Education & Training

We are actively involved in the core education of students, residents and fellows. Both student and trainee education are an integral part of our inpatient and outpatient care, including the endoscopy unit. We teach all levels of undergraduate students, and all levels of post-graduate trainees, including residents in internal medicine, gastroenterology, general surgery and specialty gastroenterology fellows in therapeutic endoscopy.

Excellent teaching rounds and clinical conferences are provided on an ongoing basis. We have sustained excellent teaching effectiveness scores at the teacher level as well as for the rotations. For two of the past five years, we've received the highest rotation score across the city.

Beyond core education, we offer a 2-month summer studentship in IBD for second year medical students as well as a 1-year clinical fellowship in IBD for gastroenterologists. We also have numerous local and international elective students each year.

Examples of student and fellow research achievements include:

Papers published: [students or trainees names bolded]

1. Self-management for people with inflammatory bowel disease. Saibil F, Lai E, Hayward A, Yip J, Gilbert C. Can J Gastroenterol. 2008 Mar;22(3):281-7. Review.
2. D-lactic acidosis and ataxia in a man with Crohn disease. James PD, Black D, Kuper A, Saibil F. CMAJ. 2010 Feb 23;182(3):276-9. Epub 2010 Jan 18.
3. The association between Crohn's disease and desmoid tumors: a novel case and review of the literature. Bungay AW, Smith AJ, Hsieh E, Saibil FG. J Crohns Colitis. 2010 Jun;4(2):207-10. Epub 2010 Apr 24. Review.

Posters presented: [students names bolded]

1. Effectiveness of e-mail management in patients with IBD; a component of self-management. Plener I, Morgan, RN M, Garbens A, Seth R, Saibil, F. Presented at CCFA Research conference - 2010 Advances in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, at Hollywood Florida, USA.

Endoscopy Education

We have particular expertise in education and research in gastrointestinal endoscopy. Our current initiatives include simulator-based education of general surgery and gastroenterology trainees, and an innovative nurse flexible sigmoidoscopy training program.

Examples of ongoing studies include:

• Qualitative Assessment of the University of Toronto simulator-based endoscopy curriculum (a focus group study of surgical residents learning endoscopy at U of T)
• Impact of a Simulation-based Structured Training and Assessment Curriculum on Colonoscopy Skill Acquisition in Novice Endoscopic Trainees (a randomized study of gastroenterology trainees learning endoscopy at U of T). In collaboration with St. Michael's Hospital, Division of Gastroenterology.
• Qualitative Assessment of the University of Toronto simulator-based endoscopy curriculum (a focus group study of gastroenterology residents learning endoscopy at U of T)