Training Sites

Breadth and depth of experience

Residents train primarily at two main sites at the QEII Health Sciences Centre: the Halifax Infirmary and the Victoria General, which have separate infectious disease inpatient consultation services. Residents mainly see patients with severe community- and hospital-acquired infections at the Halifax Infirmary, and immunocompromised patients and those with infections after gastrointestinal surgery at the Victoria General.

The QEII is part of the Nova Scotia Health Authority, which provides tertiary and quaternary care to Nova Scotia and other parts of Atlantic Canada, serving a population of over one million. With this variety of service, residents gain broad experience in clinical infectious diseases ranging from mild community-acquired infections to severe infections in solid-organ transplant patients. There are active hematopoietic stem cell and solid organ transplant programs, a full-service emergency department and trauma centre, a burn unit, four critical care units and seven intermediate care units (3i, 4.1i, 7.1i, 7.2i, 7.3i, 6Ai, 6Bi).

The IWK Health Centre, which supports children, women and families, serves as a training site for rotations in pediatric microbiology and pediatric infectious diseases.

There are also opportunities for clinical infectious disease training at The Moncton Hospital and Saint John Regional Hospital. Enthusiastic clinical teachers with highly developed clinical skills at these sites provide residents with experience in both a community- and hospital-based infectious diseases practice.