Scott Duggan, Desiree Persaud, Bob Elliott, Geraint Lewis, Ian Zunder, Anna Wyand, Amy Fraser, Ellen Thompson and Lucie Filteau.

The next issue, with any luck, will be published in July 2006.

Contributors

A Word from the Editor

The 23rd Annual Gary Johnson Postgraduate Research Day May 12, 2006 Research Presentations University of Ottawa Amphitheater A, 7:00 am Year End Dinner and Awards Château Laurier To follow presentations

Upcoming Events...

Resident Year-End Orals PGY 2-4: May 1, 2006 PGY 5: May 2, 2006 University of Ottawa Roger Guindon Hall

Combined Research Meeting/Journal Club March 27, 2006 CHEO Research Institute, Rm 155

62nd Annual CAS Meeting June 16-20, 2006 Westin Harbour Castle Hotel and Conference Centre Toronto, Ontario

Resident Preview Day April 13, 2006 The Ottawa Heart Institute Foustanellas Auditorium, H 2348-C