Family Practice Anesthesia

Welcome to the Family Practice Anesthesia Residency Program at the University of Alberta.

August 

CaRMS Info Session

Applying for 2024-25
FPA Anesthesia Enhanced Skills Program

Wednesday, August 23, 2023
5:30 pm MDT, via Zoom

 

FPA BOOTCAMP

ITRAINING INCLUDED IN OUR RESIDENCY PROGRAM

 

HIGH FIDELITY

SIMULATION SESSIONS CONDUCTED BY U OF A FACULTY

 

ON-ACADEMIC

MENTORS AT THE START OF TRAINING FOR EVERY RESIDENT

 

Interview/CaRMS Specific Information

 

  • Program will notify all applicants through CaRMS Online and will send email invitations directly to applicants selected for an interview.
  • There will be one interview conducted by a minimum of two interviewers and last about 30 minutes in length. 
  • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, interviews will only be conducted via video conference. This may change in the future.

Contact Us

Family Practice Anesthesia Residency Program
Department of Family Medicine 
Suite 5-16, University Terrace
8303 - 112 St
Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2T4
780-492-5562
Email: fmes@ualberta.ca

Dr. William Flexer
Program Director

Welcome to Our Program

The aim of the Enhanced Skills - Family Practice Anesthesia (ES-FPA) program is to improve the standards and availability of anesthetic services in rural and remote communities by training well rounded clinicians who will work as family physicians while providing basic anesthesia services where tertiary level anesthesia is unavailable.

The ES-FPA Program is an intensive 12-month residency designed to help Family Physicians develop the competencies and confidence to provide safe anesthetics to patients in community settings both on an elective and emergency basis.

We enjoy close ties with our colleagues in the Specialty Royal College Anesthesiology residency program as well as with many community-based family physicians with focused practices in anesthesia in Alberta. This balance of tertiary and community settings is something we are proud to offer and we believe this will contribute to your understanding of what it truly means to be a Family Practice Anesthetist.

Training follows the recommendations of the Red Book, published by Canadian College of Family Physicians.

Our Program

The FP-A is a family physician who acquires additional skills in anesthesia to augment family medicine training. Physicians in these programs will acquire both technical skills and cognitive knowledge related to the provision of anesthesia services to a defined population. These physicians will develop judgment and insight appropriate to their scope of practice and practice setting. 


The FPA program aims to develop core competencies in the following areas:

  • Pre-anesthetic assessment, prioritization of anesthetic considerations and formation of an anesthetic plan
  • Anesthetic equipment
  • Vascular access
  • Airway management
  • Pharmacology of drugs used in anesthesia
  • Provision of procedural sedation, general anesthesia, spinal and epidural anesthesia, regional anesthesia, obstetrical anesthesia and  pediatric anesthesia;
  • Postoperative care;
  • Acutely ill and injured patients;
  • OR emergencies and complications;
  • Acute and chronic pain
  • Crisis Resource Management (CRM).

 

Program Highlights

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Residents participate in the Northern Ontario School of Medicine’s ‘FPA Bootcamp’, a five day intense experiential learning opportunity.

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Our FPA residents also participate along side of specialty residents in regular high fidelity SIM sessions conducted by University of Alberta faculty.
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Supportive learning environment with all residents being assigned on-academic mentors at the start of training.

Despite Edmonton being a large city, most educational sites are separated by short drive

Boasting impressive cultural diversity, Edmonton is a vibrant city with an excellent quality of life for its residents

In addition to an extensive river valley park system, our proximity to both Jasper &  Banff national parks means unlimited outdoor activities are within easy reach

Residency at a Glance

This residency program is for 1 year.

Program length of training does not exceed the Royal College or College of Family Physicians of Canada standard.

Our program structure is 13 blocks:

Community Anesthesia – 2 blocks
One month each at the Sturgeon and Fort Saskatchewan Community Hospitals where FPAs provide anesthetic services, both within 30 minutes of Edmonton.
General Adult Anesthesia – 7 blocks
Training at secondary-level Misericordia and Grey Nuns Community Hospitals, as well as one block at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, the main downtown tertiary-level trauma center.
Obstetrical Anesthesia - 2 blocks
Training at The Stollery Children’s Hospital at The University of Alberta (6 weeks) and a busy private pediatric dental suite in Edmonton
Intensive Care – 1 block
Working one to one with the intensivist at The Grey Nuns Community Hospitals ICU

Clinical Environment 

  • The FPA residents are typically assigned a “home” campus at either the Grey Nuns or Misericordia Community Hospital.  This is where they will start and end their clinical training.
  • Assigned to ORs that an FPA would be exposed to in the community setting. Examples of these include: Obstetrics, Urology, Gynecology, General Surgery, ENT, Orthopedics, Endoscopy, Dental and Plastic Surgery.
  • During the pediatric rotation, residents gain confidence and competence in caring for healthy children undergoing scheduled minor surgeries as well as provide on-call/emergency care. Residents learn about the differences in anatomy and physiology in children compared to adults with regards to anesthesia.
  • During the obstetric rotation residents gain confidence and competence in caring for healthy pregnant women presenting for labour and delivery. During this time residents will become proficient in providing spinal and epidural anesthesia in a variety of situations.  A strong emphasis is placed on learning the physiology of healthy pregnant woman as well as learning about common disorders associated with pregnancy and their management
  • In addition to working in the operating room, you will have opportunities to work in various other settings including pain clinics, pre-operative clinics and acute pain rounds on the wards.
  • You can expect to undertake a maximum of 1:4 in-house call during your clinical rotations.
  • Your rights and responsibilities are governed by the residents’ PARA contract.

Teaching Hospitals

The FPA residents are typically assigned a “home” campus at either the Grey Nuns or Misericordia Community Hospitals. This is where they will start and end their clinical training. Throughout the program they will rotate to various sites based on the rotation they are on (see Curriculum/Program Structure for more details).  

 

Sturgeon Community Hospital - Community Anesthesia

Fort Saskatchewan Community Hospital- Community Anesthesia

Misericordia Community Hospital - secondary-level site.  General Adult Anesthesia

Grey Nuns Community Hospital - secondary-level site.  General Adult Anesthesia, Obstetrical Anesthesia, Intensive Care

Royal Alexandra Hospital  - downtown tertiary-level trauma center.  General Adult Anesthesia, Obstetrical Anesthesia

Stollery Children's Hospital  - Pediatric Anesthesia