Residency

The residency program is built around the guiding principles of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and its “Competence by Design” framework. It is structured in four distinct phases:
Transition to Discipline (~ 3 months)
Foundations (~ 21 months)
Core (~33 months)
Transition to Practice (~3 months)

Residents complete local training in every major subspecialty of Orthopedic Surgery including Trauma, Spine, Oncology, Arthroplasty, Foot and Ankle, Shoulder and Elbow, Hand and Wrist, Knee, Pediatric Orthopedics.

Beyond the informal learning happening on daily basis, extensive formal teaching is provided to our trainees. Residents are relieved from clinical duties every week for academic half-day. These sessions consist of case-based conferences, surgical simulation activities and guest speakers. The half-day schedule is based on a 2 year cycle , allowing residents to revisit major topics at least twice during their residency.

Formal teaching rounds care held on a daily basis from 7-8 am at The Ottawa Hospital.
Mondays: Oncology Rounds
Tuesdays: Trauma Rounds
Wednesdays: Foot & Ankle, Hand & Wrist and Shoulder & Elbow Rounds (alternating)
Thursdays: Hip & Knee Arthroplasty and Joint Preservation Rounds (alternating)
Fridays: Spine Rounds

Similarly, teaching rounds are held 3 times per week at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario for residents who are assigned to this site.

Visiting professors are hosted monthly during the academic year, allowing residents to learn from leaders in our field and network with surgeons from across North America and beyond.

uOttawa is home to the state of the art UOSSC Simulation lab where our program holds monthly surgical simulation activities during the academic year. These activities are opportunities for residents to develop their technical skills and refine their decision-making abilities in a high-fidelity , low stakes simulated environment.

Residents are also required to attend various professional development courses throughout their residency, including ATLS, the AO foundation courses and the COA Basic Science Course. Residents are invited to attend locally held orthopedic courses sponsored by our Division and are provided with financial support to travel to orthopedic meetings of their choice throughout the course of their residency training.

Our orthopedic residents can benefit from extensive research opportunities around the uOttawa Orthopedic ecosystem. Whether you want to do perform live animal surgery, collaborate with our engineering colleagues, work in our state of the art biomechanics lab or perform clinical research using our QI databases, opportunities are too numerous to list. Residents are encouraged to join some of our research teams to complete their two required resident research projects. Accomplishments and research successes are celebrated yearly with the Hans K. Uhthoff Research Day where residents are offered opportunities to formally present their research to the Division.