Getting to know Dr. Eric Sy - Critical Care - Regina

Background
I am an attending Critical Care Medicine and Internal Medicine physician practicing in Regina, Saskatchewan at the Regina General Hospital and Pasqua Hospital since 2015.  In 2017, I completed a Master of Public Health with a focus in epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Area of Research
My current area of research focuses on transitions in care from the intensive care unit (ICU) and understanding how we can improve those transitions. I have been particularly interested in the process of discharge from the ICU. ICU survivors are increasingly being discharged directly to home from the ICU (instead of the usual process of transitioning them to a hospital ward first). This represents a change in the way how we deliver ICU care, and we need to study this to get better at it. Approximately, 10-20% of ICU survivors are directly discharged from ICUs across Canada including those in Saskatchewan. My team is currently working on identifying the patients at risk for poor outcomes, as well as understanding the processes to improve discharge communication and handover.

“Big” Research Moment
My big moment in research was being awarded an Establishment research grant from the Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation to study direct discharges from the ICU. It represented an important point in time for me as an early-career researcher and represented many hours of hard work and perseverance.

Messages for early-career clinicians
My advice for junior and early-career researchers is to get involved early and don’t be afraid of making mistakes! Research is about exploration and discovery, and sometimes the best ideas come after exploring previous ones. My next important piece of advice is to collaborate as much as you can from senior or experienced researchers in the field. They have a wealth of experience and can help provide guidance on study design, analysis, and interpretation. My final piece of advice is to keep on persevering. Research is hard, and sometimes big breakthroughs take time. It can take a few years to establish an independent research program.

Future Aspirations for Research 
I hope to develop a program of research that is sustainable and attractive to medical students, residents, and graduate students for study. Currently, we are collaborating with critical care researchers across Canada to study transitions in care from the ICU.