At Vancouver General Hospital, areas of special emphasis include bone marrow and solid organ transplantation, travel and tropical medicine, neurosurgery and neurology, burns, multiple trauma, tuberculosis, and spinal cord injury.
At St. Paul’s Hospital, the trainees’ objectives emphasize HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular surgery and cardiology, cystic fibrosis, and infections in injection drug users. A dedicated ward called the Urban Health Infection Unit includes HIV/AIDS patients and also patients with addictions issues plus infections at St. Paul’s Hospital and it provides a valuable elective opportunity for training.
Acute and chronic community-acquired infections, nosocomial and medical device-associated infections, and surgical infections are seen at both sites.
Additional sites and areas of specialization include:
Infections Related to Obstetrics and Gynecology:
- training at the BC Women’s Hospital and the Oak Tree Clinic
- includes HIV infection in women, youth and children
Pediatric Infectious Disease:
- two 4-week blocks at BC Children’s Hospital
- participate in both inpatient consultation service and outpatient clinics
Ambulatory Care:
- occurs throughout the training program
- ID specialty residents have a longitudinal clinic, focusing on all aspects of general ID
- additional elective ambulatory care experience – includes full-time one 4-week block in TB or sexually transmitted infections (STI) at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), a full-time one-month rotation at the Oak Tree Clinic for women and families with HIV, and outpatient management of viral hepatitis
Hospital Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC):
- one 4-week block in the clinical and laboratory aspects of infection control
- complete a project addressing a current IPAC issue
- participate in the investigation of an outbreak
- attend monthly Infection Control Unit meetings for 1 year (except while on the inpatient consultation service)
- attend daily infection control meetings while on the Pediatric service
- At St.Paul’s and VGH, and BC Children’s Hospital
Medical Microbiology:
- initial three 4-week blocks with hands-on experience and knowledge in general bacteriology, mycology, virology, molecular diagnostics and parasitology
- a dedicated infection control and antimicrobial stewardship block
- two 4-week blocks of microbiology spent at SPH or another site in advanced microbiology and virology
- a block of public health in a municipal or regional agency with an emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention at Vancouver Coastal Health
Research:
- an area of emphasis in the UBC program
- training in clinical epidemiology features design and interpretation of research studies, evaluation of investigative and diagnostic methods, data analysis and basic statistical skills
- develop critical appraisal skills at weekly Journal Club
- spend elective rotations in clinical or basic science research under Committee supervision
- submit for presentation at least one abstract at a major meeting, and submit a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed journal
Infectious Diseases Academic Half-Day:
- every Thursday afternoon with adult ID, pediatric ID, and medical microbiology residents; subspecialty residents are excused from clinical duties at this time
- a two-year program of weekly topics designed to ensure coverage of the basic and clinical sciences relevant to the specialty
- Academic half day content is presented by both faculty and trainees
- write practice examinations every six months, prep for the Royal College ID examination
EXAMPLE TRAINING SCHEDULE
Program Year | Blocks | ||||||||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | |
1 | ID Consult Service | UHIU | ID Consult Service | Path 722 Microbiology Course | ID Consult Service | ASP | IPAC | Tx ID | Community ID | Ambulatory HIV | Research | ||
2 | Elective/Research | ID Consult Service | Public Health | Elective/Selective | Pediatric ID | Junior Attending | Micro | Junior Attending |
UHIU: Urban Health Infection Unit
ASP: Antimicrobial Stewardship Program
IPAC: Infection Prevention and Control
Tx ID: Transplant Infectious Diseases