Resident Help

The Division of Neurology at Queen's University is proud to offer a five-year postgraduate residency program fully accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Our residents have exposure to a good mix of neurological cases as our unit draws the most complex and challenging neurologic cases from the region, and this mixture of common and unusual patient presentations prepares residents well for clinical practice.

Our program also offers good education to service ratio. We don’t compromise the educational experience of our trainees by allowing service demands to influence the program. The service requirements are met by dedicated attending staff in order to avoid compromising the training program by unreasonable workloads.

I’m especially proud of our congenial work environment. There is a collegial relationship with the neurology attending staff as well as with the neurosurgeons, neuropathologists, physiatrists and neuroradiologists. This is enhanced by the small size of the training program and may not be found at other larger centres.

Our residents have met with great success after their training. They do exceptionally well on their Royal College examinations and have gone on to academic appointments in Canada and major U.S. centres as well as community practice.

Program Highlights

The Neurology program has been designed to ensure that residents acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes relating to gender, culture and ethnicity pertinent to neurology. On completion of the program, our graduate physicians are competent to function as consultant neurologists.

The five year program, fully accredited by the RCPSC, is comprised of a basic clinical year with rotations in inpatient wards, Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Emergency Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and the coronary care unit. This is followed by four years of adult Neurology, including experiences in inpatient services and consultation, intensive care, EMG/neuromuscular disease, EMG/epilepsy, neuropathology, and pediatric neurology.


Sample Neurology Rotation Schedule
PGY1	PGY2	PGY3-5
Cardiology / Coronary Care Unit	Internal Medicine	Neurology Inpatient Service Neurology Consultation Service EEG-Epilepsy EMG-Neuromuscular Neuropathology Neuropediatrics Research Electives
Emergency Medicine
Infectious Diseases
General Internal Medicine / Subspecialty Medicine	Elective
Neurology	Neurology Neurosurgery Neuroradiology Neurorehabilitation Neuro-ophthalmology Psychiatry

PGY1
The first year of the Neurology program is comprised of internal medicine training. This includes rotations in Neurology, General Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases, Emergency Medicine, and Cardiology/Coronary Care. Residents function at a level comparable to those in the core Internal Medicine program, learning to provide scientifically-based, comprehensive, and accurate diagnosis and effective management for patients with disease.

PGY2
This year is a flexible year designed to provide education in the broad base of skills necessary to practice neurology. It is recognized that within the discipline of neurology, there is great variation in the career goals of trainees. While the emphasis will be on a broad base of education needed for the practice of general adult neurology, there is flexibility for special arrangements including elective time.

PGY3-5
The third, fourth, and fifth years of the program are comprised of Clinical Adult Neurology rotations. These specialty years include Neurology inpatient consultation, EEG/Epilepsy, EMG/neuromuscular, Neurology clinics, and Neuropathology. In addition, rotations in pediatric Neurology are completed at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Elective opportunities are also available.

Admission

Admission to the Neurology program at Queen's University is through the R1 Main Residency Match, coordinated by the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS).

Curriculum and Educational Activities

Dedicated academic half-days occur weekly throughout the year, ensuring that residents are covering the entire curriculum in a comprehensive manner. Topics include Neurosciences Case Rounds, Clinical Rounds, a seminar series, Journal Club, and a Clinical Examination Series. Medicine Sign-In Rounds occur daily, while Stroke Rounds, Neuropathology Rounds, and Medical Mortality / Morbidity Rounds occur weekly.

All PGY1 Neurology residents are invited to attend the Queen’s Conference on Academic Residency Education (QCARE), the Teaching Improvement Project System (TIPS), the Critical Events Simulation Course, and the Senior Resident Leadership Course offered through the Kingston Resuscitation Institute.

Weekly Schedule

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
AM		Path Lab 8:30 - Neuropath Rnds	Richardson Labs 8:00 - M&M Rnds	Radiology Conf 7:30 - Rads G-Rounds Kidd 7A/B Conf 8:30 - Case Rnds 9:30 - Neurosci Rnds 10:30 - Clinical Teaching 11:30 - Clinical Skills
Noon	Kidd 7A/B Conf 11:30 - Stroke Rounds	Kidd 7 A/B Neuro - D/C Planning Rnds	Con 7 Library 12 - Neuromusc Rnds	Etherington Hall 11:30 - Medicine G-Rnds
PM		2PM - Neuro Ward Pharmacy Rnds			Location TBA (monthly) 14:00 - Natnl Stroke Rnds

Academic Half Day & Past Presentations

AHD schedule (MedTech) last updated May 22, 2012

NOTE: Please note highlighted areas for room changes or time changes

          Past Presentations (MedTech)

Residency Training Committee

          Minutes and Objectives (MedTech)

Conferences & Courses

2013

January	February	March	April
	*Feb 6-8 - Int'l Stroke Conf* (Honolulu, HI)	*Mar 15-23 - AAN* (San Diego, CA)
May	June	July	August
*May 28-31 - Euro Stroke Conf* (London, UK)
September	October	November	December

2014

January	February	March	April

May	June	July	August

September	October	November	December

Research

All residents complete a research project during the training program. Any subject related to neurology is acceptable, and this represents an opportunity to develop research interests, improve critical skills, and enhance the ability to evaluate literature. PGY1 residents are invited to attend a full-day research skills workshop introducing them to such topics as design, critical appraisal, and effective presentation skills.

There are particular strengths at Queen's in basic neuroscience research and in clinical outcomes research and evaluative approaches to health care. Opportunities exist for graduate studies in basic science departments and in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology leading to a MSc. or PhD degree. Residents who are interested in completing a graduate degree concurrent with their Neurology program may do so through the new Clinician Investigator Program, a two-year RCPSC accredited program offered at Queen’s University.

Training Sites

Kingston General Hospital (KGH) is southeastern Ontario’s leading centre for complex-acute and specialty care, and home to the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario. KGH serves almost 500,000 people through its Kingston facility and 24 regional affiliate and satellite sites. A major redevelopment plan has recently provided new facilities for cancer care, acute inpatient mental health, pediatrics, and intensive care.

The neurology inpatient unit functions as a joint unit with Neurosurgery (a Division in the Department of Surgery) and includes a ten bed Stroke Unit. KGH is a regional resource for the Clinical Neurosciences.

Fully affiliated with Queen’s University, KGH is a research and teaching hospital which is home to 2,400 health-care students and residents, in addition to 160 health researchers. KGH was ranked in 2011 as one of Canada’s Top 40 Research Hospitals by Research Infosource.

Policies

Postgraduate Policies

Life in Kingston-Neurology Style

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Stroke Fellowship

For more information on our Stroke Fellowship, please contact us at neuropro@queensu.ca or 613-549-6666 ext. 4320.

All sponsored / foreign trained applicants are encouraged to apply directly through our PGME Office.

Epilepsy Clinical Neurophysiology Fellowship

The Epilepsy section at the Division of Neurology, Queen’s University, Kingston runs busy Epilepsy clinics (targeting refractory focal epilepsy, complex generalized epilepsy as well as First seizure populations individually), along with a busy EEG lab conducting nearly 15 routine/sleep deprived EEG studies/day and 1-3 continuous EEG studies/week. Our Epilepsy monitoring unit (3 adult beds and 1 Pediatric) operates all through the year, with a 1-2 month wait list. Our comprehensive Epilepsy care program multidisciplinary meetings for presurgical evaluation are held for 2-4 hours a month. Our epilepsy surgery program offers surgical treatment to nearly 10 patients a year following extensive advanced non-invasive evaluation as well as intracranial subdural and stereo-EEG evaluation. In addition, 8-10 patients receive vagus nerve stimulation procedures per year.

We have a very active Epilepsy research program involving several clinical, advanced neurophysiological (for epilepsy and sleep) and neuroimaging technologies and epilepsy genetics, used to address research questions which are emergent and novel, with improvement of quality of life of persons with epilepsy, at the core.

Fellowships for 1-2 years would offer a balanced exposure to clinical epilepsy management and routine EEG, continuous EEG for critically ill patients or those with complex clinical conditions, interpretation of prolonged video-EEG studies and preparing presentations for monthly epilepsy surgery planning meetings. At least one research project and presentation at national and/or international meetings will be strongly encouraged.

For more information on our Electroencephalogram Fellowship, please contact us at neuropro@queensu.ca or 613-549-6666 ext. 4320.