Message from the Program Director

Welcome to the University of Saskatchewan Orthopedic Surgery Residency Training Program website!

Our program has had great success in training orthopedic surgery residents to become fully specialized in their field. The program has an extensive academic schedule but also allows significant exposure clinically and surgically for residents throughout their five years of training. The program teaches the CanMEDS roles and is designed based on the objectives of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Orthopedic Surgery.

Throughout the academic year there are extensive rounds that are pre-set and well-attended. These are mandatory for residents to attend with protected time. All of the subspecialty areas of orthopedic surgery are part of the training program and residents spend rotations in these areas throughout the residency program. Rotations have a favorable resident faculty ratio allowing close interaction with faculty in the clinical and surgical settings. Overall, residents are well trained to be a competent orthopedic surgeon at the time of their completion of the program. Also, there has been a very high success rate in passing the Royal College examinations in Orthopedic Surgery.

Please feel free to contact me or the administrative office if there are any specific questions regarding our program.

David Sauder, MD, FRCSC
Program Director
Division of Orthopedics
University of Saskatchewan

The Orthopedic Surgery Residency Training Program at the University of Saskatchewan was established in the early 1960s by Dr. Eric Nanson, a general surgeon and Head of the Academic Department of Surgery.

For the first years, the training was done by the private practice orthopedic surgeons practicing in Saskatoon. In 1966, Dr. William Kirkaldy-Willis became the first full-time academic head of orthopedics, being attracted here from Nairobi. In Africa, Dr. K-W was known as the best orthopedic surgeon between Cairo and Johannesburg, and as he would add, the only one. For the first years, he was able to attract many local graduates to undertake training in orthopedic surgery, many of who remained in, and continue to practice in Saskatchewan.

With a decrease in local applicants in the early 1970s Dr. K-W went on recruiting trips to the UK. It was in a hotel in London that Dr. K-W and Dr. John Wedge (a graduate of the programme and a fellow in Oxford at the time) interviewed Dr. Ken Yong-Hing. Little did they know at that time that the three of them would be the core of academic program for the next 30 years. Of those recruited from afar, all remain in practice in Canada, most in Saskatchewan. Dr. K-W had a firm belief that research was the cornerstone to advancing orthopedic knowledge and focused on low back pain, having developed an interest in spine treating TB cases in Africa. All residents were “strongly encouraged” to participate in research.

Dr. Wedge became the academic head/program director in 1981 and was succeeded by Dr. Yong-Hing in 1985. Dr. Geoffrey Johnston became program director in 1992 and was followed by Dr. William Dust in 2000 and Dr. King in September 2010. In 2002 Dr. Dust took over from Dr. Yong-Hing as academic head. Dr. McKerrell has filled the role of academic head from 2005-2017. Dr. King has been the head of the division since 2017.

Our Vision - To create orthopedic surgeons that are prepared for a successful life-long career

Our Mission Statement - We will create competent orthopedic surgeons by systematically teaching, practicing, and assessing all the CanMEDS roles

We are a smaller sized training program with broad subspecialty experience available in the faculty, a highly dedicated group who devote exceptionally large amounts of time to all aspects of resident training.

• The clinical volumes and materials are adequate for training with an outstanding Ambulatory Care experience.
• 7 days per week, OR room available for urgent orthopedic patients—greatly decreasing the amount of evening and night time operating.
• A comprehensive series of teaching rounds that are mandatory for the residents and always have staff members attending.
• The great majority of the teaching is located at one site which minimizes the amount of running around the residents have to do.
• The incorporation of our private practice community based faculty has created an outstanding experience not only in orthopedics but also practice management.
• Being a smaller program we are very sensitive to the personal aspects of residency training and have more of a collegial relationship with the residents rather than the traditional teacher student relationship.
• A Surgical Foundations program and committee that is responsive to the needs of the orthopedics training program

The Orthopedic Surgery residency training program at the University of Saskatchewan is a five year program with the first year spent in Surgical Foundations which is now competency based. The second year is partly spent doing off-service rotations. The final three years are spent in Orthopedic Surgery. In addition to satisfying the requirements of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, our curriculum meets the requirements of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery.

The academic year is divided into 13 blocks of 4 weeks. Residents rotate through each of the subspecialty areas of orthopedics: adult reconstruction, upper limb, trauma, sports medicine, spine surgery, foot and ankle, pediatric orthopedic surgery, and community rotations.

In addition to completing mid rotation and end of rotation face-to-face evaluations for residents on service, preceptors are also complete in-training evaluations for all residents. Residents also meet with the program director on a quarterly basis for evaluation meetings.  In addition, all new residents are assigned academic advisors that meet with them quarterly.

Friday is our academic day. The morning starts with grand rounds from 7:00 - 9:00 am, followed by the weekly academic planning meeting.  Further teaching sessions follow in the morning. The afternoons are set aside for research activities.

Every subspecialty has one day per year that focuses on a topic chosen by the staff and residents. Clinical Exam teaching of the relevant body part happens in the late morning. Surgical simulation is held in the afternoon for all residents.

PGY1 

PGY2 

PGY3 

PGY4 

PGY5 

Subspecialty Based Clinical Teaching Units

• Hip & Knee Reconstruction plus Orthopedic Oncology (6 blocks)  
  
  • Dr. William Dust, Dr. Anthony E. King, Dr. Trevor Loback, Dr. Ian Lutz, Dr. Jeffrey McKerrell
• Pediatric Orthopedics (4 blocks) 
  
  •  Dr. Lauren A. Allen, Dr. Anne K. Dzus, Dr. J. Alexandra Mortimer, Dr. Katherine Rooks
• Upper Limb (2 blocks)
  
  • Dr. David Sauder
• Sports Medicine (4 blocks)
  • Dr. R. Cole Beavis,  Dr. Mark Ernst, Dr. David Kim, Dr. Mario Taillon
• Spine Surgery (3 blocks)
  
  • Dr. Michael Spiess, Dr. Allan Woo
• Foot and Ankle (3 blocks)
  
  • Dr. Lee Kolla, Dr. Huw Rees, Dr. Trent Thiessen
• Trauma (3 blocks)
  • Dr. Tousief Hussain, Dr. Elliott Pally, Dr. Andrew Urmson

Resident commitments fluctuate with the number of residents on the service (anywhere from 1-4). These include making morning rounds with the ward surgeon, and ER coverage M-F (0800-1600h), and assisting the trauma surgeon in the trauma room. The senior resident on the service will have the responsibility for assigning residents daily duties. All residents on the service will be assigned time in the operating room. Residents are not responsible for Discharge Summaries of these patients.

Electives

Elective rotations are available for 2 months during residency where residents can travel out-of-province or abroad for international orthopedics. Residents can also choose to do a research elective.

Transition to Practice

Residents will be given significant freedom to design their last stage in residency to fit their interests or address deficiencies.

Academic Enrichment and Knowledge Consolidation

During the final year of training, and prior to the RCPSC Subspecialty Written Examination, one block is devoted to academic enrichment and knowledge consolidation.

Click on the links below to view/save the requirements:

• Specialty Training Requirements in Surgical Foundations
• Speciality Training Requirements in Orthopaedic Surgery

Surgical Foundations

• SF Objectives of Training

Orthopedic Surgery

• Objectives of Training:
  • Hip & Knee Reconstruction and Musculoskeletal Oncology
  • Pediatric Orthopedics
  • Sports Medicine
  • Foot & Ankle
  • Upper Extremity
  • Spine
  • Trauma
  • Community
• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada:
  • Objectives of Training in Orthopedic Surgery
  • Objective of Training for Surgical Foundations Training

College of Medicine Assessment of Postgraduate Trainees:  Guiding Principles

We have an intensive series of formal teaching rounds designated throughout the week.  The time is protected for these rounds and attendance is mandatory.  These teaching rounds cover all aspects of orthopedics. There is always at least one staff in attendance.

Most rounds have a staff surgeon course coordinator who determines the curriculum. Most run on a one or two year cycle that covers the breadth of the relevant area. The exception is Orthopedic Grand Rounds where the choice of topics to be covered is left up to the PGY5 residents so that we may focus on areas in which they feel deficient.

The format may be case based discussions, topic based discussions or didactic lectures. Most of the lectures are prepared by a resident, however, may be given by the staff surgeon.

Compulsory academic sessions occur either at the beginning or at the end of the day. In this way residents are able to attend without having to move around in the middle of the day.

Resident Evaluations

In a small program such as ours, progress is discussed between the preceptor and residents in a more informal, almost continuous manner. The residents are given the opportunity to comment on the structure and function of the program and its rotations.

The Program Director always has an "open door" to encourage residents to visit informally to discuss any concerns they might have or just to chat! A resident has the right to appeal any evaluation. Click here to review the Appeals Procedure.

Rotations Specific Evaluation Forms:

• Adult Spine: Jr. Resident --- Sr. Resident
• Community Orthopedics: Jr. & Sr. Resident
• Foot & Ankle: Jr. Resident --- Sr. Resident
• Hip & Knee Reconstruction: Jr. Resident --- Sr. Resident
• Oncology: Jr. & Sr. Resident
• Pediatric Orthopedics: Jr. Resident --- Sr. Resident
• Sports Medicine: Jr. Resident --- Sr. Resident
• Trauma: Jr. Resident --- Sr. Resident
• Upper Limb: Jr. Resident --- Sr. Resident

Rotation Specific Evaluations

Resident evaluation will occur quarterly at the end of each rotation. 

The surgeon(s) on the service will complete the appropriate evaluation form on one45 Webeval (an online evaluation and scheduling system). All relevant forms will be reviewed by the Competence Committee.

Quarterly, the Program Director meets with each resident individually to discuss oral and written examination results, rotational evaluations and general progress. Fellowship and career planning will also take place.

In the event of deficiency(s) that precludes successful completion of the rotation, the Program Director will discuss this with the resident at the quarterly meeting. If difficulties are identified earlier in the rotation, a formal mid-rotation evaluation and meeting with the resident will occur.

Face-to-Face Evaluations

These mandatory evaluations occur at mid-rotation and end of rotation for rotations 2 or more blocks long. These evaluations are to be initiated by the residents and submitted to the program admin office, and reviewed by the Program Director.

360° Evaluations

For residents assigned to the trauma service, a 360° evaluation will be completed by the Orthopedic Surgery Nurse Manager will obtain collective evaluations from nurses on the ward as well as physiotherapists and other staff.  These will be submitted to the program admin office and reviewed by the Program Director. 

Surgical Evaluations

Once a block residents will be evaluated performing a surgical procedure using the 0-score.

Faculty Evaluations

Residents have the opportunity to evaluate the orthopedic faculty yearly.  This is done in an anonymous fashion using a CanMEDS based faculty evaluation form. 

Teaching Rounds Evaluations

Once or twice per year at the Resident Program Committee, each of the teaching rounds is evaluated and suggestions made for improvements.  If residents wish to have their views expressed anonymously they may do so through either the Elected or Appointed (Administrative) Resident Representative.

Rotation Evaluations

Once or twice per year at the Resident Program Committee, each of the Clinical Rotations is evaluated and suggestions made for improvements.  If residents wish to have their views expressed anonymously they may do so through either the Elected or Appointed (Administrative) Resident Representative.  

Research Forum takes place monthly.

Surgical Foundations Residents are strongly encouraged to be involved in a research project. Research can be in the orthopedic field or some other surgical field. Residents will present their projects at whatever stage of completion at the Combined UofS and UofM Orthopedic Resident Research Day.

It is mandatory for residents to be involved in a research project in orthopedics or a related area in their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years.  This may be one project that extends over two years.   The project, at whatever stage of completion, will be presented at the combined U of S and U of M Orthopedic Resident Research Day.   It is not mandatory for PGY5 residents to be working on a research project.

Protected Time: While on orthopedic rotations residents will have a protected half day per week for research.  This time should be that which least disrupts the rotation they are on.  In most cases this time will be Friday afternoons.

Research Funding: Residents may access sources of funding for research projects and/or travel related to research through the Department of Surgery.