Plastic Surgery | Research

Plastic Surgery | Education | PGME

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Plastic Surgery Residency Program

The University of Calgary's Plastic Surgery Residency Training Program is a small, preceptor-based program. There are currently 11 residents in the program who rotate through all five sites in the Calgary Zone. This includes the Foothills Medical Centre and Alberta Children's Hospital, which are regional referral centres for level I trauma, oncology, burns, and replant surgery. We offer a five-year residency that integrates the CanMEDS competencies into the teaching of Plastic Surgery.

Program Director
Dr. Aaron Knox

Associate Program Director
Dr. Daniel Demsey

Program Administrator
Jessica McIntosh
Room 382, Foothills Medical Centre
1403 - 29 Street NW
Calgary AB T2N 2T9
Ph:  403.944.4317
Fax:  403.944.2840
Email: jessica.mcintosh@albertahealthservices.ca

Vision

Cultivate evidence-based plastic surgeons.

Mission

Equip residents with the tools to interpret, and contribute to, our specialty’s evidentiary base.

Residency Program Curriculum

  1. PGY-1 and PGY-2

    Rotations are designed to prepare the resident for the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examination Part II and to establish the foundations for managing the surgical patient. Seminars and courses in biostatistics, bioethics, research protocol, and critical thinking will be mandatory. The Royal College requires rotations in general surgery, orthopaedic surgery, trauma, ICU, and plastic surgery, and the residency program requires rotations in surgical oncology and ENT. Rotations are objective specific to optimize the resident experience. Plastic surgery residents are expected to attend all plastic surgery academic rounds and will be excused from their clinical duties when off service to do so.

  2. PGY-3 to PGY-5

    Adult and paediatric plastic surgery rounds are conducted for three years in preparation for the Royal College certification exams. Residents are exposed to all facets of plastics, including maxillofacial, craniofacial, microvascular, hand, peripheral nerve, burn, breast, facial aesthetic, and body contouring surgery. Time is spent in consultant offices as well as scheduled clinics, which include hand, reconstructive (oncologic) cleft lip and palate, burn, peripheral nerve, and vascular birthmark clinics.

  1. PGY-1 

    Research methodology and related topics are provided in the form of courses and seminars. Presentation at the annual Resident Research Day is compulsory.

  2. PGY-2 to PGY-5

    A substantial research project (on an annual or continuing basis) and presentation at the annual Resident Research Day is compulsory. The elective blocks are optional for research in addition to weekly protected academic time. The presentation of research material at national meetings is strongly encouraged, and financial support for attendance at meetings is available when papers are given.

The following lists the required seminars, courses, and in-training examinations. There is also a protected academic/research half-day every week.

  • Biostatistics
  • Bioethics
  • Critical Thinking
  • Research Methodology
  • ATLS Course/ACLS Course
  • CanMEDS Seminar Series
  • Surgical Skills Lab
  • Departmental Rounds
  • General Plastic Surgery Rounds
  • Burn Rounds
  • Hand Rounds
  • Morbidity and Mortality Rounds
  • City-Wide Rounds
  • American and Canadian Review Courses
  • CAGS Exams
  • Surgical Skills Exam/POS
  • MCC Part II
  • American Plastic Surgery In-Service Exam
  • Biannual Divisional Exams
  • American Hand In-Service Exam

Resources

Please find the Section of Plastic Surgery Research Agreement here.

For additional information, please visit carms, the Canadian Resident Matching Service. They are a national, independent organization providing application and match services to the Canadian medical education community.

The Section of Plastic Surgery teaches and delivers surgery at the following sites:

  • Foothills Hospital
  • Tom Baker Cancer Centre
  • Alberta Children's Hospital
  • Rockyview General Hospital
  • Peter Lougheed Centre
  • South Health Campus

Additional Information

Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada: Applying competency-based practices to residency education


To contribute to the success of Canadian physicians and the delivery of high-quality patient care, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada has embarked upon an initiative to introduce competency-based medical education (CBME) in Canadian postgraduate specialty training and in professional practice in Canada. This initiative, called Competence by Design (CBD), aims to enhance patient care by aligning medical education and lifelong learning with evolving patient needs and empowering learners to more fully engage in their education process.


CBD will use time as a framework rather than the basis for progression. It is not anticipated that the duration of training will change for the majority of trainees. Residency programs will be broken down into stages, and each stage will have a series of milestones based on required competencies. These milestones will create more targeted learning outcomes and involve more frequent and formative assessments within the clinical workplace to ensure residents are developing and receiving feedback on the skills they need.


The Royal College anticipates that all specialty and subspecialty programs in Canada will adopt CBD in gradual phases. All disciplines have been divided into seven cohort groups, each of which will adopt CBD at different times.


All programs implementing CBD will continue to undergo the same rigorous accreditation processes as traditional programs. All CBD programs (and traditional programs) will continue to lead to Royal College approved certification. Certification for trainees in both CBD and traditional programs will include the completion of a Royal College examination; however, residents in CBD programs will also be assessed against program milestones throughout their training. Within a CBD program, all milestones (documented within an electronic portfolio) and the Royal College examination must be successfully completed to achieve certification.


For more information, please contact cbd@royalcollege.ca.