A curriculum has been designed to cover the objectives associated with each of the CanMEDS roles (see the section Educational Objectives).  The dates, times, and locations of all educational activities are available on the Program’s online calendar (accessed by any calendar product that supports the iCal format) as well as the Medportal site.

Attendance at Academic Half Days

All residents are required to attend the weekly Academic Half Day (AHD) on Wednesdays.  All residents are excused from clinical duty as of 16:00 to attend the sessions; faculty are expected to ensure that residents are freed from any clinical responsibilities in a timely fashion so that the residents can attend the sessions.

Residents based away from McMaster University during an elective is expected to continue attending academic sessions, if close enough to do so (travel time to Hamilton less than 1 hour).  If the elective is at another academic centre, the resident will take part in the academic activities of that university program while training at that site.  Residents on community electives distant from McMaster (travel time to Hamilton greater than 1 hour) are not expected to attend in person, but video conferencing capabilities can be utilized to allow for participation.

Simulation

There are two Simulation sessions during residency.  This is a great opportunity to interact with standardized patients, receive individualized feedback from specialized instructors, and deliberately practice patient management.

Didactic Lectures

Lecturers conduct 60 to 90 minute sessions on topics chosen by the academic curriculum director.  They are designed to provide teaching on objectives of training that are not easily covered in the course of clinical training, e.g.  Anatomy, pharmacology; to provide supplemental teaching on topics encountered during the course of clinical work; and to promote discussion and reflection on non-medical expert CANMEDS competencies.

Trouble Rounds/Case Discussion

The faculty member overseeing the AHD, or one of the residents, presents either an interesting case encountered during clinical work, or a scenario created by the faculty member, to address topics related to the CANMEDS competencies.  The goals of the case discussions are two-fold:

• to promote sharing of knowledge, ideas, and experiences between residents as well as with faculty
• to encourage approaching a clinical scenario from multiple angles, considering not just the medical expert aspects of the situation, but to also think about and address issues such as advocacy to address the systemic shortcomings that may have lead to the situation, or the ethical dilemmas presented by competing interests.

Pain Grand Rounds

Held on the last Thursday of every month from September to June starting at 17:30 in Room 2232, Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery (MDCL).  Lectures are given by local experts as well as invited outside speakers on various topics in pain medicine, ranging from basic science research, new clinical research, and in-depth topic review.

Pain Journal Club

Held every 3 months.  The residents present 2 papers on a new clinical study or basic science study from the pain medicine literature.  Each presenter prepares a formal presentation, which provides an overview of the study methodology, review the results, and summarize the author’s conclusions.  The presenter provides critical appraisal of the study and concludes with the applicability of the study’s conclusion(s) on one’s own practice.  A broad, multidisciplinary audience attends.

Additional intervention practice sessions

Organized by Dr. Park (fluoroscopy guided) and Dr. Forero (ultrasound guided) (held every 3-4 months)

Interventional Cadaver course was implemented into our Academic Sessions in 2023.  It takes place over six weeks starting in August.  The Pain Medicine Residents and Chronic Pain Fellows attend the didactic session then the hands on interventional cadaver sessions.  Using a cadaver and a C arm to go over the basic/intermediate procedures which might include lumbar MBBs, ILESI, lumbar facet RF denervation and possibly TFESI, cervical MBBs and fluoroscopic peripheral joint assessments.

National Educational Activities

Pain Ground School – held the first week of the academic year in Toronto; the 2 day workshop covers a wide variety of introductory topics that the incoming pain medicine residents across the country would find useful.

National Interventional Pain Management Workshop for Clinical Fellows and Residents – usually held in September in Toronto

Nationwide Academic Curriculum (Teleconference) – organized by the program directors across Canada, the teleconference is scheduled 3-4 times per year to cover topics of interest to all pain medicine residents, but which may be hard to organize locally at all centres

Pain Medicine Examination preparation course – 2 day review course held in May/June, in Toronto.

Conferences

The resident is expected to attend at least one recognized North American or International pain conference per year (suggested conferences are listed on the online academic calendar).

Education Fund

As part of a new initiative, billings generated from the resident-run clinic are kept in a dedicated account, and residents can receive financial support from this fund for the following expenses:

• Books: Textbook or reference text (ebook or hardcover book) related to preparation for the Royal College pain medicine examination.
• Conference/workshop: in order to be considered, a conference or workshop must qualify for continuing professional development (CPD) credits as described in sections 1 and 2 of the Royal College Maintenance of Certification program.
• Learning aids or educational software – to be adjudicated on a case by case basis; it should be directly applicable to the preparation for the writing of the Royal College pain medicine examination, teaching of junior learners in pain medicine, or preparation of formal teaching activities in pain medicine.

All expenses to be considered for reimbursement must be preapproved by the Program Director (PD) and the Finance Department.

Ground School

The Annual Pain Medicine National Ground School is a mandatory comprehensive 2-day didactic seminar geared for pain medicine trainees from across the country. This is held in person in Toronto or via Zoom the first week of July. The event is complimentary, but registration is required.