Resident Innovation Teams | Department of Medicine | School of Medicine

The Resident Innovation Teams (RIT) are a unique strength of the Queen's Internal Medicine Core Residency Program (QIM). These teams organize and manage the majority of program-related events, from wellness activities and socials (even adapting to the present COVID times!) to academic half-day curricula and boot camp training amongst the new R1s, to Resident Research Day and Grant-Writing Workshops.

Each team is run primarily by our highly-motivated residents with guidance from an associated staff member. This unique structure allows the teams to adapt quickly to feedback. Because the teams are run by QIM residents, for QIM residents, they are well placed to adapt to the needs of residents, and the program. Additional administrative support is provided by chosen RIT directors (from within the PGY-2 year) who oversee and coordinate between teams and the program.

Many innovative initiatives have been borne through these teams. Resident Research Day as a means to showcase resident projects, but also as a way to establish key networking opportunities to match residents with preceptors, was one such innovation that has come from these teams.

Teams meet on a frequent basis to establish and work towards goals set out at the beginning of the year to better improve resident life and the program.

We encourage you to check out the summaries of the various RITs offered at QIM.

Logo Description

The logo was designed by one of our residents, Dr. Amol Raut. The logo make homage to the design language of the QIM "Q-mark". At the heart of QIM are its residents and their ideas towards improving the resident experience and ultimately patient care. Thus, contained within the Q-mark is the light bulb, a symbol for ideas, innovation, ingenuity and hardwork. The light bulb filament is replaced with the Rod of Asclepius, the Greek symbol associated with healing and medicine.

The Wellness RIT aims to foster sustainable self-care skills in our residents through physical, social, and creative activities that facilitate connection to peers and the larger community. We are focused on promoting healthy and balanced lifestyles during residency, creating an open culture within our program to discuss stress and burnout, and providing residents with resources for help. Our goal is that the healthy habits and supportive community gained through participation in our activities will continue beyond residency, encouraging resiliency and preventing burnout throughout one’s career.

2023/2024 Leads:

Residents: Drs. Nilasha Thayalan, Manisha Jogendran & Namita Deodhare

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Mala Joneja

The Queen's Research RIT group serves to provide support and learning opportunities in addition to the major research events hosted by QIM (Resident Research Day and Introduction to Resident Research). Our priorities are to foster resident research through workshops on both grant and manuscript writing, led by expert faculty researchers and to highlight the success of residents within the Queen’s Internal Medicine Program.

The goals for 2022/2023 are to establish a platform on the QIM website that displays resident research and to increase resident lead research through our workshops.

2023/2024 Leads:

Residents: Drs. Albert Choe, Emaad Mohammad & Nilasha Thayalan

The Academic Half-day (AHD)/Bootcamp RIT is responsible for planning and implementing resident learning events during the PGY-1 Bootcamp in the summer and the junior AHDs that occur in the first half of the year. We work closely with faculty to ensure that the content is up-to-date and helpful for residents during their training. Our goal for 2022-2023 will be to integrate high-yield in-person teaching with online sessions and to modify these in response to feedback to maximize resident learning.

2023/2024 Leads:

Residents: Drs. Namita Deodhare, Manisha Jogendran & Nilasha Thayalan

The Humanities RIT was created to embrace humanity, uncertainty, and subjectivity as an integral part of the clinical practice of medicine and the development of a well and full physician entity. This year, we are hoping to host a variety of working groups and events to help introduce the use of narrative and art-based analytical strategies in clinical interactions.

Events that are confirmed for the 2023/2024 year include:

BLM Book Club (starting with Until We Are Free: Reflections on Black Lives Matter in Canada)
Visual Learning Strategies workshop with the Agnes Etherington Art Centre
Creative Writing Seminar

2023/2024 Lead:

Resident: Dr. Micheal Scaffidi

The new Mentorship RIT was created to provide QIM residents an opporunity to both thrive in a mentorship role and receive near-peer and faculty mentorship for personal & professional development. Our priorities include:

Creating PGY1-2 mentorship pairs to support PGY1s in their transition to residency
Facilitate QIM resident mentorship of medical students interested in internal medicine
Provide internal medicine residents an opportunity to receive faculty mentorship in their subspecialty of interest

2023/2024 Leads:

Residents: Drs. Roselyn Mainland & Richard Berish

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Stephen Gauthier

To create a program for QIM residents that recognizes equity, diversity, and inclusion as fundamental to wellness, learning, safety, and health. This includes, but is not limited to, implementing equitable processes to ensure the well-being of all residents, hiring a more diverse group of trainees by improving the admissions process, and fostering an atmosphere of inclusion and safety for all residents.

2023/2024 Leads:

Residents: Drs. Namita Deodhare, Vincent Girard, & Manisha Jogendran

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Bikrampal Sidhu