The University of British Columbia Department of Anesthesia plays an active role in the delivery of health care in the province of British Columbia and in the training of medical students and residents in anesthesiology. The Department is part of the UBC Faculty of Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Vancouver, with a population of 2 million, is the third largest city in Canada. It is the busiest port on the west coast of North America and is world renowned for its natural beauty and recreational lifestyle. Vancouver has been awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics Games and has repeatedly been ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world.

The University of British Columbia resides primarily on a large campus on the tip of Point Grey in Vancouver. It is the second largest university in Canada with an undergraduate population of 30,000 students. The medical school is relatively small with only 128 graduates per year but is in a process of rapid expansion which will result in a doubling of its undergraduate size by 2010. There are five hospitals in the Vancouver metropolitan area that are currently affiliated with the UBC Department of Anesthesia and actively participate in both undergraduate and postgraduate training.

The UBC Department of Anesthesia is responsible for training all UBC medical students in anesthesia skills and resuscitation. Anesthesia training currently occurs over a two-week period in the third year of undergraduate training and has been repeatedly recognized by the students as a high point in that year. Further undergraduate training occurs in the fourth year as electives and selectives for students who have special interests in an anesthesia career. Dr. Dimitri Giannoulis of Vancouver General Hospital is the Undergraduate Program Director for the Department and Dr. Calvin Au of Vancouver General Hospital coordinates the fourth year electives and selectives.

The residency program at UBC has an excellent record of training highly skilled clinicians and academics. There are currently seven residents per year funded by the Province of British Columbia for their five-year residency but additional residents also enter the program in re-entry positions, Armed Forces supported positions, and overseas positions. Dr. Clinton Wong of St. Paul’s Hospital is the Postgraduate Program Director and is responsible for the residency program.

The UBC Department of Anesthesia is closely affiliated with the UBC Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. The current Jean Templeton Hugill Chair is held by Dr. Ernie Puil of the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Dr. Puil is the Director of the Centre for Anesthesia and Analgesia and has been actively involved in coordinating studies into the actions of anesthetic drugs by anesthesiologists, fellows, postgraduates, residents, and undergraduate students.

Clinical research and training in research is coordinated by Dr. Peter Choi, the Director of Clinical Research for the Department. Dr. Choi has just entered this position from a similar position at McMaster University in Ontario and looks forward to developing broad-based clinical research activities for students, residents and anesthesia staff in the Department. Dr. Choi is also affiliated with the UBC Department of Epidemiology.

Hospitals

Vancouver General Hospital is the largest hospital in British Columbia and the major tertiary referral centre for the province. Services in all adult areas of medicine except obstetrics are provided at this site. Vancouver General Hospital is a tertiary trauma centre and provides special services in cancer surgery, thoracic surgery, open-heart surgery, neuro surgery, and solid organ and lung transplant. The Department of Anesthesia consists of 45 members under the leadership of Dr. Adrian White. There is a large and active acute pain program and an expanding research program. All residents spend part of their training at Vancouver General Hospital and while there, may rotate through UBC Hospital which is on the campus of the University of British Columbia. UBC Hospital is under the umbrella of Vancouver Acute. Anesthesia services are provided by the same anesthesiologists as at Vancouver General Hospital. The hospital’s primary function is to provide surgical services for short-stay patients. The focus for residents at this site will be regional anesthesia.

St. Paul’s Hospital is the downtown core hospital of Vancouver and the Provincial Cardiac and Renal Centre for the province of British Columbia. Surgical services include a large volume of open-heart surgical procedures, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, ENT surgery and ophthalmology. There is a very active acute pain program at St. Paul’s Hospital and Dr. Bill McDonald of the Department is actively involved in advanced chronic pain management. Most residents and many medical students rotate through St. Paul’s Hospital. The Department of Anesthesia at St. Paul’s is led by Dr. Colm Cole.

BC Children’s Hospital is the major tertiary quaternary referral site for pediatrics in the province of British Columbia. All UBC residents rotate through BC Children’s Hospital where they acquire skills necessary for managing anesthesia in children. This Department is led by Dr. Eleanor Reimer. The Department is becoming increasingly involved in research activities and supports a fellowship program.

BC Women’s Hospital is the largest obstetrical hospital in Canada. 7,200 deliveries occur at this facility annually and it has become the ideal site for residents to learn skills in obstetrics. All residents rotate through BC Women’s Hospital. Dr. Roanne Preston is the Department Head.

Royal Columbian Hospital is a large hospital in New Westminster, British Columbia, that acts as a major tertiary referral site for the Fraser Health Authority. Royal Columbia Hospital is a true general hospital in that it provides virtually all surgical services including obstetrics, pediatrics, open-heart surgery, neurosurgery, trauma, vascular surgery and other surgical specialties. Royal Columbian has become increasingly involved in both resident and medical student training in the last two years and has become a favourite site for both residents and students. There are various enthusiastic faculty at Royal Columbian under the leadership of Dr. Paul Baker.

Medical School

The University of British Columbia medical school is expanding. At the current time there are 128 graduating students in the faculty but this will be increased to 256 students per year by 2010. The Expansion Program is based on a distributive model in which new campuses will be opened at Prince George, British Columbia and in Victoria, British Columbia. These new campuses will be affiliated with the University of Northern BC in Prince George and the University of Victoria in Victoria but will still be contained within the UBC Faculty of Medicine. The UBC Department of Anesthesia is in the process of recruiting faculty in both Prince George and Victoria who will be involved in training of medical students and subsequently residents as the medical school expands. Both of these sites have unique areas of expertise. Prince George is a northern city that is the major referral centre for the northern half of British Columbia. It has an extremely busy community hospital with a hard-working, clinical competent group of physicians. The members of the Department of Anesthesia have special expertise in regional anesthesia, critical care, perioperative management of patients, and aboriginal health. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and the largest city on Vancouver Island. The hospital in Victoria is the major referral centre for all of Vancouver Island and provides all major surgical specialties. The average age of Victoria residents is significantly higher than the Canadian average and the anesthesiologists in Victoria have become experts in dealing with critically ill elderly patients.

In addition to the new campuses in Prince George and Victoria, residents are now required to spend a minimum of one month during their training in a rural/community hospital. The two hospitals that have been chosen for this rotation are the Prince George Regional Hospital and Nanaimo General Hospital. Both of these hospitals offer excellent opportunities for residents to learn about community anesthesia and the wide scope that anesthesiologists in community hospitals are expected to fill.

The UBC Department of Anesthesia is a vibrant department in a growing university within diverse and unique communities. We hope that this webpage and its links will offer you a taste of this uniqueness.