Neurocritical Care Fellowship

The Calgary Neurocritical Care fellowship was everything I needed it to be. The staff including Julie, Philippe, and Andreas are not only great teachers and mentors, but are also excellent friends and colleagues that I will continue to value dearly as I move forward in my career. The program is designed to be flexible and I was able to tailor it to what I want. This centre also provided the neurocritical care complexity and variety that gives me confidence and competence to practice as a neurocritical consultant. The educational and research mandates of the program enriched my learning, teaching, and scholarly portfolio. As I graduate from the program and move on, I will look fondly back at my time here.

As the first International Medical Graduate to join the Neurocritical Care (NCC) Fellowship program in Fall 2023, I found it to be a well-structured program and an excellent platform for learning evidence-based practices in managing complex neurosurgical and neurological patients in the intensive care unit, guided by experts Dr. Julie Kromm, Dr. Andreas Kramer, and Dr. Philippe Couillard. Exposure to a wide range of clinical cases and state-of-the-art neuromonitoring modalities, including ICM+, cerebral oximetry, and transcranial doppler, significantly contributed to the development of my clinical skills. The regularly conducted academic program was well-paced and customized to my learning needs. Elective rotations in stroke services, neuroradiology, neuro-anesthesia, and physical and medical rehabilitation provided invaluable insights, broadening my perspective as an intensivist by highlighting often-overlooked aspects of daily practice. The program's flexibility allowed me to drive my learning objectives, focusing on areas most beneficial to my clinical practice. As a fellow, I had the valuable opportunity to present at the Alberta Society of Intensive Care Physicians Annual Meeting, SEND rounds, and Department of Critical Care Medicine Grand Rounds. Overall, the fellowship was an enriching experience that expanded my expertise and will inform changes in my clinical practice.

I was honoured to be selected as the first Neurocritical Care (NCC) Fellow in Calgary following my training in intensive care medicine. In my opinion, I received world class training tailored to the Canadian context from doctors Kromm, Couillard, and Kramer. At all times, they were highly invested in my education and future success as a NCC specialist. I have no doubt that this training was instrumental in me being hired in my current position as an intensivist and NCC specialist. In addition, I also work with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) as the only NCC specialist in uniform. In this capacity, I have been involved in training and educating medical technicians, nurses and physicians primarily in management of severe traumatic brain injury as well as drafting national CAF medical policy pertaining to NCC issues. None of this would have been possible without the excellent training that I received in Calgary.