This residency program is for 4 years. Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.
Since July, 2022, all PGY1 residents in Hematological Pathology residency training programs throughout Canada have implemented a Competence By Design (CBD) curriculum format. This is a competency-based medical education system instituted by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
The resident will be evaluated on Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs), which are authentic tasks related to the practice of hematological pathology. The resident will transition through the stages of training (i.e., Transition to Discipline, Foundations of Discipline, Core of Discipline, Transition to Practice) as they achieve the necessary CanMEDS milestones.
Transition to Discipline
The focus of this initial stage is the orientation of new trainees to the policies, protocols, resources, and facilities of our residency program and affiliated hospitals), including laboratory safety and issues of privacy and confidentiality. During this stage, residents will participate in basic specimen handling and microscopy and demonstrate an understanding of clinicopathologic correlation. This stage is expected to take one month to complete.
Foundations of Discipline
The focus of this stage is the development of the knowledge and skills required to integrate clinical and laboratory information in the evaluation of disease processes. This includes assessing patients and performing select clinical diagnostic procedures. It also includes assessing laboratory samples and generating reports for routine diagnostic investigations, as well as advising on routine requests for blood components.
This stage is expected to take 10-15 months.
This stage includes 4 clinical off service rotation blocks: three blocks studying adult clinical hematology and one block studying pediatric hematology/oncology.
You’ll also learn about:
- morphological hematology
- flow cytometry
- hemostasis
- transfusion medicine
- hemoglobinopathy
- tissue typing
- cytogenetics
- molecular pathology
- immune function
- hemolytic anemias
- laboratory instrumentation and automation
Core of Discipline
This is the longest stage at approximately 28 months, during which residents will build on the skills and knowledge of the previous stages to provide laboratory clinical consultations and manage diagnostic and ancillary testing for cases, including generating complete and diagnostically accurate reports. Trainees at this stage will take on additional responsibility for after-hours coverage, quality management, presentations at multidisciplinary conferences, and scholarly work.
The resident will sit the Written portion of the Royal College Hematological Pathology Exam during the Core of Discipline stage, in Spring of PGY3. The Applied portion of the Royal college exam will also take place during this stage, in Fall of PGY4.
Transition to Practice
The focus of this 4-month stage is the consolidation of skills required to lead daily operations of the laboratory and independently manage a full caseload across the breadthof hematological pathology practice. Residents will also be responsible for the supervision of junior learners and sharing expertise in hematological pathology atmultidisciplinary meetings. 1 block of training will be in community rotation, as an inclusive experience at Saint John Regional Hospital.
