Cardiac Anesthesiology

The adult cardiac anesthesiology fellowship at the University of Alberta is designed to help fellows evolve into accomplished consultants through exposure to care of patients at a quaternary cardiac surgical centre. The fellow will be involved in the perioperative anesthetic management for a variety of clinical cases including: surgical revascularization, open-heart valve repair/replacement, percutaneous valve interventions, minimally invasive valve procedures, cardiac and pulmonary transplantation, mechanical circulatory support, procedures in the patient with adult congenital heart disease, and major aortic + endovascular procedures.  In addition to the cardiac operating room, fellows will provide care to patients in the cardiac catheterization and electrophysiologic lab as well as the cardiovascular pre-admission clinic. 

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Program Structure

• Echocardiography: At the completion of their fellowship, candidates will be prepared to sit the National Board of Echocardiography exam (PTEeXAM) exam and obtain the certificate of Special Competence in Advanced Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography. Exposure to echocardiography during the fellowship will include 4 weeks of transthoracic scanning in the echocardiography lab with board certified cardiologists, use of the state-of-the-art HeartWorks TEE simulator, and intraoperative TEE including 3D imaging modalities.
  
• Academic Activities: Fellows are expected to be involved in academic activities in preparation for their roles as consultant cardiac anesthesiologists. Mandatory academic activities include:
  
  • CV resident teaching
  • presentation of pertinent journal article at journal club (1x/12months).
  • present at Combined CV Anesthesiology/CV surgery Grand Rounds (1x/12months).
  • primary or co-authorship of one case report submitted for acceptance to a relevant journal during the academic year.
• Research: Fellows are required to participate in a research project during their fellowship. Fellows will also present their research at the Department’s Annual Gelfan and Bell Research Day held in May of their academic year. 
• Non-OR Academic Time: Fellows will provide perioperative care of the adult cardiac patient that will include one month in the cardiovascular intensive care unit, as well as the cardiac catheterization + electrophysiology labs, and CV Pre-admission Clinic.
• Non-academic Clinical Time: The cardiac fellowship is self-funded through fee-for-service weekday and on-call clinical duties as a general anesthesiologist at the University of Alberta Hospital.  Independent perioperative anesthetic care will be provided to patients of the following surgical subspecialties: ENT, general surgery, urology, orthopaedics, and plastic surgery.  Out-of-OR care may also be provided to patients for the following services: psychiatry, interventional radiology, endoscopy, and pre-admission clinic.  The minimum required amount of such activity will be specified in detail at the start of the fellowship and includes weekend on-call assignments distributed throughout the training year.