Comprehensive Ophthalmology Residency Curriculum and Surgical Training

The Queen’s University Ophthalmology Residency Program consists of a four-stage, 5-year, competency based curriculum in alignment with the Royal College Competence By Design (CBD) model. This program provides a robust clinical and surgical foundation through diverse stages and specialized training environments.

Residency Curriculum Stages

Incoming residents begin their journey with the Transition to Discipline (TD). This stage serves as an orientation to ophthalmology and residency, with hospital service orientations and immersion in all things ophthalmology through the Emergency Eye clinic, and cycling through subspecialty clinics. After hitting the ground running with two months in ophthalmology, residents enter the Foundations of Discipline (FD).

This stage begins with a series of off-service medical and surgical specialties with direct links to ophthalmology, such as plastic surgery, neurology, general internal medicine, as well as a resident-driven elective block meant to round-out their off-service experiences. The stage concludes with the six-week long Toronto Ophthalmology Resident Introductory Course (TORIC) to review and reinforce the fundamentals of the discipline.

Freshly back from TORIC, residents in the early stage of Core of Discipline (CD) are the mainstays of our Emergency Eye Clinic, and begin adopting first call and consult responsibilities. They also begin a research practice to compliment their clinical duties. Residents then transition into subspecialty immersion rotations, wherein they gain valuable exposure to the presentations and relevant investigations, procedures and practices of these specific fields. Residency concludes with the Transition to Practice (TP) stage, allowing residents to consolidate all of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes acquired throughout their residency training by providing opportunities to run clinics as junior attending whilst still providing supervisory guidance.

Surgical Curriculum and Laboratory Training

A PGY-specific wet-lab curriculum takes place throughout the academic year in the Chez Ophthalmology Microsurgery Laboratory. The curriculum is composed of 2-hour hands-on wet lab sessions led by 1-2 faculty members. Training in a microsurgery lab enables a resident to experience the hand-eye coordination required when using a surgical microscope. Selected steps of cataract surgery, oculoplastic surgery, retinal surgery, and eye muscle surgery can be practiced and proctored in a relaxed and supportive environment.

Our wet lab also has an Eyesi computer simulator which helps residents to master more challenging steps in cataract and retina surgery. The Eyesi program guides the resident through these steps until proficiency is attained, recording the progress along the way. Regarding the specific clinical training modules:

Additional Education and International Experience

Every year residents also participate in the Northwestern Phacoemulsification Training Course, a two-day didactic and wet lab course that offers a customized curriculum for surgical teaching for each year of residency training. Through our partnership with Grewal Eye Institute in Chandigarh, India, we provide a robust cataract surgical experience. This optional surgical rotation introduces the resident to delivering ethical, high-quality care to a socioeconomically challenged sector of the population.

Ample opportunities for electives, research, courses, and conferences exist throughout the curriculum. Residents with a particularly keen interest in research can also enrol in a dedicated "Clinician Investigator Program".