Advanced Airway Fellowship
We are please to offer an advanced airway fellowship of a 6 month duration as part of our advanced clinical fellowship. Fellows will spend the other 6 months rotating through some of the other major surgical subspecialty rotations including Spine, Neuro, Hepatobiliary, Vascular, Urology, ENT, Trauma, Plastics, General surgery, Regional anesthesia and Simulation training.
Expectations of the Fellows
- To become an expert in clinical anesthesia focusing on airway management skills, strategy and education
- To develop excellence in managing complex anesthetic cases with a focus on major head and neck, airway and dental surgery
- To participate in simulation both in creation of scenarios, facilitating the scenarios and debriefing thereafter with a focus on airway-based scenarios (incorporated into UBC anesthesia residency simulation program)
- To participate in advanced airway workshops outside of the department ( eg. Difficult Airway Course, AIME)
- To initiate at least one and complete at least one research or quality improvement project within the VGH airway anesthesia specialty group
- To present their work at a national or international meeting
- To present at departmental Anesthesia Grand Rounds
- To present teaching rounds [eg. Nasendoscopy/bronchoscopy, topicalisation techniques, front of neck access (FONA), guideline review]
- Active involvement teaching residents, medical students, Anesthesia Assistants, paramedics, nursing staff and fellow anesthesiologists
- To eventually act as a departmental resource for airway management teaching and support
Clinical Experience
- While completing the airway fellowship fellows will be supervised by an anesthesiologist from the airway anesthesia group with expertise in advanced airway management and teaching
- Regular exposure to major head and neck surgical procedures (laryngectomies and/or pharyngectomies, tracheal resections, retrosternal thyroidectomies, laser airway surgery, panendoscopies, awake tracheotomies, neck dissections and major reconstructions)
- Regular exposure to complex dental and oral-maxillofacial surgical procedures
- Regular exposure to emergency and complex spine surgical procedures
- Advanced training in airway endoscopy and alternative airway modalities
- Participation in outpatient otolaryngology clinic to advance airway assessment and endoscopic assessment and involvement in OR surgical airways
- Gain experience with airway ultrasound
- Practice surgical airways using different techniques on mannequin, tissue and hybrid models
Weekly Schedule
- 3 days in subspecialty anesthesia,
- 1 day in general clinical anesthesia in independent practice.
- 1 academic day per week in order to prepare lectures or write manuscripts.
Research/lectures/presentations will be planned and undertaken during this time.
This schedule will change when in different rotations.
The fellow will meet with Dr. Lennox and Dr. Rieley every 3-4 months and the subspecialty program director at least once a month to review the progress being made during his or her fellowship.
A written summative evaluation is provided to the fellows and reviewed with the program directors at the end of the fellowship year.