About Us

Welcome!

The Division of Respirology, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine resides within the Department of Medicine at the College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, and the Saskatoon Health Region. The Division promotes lung health through excellence in the provision of clinical services and patient care in the inpatient and outpatient settings, teaching and professional learning, research and scholarly activities, administration and leadership.

The Division has 16 members: 12 full-time Clinicians, two Associate members, one Scientist on leave, and one Professor Emeritus.  Ten faculty solely practice Respirology, three practice Critical Care Medicine together with Respirology, four specialize in Sleep-Disordered Breathing together with Respirology, one focuses solely on Sleep-Disordered Breathing, and five are PhD Scientists.  In addition, four community-based faculty in Saskatoon and four community-based faculty in Regina participate in the provision of clinical care and involvement with the subspecialty training program.

The Division has a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada certified Subspecialty Training Program in Respirology, and plays an integral role in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.  The Fellowship teaching Program has repeatedly received full accreditation from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. 

The Division provides a multitude of essential clinical programs, and directs numerous clinical laboratories in the Saskatoon Health Region.  Many of these clinical programs and laboratories are unique provincial resources, including Interventional Respirology, Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing, and comprehensive care clinics in Pulmonary Hypertension, Advanced Lung Disease/Transplantation, Asthma, Sleep-Disordered Breathing, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). 

In addition to the provision of clinical care and teaching, the Division also undertakes, supervises and participates in a number of research programs, and is actively involved in the University of Saskatchewan Airway's Research Group, co-supported by the University of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation.  Division members collaborate with inter-professional colleagues and other investigators in the College of Medicine and at the University of Saskatchewan, and also with research colleagues based at various academic institutions in Canada and elsewhere.

Program

The Adult Respirology Subspecialty Training Program at the University of Saskatchewan is a two year core program which covers all areas of general respirology. The resident will gain solid clinical grounding and experience in managing both inpatient and outpatients with respiratory disease.  Our graduates have an exceptional pass record on the Royal College Certification Examination and have gone on to successful academic and community practice careers throughout Canada and the United States.

Much of the first year is dedicated towards inpatient consultation and general respirology ambulatory clinics. There is no respiratory ward service. One month during the first year will also be dedicated to learning technical aspects of performing and interpreting pulmonary function tests and clinical polysomnography. Usually one to two months of research time are also provided in the first year, to give the resident an opportunity to plan research projects as well as to gain further experience in a potential area of interest. A one-month rotation in community-based respiratory medicine occurs in Regina, usually in the first year or early part of the second year of training.

The second year of training is more flexible and is intended to be customized to the resident’s particular needs, but the resident will continue to have exposure to both inpatient and outpatient general respirology. A three month mandatory rotation in Critical Care Medicine is performed in the second year. This will give the trainee further experience in critically ill patients who have both pulmonary and non-pulmonary disease as well as provide a solid clinical correlation for pulmonary and general physiology. The resident will also participate in a number of subspecialty clinics (eg. Tuberculosis, Cystic Fibrosis, Pulmonary Hypertension, Advanced COPD, Lung Transplantation), which are coordinated with multidisciplinary input.  Through the Tuberculosis outreach clinics, residents will have the opportunity to visit some remote northern Saskatchewan communities and learn the special health care challenges they face. There is also a formal cardiopulmonary rehabilitation curriculum, during which time the resident will participate in the community-based rehabilitation services offered in Saskatoon.  Several months are available for research and elective time, particularly in the second year of training.  Out of province elective time is permitted.

The weekly academic schedule runs from September through June and is as follows:

Monday 1600 - 1700 Seminar Series on all but the fourth Monday of the month
Pulmonary pathology rounds on the fourth Monday of the month
Tuesday 0800 - 0900 Respiratory Lecture Series
Wednesday 1100 - 1200 Chest Radiology Rounds
Wednesday 1200 - 1300 General Medicine Grand Rounds

Quarterly academic half-days are jointly held with the other internal medicine subspecialty training programs, where ‘non-medical expert’ topics including ethics and professionalism will be addressed.

Research

To read the "Airways Research Group – Investigation of Lung Health and Air Quality in Southern Saskatchewan" paper from January, 2014 click here.

Contact

Main contact: 306-844-1009

Lesley Reynolds
Program Assistant, Adult Respirology Training Program
Office: 306-844-1149
Facsimile:  306-844-1525
Email

Mark E. Fenton, MD, FRCPC, FCCP
Program Director, Adult Respirology Training Program
University of Saskatchewan
Royal University Hospital
103 Hospital Drive
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
S7N 0W8