Ana Sjaus, MSc, MD, FRCPC

Administrative Roles

• Associate Chief, IWK Health, Department of Women’s and Obstetric Anesthesia
• Medical Director of Quality, IWK Health, Department of Women’s and Obstetric Anesthesia

Education

• MSc Epidemiology (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, London, United Kingdom)
• MD (Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
• Specialty - FRCPC (Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
• Subspecialty – Perioperative Echocardiography (University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)

Biography

A coast-to-coast transplant, Dr. Sjaus has fully embraced her Maritime experience since starting her anesthesia training at Dalhousie University. She thrives on the clinical challenges and opportunities within her anesthesia practice, as well as the creative and scientific aspects of research and innovation. Dedicated to providing personalized anesthetic care, she combines skill, knowledge, and compassion to positively impact her patients, colleagues, and trainees. Her clinical focus includes obstetric and women’s anesthesia, perioperative echocardiography, and more recently, anesthesia for liver transplantation.

Research interests

Dr. Sjaus believes that a solid foundation in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, combined with interdisciplinary curiosity, can open new avenues for research and yield fresh insights. Her research interests are diverse, encompassing medical education, the development and evaluation of medical devices, perioperative point-of-care ultrasound, and cardiovascular issues in perioperative and peri-partum anesthesia care.

Selected publications

• Sjaus A, Young LV. Diagnostic point-of-care ultrasound in obstetric anesthesia and critical care: a scoping review protocol. Syst Rev. 2024 Oct 24;13(1):268. doi: 10.1186/s13643-024-02673-3. PMID: 39449101; PMCID: PMC11515486.
• Sjaus A, Kalagara H. POCUS spotlight: focused cardiac ultrasonography. ASRA News. 2021;46. https://doi.org/10.52211/asra080121.047.
• Ritchie KC, Sjaus A, Munro A, George RB (2020). An interpretive phenomenological analysis of formative feedback in anesthesia training: the residents' perspective. BMC medical education, 20(1), 493. [Published] PubMed ID: 33287808.
• Sjaus A, Fayad A (2019). The Use of Subcostal Echocardiographic Views to Guide the Insertion of a Right Ventricular Temporary Transvenous Pacemaker—Description of the Technique. Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia, 33(10), 2797-2803. [Review - Published] DOI: 1053/j.jvca.2019.01.033.
• Sjaus A, McKeen DM, George RB (2016). Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy. Canadian Journal of Anesthesia, 63(9), 1075-97. [Review - Published] PubMed ID: 27443376.

Selected presentations

• “Cardiac POCUS in obstetric anesthesia” (2024) - Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society Annual Meeting - Victoria, BC, Canada [Plenary]
• “Why FATE is essential for every anesthesiologist?” (2024) - VII MACEDONIAN CONGRESS OF ANAESTHESIOLOGY, REANIMATION AND INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE - Ohrid, Republic of Northern Macedonia [Plenary]
• “Doppler Ultrasound for Pressure Estimation Continuous Wave Doppler (CWD)” (2023) – ASRA - Advanced POCUS Workshop - San Diego, CA, USA [Workshop lecture]
• “The effect of ventilation on airborne pathogen exposure and interaction with passive source control: a computational fluid dynamics simulation and tracer gas study” (2022) - Richard Knell Oral Research Competition, Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society Annual Meeting - Halifax, NS, Canada [Selected research]

Selected award and honour

• Teacher of The Year (2012) - Department of Anesthesia, Pain Management and Perioperative Medicine

Memberships

Colleges and Boards:

• Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada - Fellow
• College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia – Member
• National Board of Echocardiography - Diplomate, Advanced Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography

Professional Societies:

• Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society
• CAS Obstetric Anesthesia Section
• American Society of Anesthesiologists
• Canadian Society of Echocardiography
• American Society of Echocardiography
• Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology
• SOAP POCUS Special Interest Group
• North American Society of Obstetric Medicine
• American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine

Employment

• Dalhousie University, Department of Anesthesia, Pain Management and Perioperative Medicine, Halifax, NS, Canada
• IWK Health, Department of Women’s and Obstetric Anesthesia, Halifax, NS, Canada

Teaching (a selection)

Echocardiography and POCUS

• Advanced POCUS Course - American Society of Regional Anesthesia [Physician]
• POCUS Course - American Society of Regional Anesthesia [Physician]
• PULSATe 2021/2022/2023 Internal POCUS Longitudinal Course [Physician]
• Point of Care Ultrasound Workshop for Practicing Anesthesiologist - University of Ottawa - The Ottawa Hospital Department of Anesthesia and Preoperative Medicine [Physician]
• EnABLE Course Workshop - [Physician]
• 1st Balkan POCUS Course (Kybele, Global Health), Novi Sad, Serbia [Physician] - Kybele, SOAP in cooperation with University of Novi Sad and Association of Anesthesiologists of Vojvodina - Department of Anesthesia
• Various topics - Morning Echo Rounds - University of Ottawa - Department of Anesthesiology [Fellow]
• Trans-thoracic Echocardiography for Intra-operative Monitoring during TAVI – Dalhousie University [Lecture - Physician]

Quality

• EPIQ Workshop – Postgraduate, Dalhousie University [Resident, Allied Health Professionals]

Simulation

• Interdisciplinary communication for high-risk obstetric teams [Workshop - Physician] - IWK Health - IWK Women's and Obstetric Anesthesia
• Obstetric Anesthesia Block Academic Half-day Teaching - Simulated Obstetric Emergencies [Simulation / Lab - Resident]
• Upper airway problems [Simulation / Lab - Allied Health Professionals] - IWK Health Sciences Centre
• Malignant Hyperthermia [Simulation / Lab - Allied Health Professionals] - IWK Health Sciences Centre
• Neuraxial Anesthesia [Workshop - Resident] - Department of Anesthesia

Lectures, seminars and workshops

• PIER 1 Anesthesia Workshop, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University [Med 3]
• PIER 4 - Administration of Blood Products, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University [Med 4]
• Human Development, COPS, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University [Med 1]
• Critical Care in Pregnancy and Puerperium for Critical Care Fellows – Dalhousie University [Fellow]

Other service & activity

• Canadian Women’s Heart Health Alliance
• Canadian Doctors for Medicare
• Kybele – for safe childbirth worldwide