Enhanced Surgical Skills
Department of Academic Family Medicine
The goal of the Enhanced Surgical Skills training program is to provide enhanced general surgical and obstetrical skills to a family physician or other non-surgeon physician.
The principal focus is to train a competent physician allowing them to safely provide surgical care in low resource environments. Our program will produce well rounded physicians who are equipped to be local leaders and experts in obstetrics, surgery and procedural medicine.
The objectives for added competence in Enhanced Surgical Skills fall within the domains of the CFPC Skill Dimensions and the CANMEDS-FM roles. Our residents have certification in the College of Family Physicians of Canada and will be eligible for a Certificate of Added Competence in Enhanced Surgical Skills.
Training Sites
The resident's year begins with a one-month rotation in both surgery and obstetrics. It is then followed by three month alternating rotations and finishes with a two-month block. The first block is only a month long so that residents are exposed to both services early on, establishing relationships with preceptors in both departments. This makes it easier to do cross coverage, ultimately to garner as much exposure over the year.
The core clinical experiences take place largely at the Prince Albert Victoria Hospital, the Co-operative Health Center, and the consultants' offices in Prince Albert. Residents also have opportunity to accompany consultants to rural locations (La Ronge, Nipawin) for consultation and procedural day clinics.
The ESS Rural Elective takes place at a community of the residents' choice. The community must be staffed by a group of family physicians who include anesthesia and enhanced surgical skills in their practice.
The University of Saskatchewan’s Enhanced Surgical Skills Program has been fully accredited as a Category 1 Training Program recognized by the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC).