Our story
Watch a brief video to learn more about our department and what we offer.
What we offer
We are proud to offer education at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, training the province's next generation of emergency medicine physicians.
Our department is committed to providing excellent patient care and promoting staff and learner safety by advancing equity, celebrating diversity, and integrating inclusion in academic and clinical emergency medicine spaces in Manitoba.
Continuing education and professional development
Ultrasound (postgraduate and CEPD ultrasound programs)
With the growing demand for bedside ultrasound utilization for both postgraduate and undergraduate trainees as well as for continuing professional development among staff physicians, the ultrasound section within the department of emergency medicine (DEM), led by Dr. Chau Pham, is an integral part of the academic curriculum for emergency residents and staff physicians.
Objectives
The ultrasound objectives and training modules are consistent with the Royal College in-training objectives, the national Canadian Point-of-Care Ultrasound Society (CPoCUS) guidelines, as well as the Canadian Association of Emergency Physician’s (CAEP) position statement.
Curriculum
From the implementation of a formal postgraduate ultrasound curriculum in 2011, training in point-of-care-ultrasound (POCUS) continues to be a mandatory skill required for Royal College certification as well as a critical skill for Emergency Physicians to possess in order to improve patient care. The ultrasound curriculum has been designed to include two tracks, core and advanced.
Modules
The postgraduate residency ultrasound curriculum has been designed to include two tracks, core and advanced.
Core modules for junior residents
Incoming junior residents (R1/2/CCFP-EMs/PEM fellows) undergo core ultrasound modules to prepare them for IP-core status in eFAST/Cardiac/Aorta/1st Trimester OBs. Junior residents culminate their training with a directly supervised 50 scans & IP exams course, ensuring exposure to pathology patients.
Advanced modules for senior residents
Senior residents (R3/4/5s) engage in advanced modules focusing on new POCUS applications for diagnosis (renal/bladder, gallbladder, DVT, ocular), resuscitation (advanced cardiac, pulmonary, IVC, EGLS/RUSH protocols), MSK (soft tissue, bones/joints), and needle guidance (ortho procedures, nerve blocks, foreign body, etc.). This curriculum operates on a two-year cycle, with R3/4 residents obtaining their CPoCUS IP-Resus certification biennially.
Pedagogical approach
The curriculum follows a flip-classroom model, integrated into residents' academic day sessions. Each module comprises a didactic portion with online and live lectures, followed by hands-on scanning practice on pathology and standardized models.
Quality assurance and mentorship
Ultrasound training modules are overseen by ERPs holding IP/TI/MI status, fellowship-trained specialists, or experts with a focused niche. Bi-monthly clinical POCUS vignettes, featuring real patient cases, are incorporated to provide teaching pearls with evidence-based medicine (EBM) and stimulate group discussions.
Apprentice-Instructorship program
Apprentice-Instructorship (AI) Program
Upon achieving their IP status, residents are expected to participate in the Apprentice-Instructorship (AI) program. AIs collaborate in team-teaching and are directly observed by faculty instructors as they assume leadership roles in guiding junior learners. This approach ensures the development of a robust cohort of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) instructors committed to delivering high-quality teaching.
Advanced ultrasound elective and research
Interested residents are encouraged to engage in an advanced ultrasound elective to augment their skill set. They are also invited to participate in ultrasound research, presenting their findings at Resident Research Day and national conferences.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) workshops
The ultrasound section, comprised of POCUS faculty instructors, offers quality CPD workshops and courses for staff physicians. These workshops have earned high praise from staff physicians for their organization, high instructor-to-learner ratio, and incorporation of pathology patients to simulate real-world clinical scenarios.
Leadership in national POCUS education
The emergency medicine department at UM is recognized as a key leader in national POCUS education. The CPD courses offered by the ultrasound section cover a wide range of topics, including:
- IP-core certification course
- IP-resuscitation certification course
- IP-diagnostic certification course
- IP-MSK certification course
- EGLS course
- Palliative/oncology course
- Soft tissue and foreign body workshop
- Peripheral and central line workshop
Expansion and impact
The ultrasound program continually expands its offerings in knowledge and skill training, research, scholarly work, and CPD. Residents and staff physicians attest that the ultrasound training has significantly boosted their confidence in image generation and their ability to apply POCUS safely, thereby enhancing the standard of care for their patients.
Professional sustainability and wellness
Within the emergency medicine department, the High Performance Physician (HPP) course and the FRCP Mentorship have played complimentary roles in the professional sustainability and wellness program of our staff and residents.
High Performance Physician (HPP) course
Objective:
The primary aim of the HPP course is to equip medical trainees and staff with essential mental skills and strategies. These have been proven effective in minimizing the impact of human factors on performance, optimizing psychological readiness for tasks, and enhancing overall well-being.
Course evolution:
Initiated in 2012 within the emergency medicine department, HPP has expanded to various departments including family medicine, surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics, anesthesia, obstetrics/gynecology, radiology, and the cardiac sciences. This expansion reflects a commitment to addressing the diverse needs of medical professionals across specialties.
Tailored support:
HPP is meticulously designed to support learners in meeting the rigorous demands of their residency programs. It offers practical strategies tailored to help physicians navigate both professional challenges and personal well-being effectively.
Expert leadership:
Led by renowned experts in the field, Drs. Jason Brooks and Aman Hussain, the HPP instructors bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the program, ensuring high-quality training and mentorship.
Mentorship benefits:
The HPP mentorship program fosters rich mentoring relationships that benefit both mentors and mentees. Beyond individual growth, these relationships have positive ripple effects, benefiting departments, institutions, the medical organization, and the broader specialty community.
Professional sustainability and wellness
Objective:
The Professional Sustainability and Wellness Committee is dedicated to advancing the department's vision of long-term professional sustainability and wellness for both emergency medicine faculty and residents.
Benefits for team functioning:
The committee's efforts aim to yield numerous benefits, including improved team function, enhanced conflict management, and ultimately, better patient care and quality improvement.
Gratitude and wellness initiatives:
Initiatives promoting gratitude and wellness play a pivotal role in fostering workplace civility. These efforts are invaluable as they cultivate solidarity among team members, bolster psychological resilience, and sustain a healthy work morale.
Solidarity for enhanced care:
A team that operates in solidarity is better positioned to provide superior patient care. By sharing a common vision and mission, team members can effectively collaborate towards achieving optimal patient outcomes.
Department Research
The Department of Emergency Medicine is committed to fostering and developing emergency medicine research locally, provincially and through both national and international collaborations.
Strengths
Directed by Dr. Murdoch Leeies, the Department of Emergency Medicine is developing particular strengths in the fields of COVID-19, health equity, pre-hospital emergency medicine, geriatric emergency medicine, ultrasound and critical care research. Our efforts have resulted in a multitude of peer-reviewed publications, poster presentations and funding awards.
Please consider a charitable donation to support innovative emergency medicine research at the University of Manitoba.
Achievements
Our achievements include:
- Our growing emergency medicine research program has produced over 100 publications in the last three years.
- A novel evidence-based medicine curriculum for EM trainees featuring enhanced critical appraisal and structured literature searching skills, quality improvement and implementation science modules as well as educational scholarship and knowledge translation content.
- A burgeoning department of collaborative clinician investigators working with national and international research networks, including CAEP and the Canadian COVID-19 Emergency Department Rapid Response Network.
Areas of innovation
Critical care medicine
Many of our faculty members have sub-specialty training in critical care medicine.
These intensivists leverage their unique positions to explore the management and care of critically ill patients as they transition from the pre-hospital setting, through the emergency department and on to the intensive care unit.
Emergency medicine’s critical care medicine subspecialty committee actively meets to identify gaps in our current knowledge and practices. They also facilitates both research and quality improvement initiatives in these areas.
Equity, diversity and inclusion
Our department recognizes the importance of supporting research that enhances equity, diversity and inclusion in emergency medicine.
The Disrupting Racism in Emergency Medicine (DRiEM) research program is one way we are working to improve Manitoba’s emergency departments, by understanding and then designing evidence-based strategies to mitigate racism in emergency medicine.
Additional research includes examining the impact of enhanced data collection of equity-relevant sociodemographic variables as a part of the emergency medicine medical record.
We are also proud to support an interdisciplinary Equity, Diversity & Inclusion committee led by Dr. Murdoch Leeies and Dr. Carmen Hrymak. The committee works to identify gaps in knowledge and service, followed by recommendations for best practices, lecture series and educational modules to enhance health equity, diversity and inclusion in emergency medicine.
Geriatric emergency medicine
Emergency departments are frequently used by Canada's frail, elderly population without adequate support or discharge planning. This means they often experience ongoing complications that result in repeat visits to the emergency department and unplanned hospitalizations.
Dr. Alecs Chochinov and Dr. Malcolm Doupe have an international program of research exploring the ways in which acute health care facilities, allied services and community-based care options can be aligned more effectively to help older adults live successfully in the community.
Patient and stakeholder engagement activities have been designed to help ensure that transitions from the emergency department to home are meaningful to patients. They are also planned to consider their biomedical, mental and social needs, along with those of their informal caregivers. Combined, these efforts help ensure a positive impact on older people's health and wellness.
Patient and community engagement
Understanding the lived experience of individuals and their communities is critical to informing the services available and how they are delivered.
We are currently seeking participants for patient advisory teams to act as partners in the development of research questions that are important to you as well as the design of research studies to answer those questions.
To take part as either a patient or a community partner, please contact us.
Pediatric emergency medicine
The department has strong ties with the department of pediatrics and child health through both co-education and research.
Cross-appointed to the department, Dr. Terry Klassen is a national leader in pediatric emergency medicine.
He has mobilized many efforts in improving clinical outcomes in knowledge translation and in advancing innovative approaches to randomized controlled trials. Dr. Klassen co-founded Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC) in 1995 and the Pediatric Emergency Research Network (PERN) in 2009. These networks promote collaborative research through multicentre studies.
Dr. Klassen also built the first-of-its-kind national knowledge mobilization network in pediatric emergency medicine, TRanslating Emergency Knowledge for Kids (TREKK). This network seeks to bring the most up-to-date information in pediatric medicine to general emergency departments across Canada, where the majority of acutely ill children are seen.
In 2021, Dr. Klassen was awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clinical Trials.
Pre-hospital emergency medical systems
The department is proud to support international leaders in pre-hospital emergency medicine services like Dr. Rob Grierson, Dr. Erin Weldon and Dr. Doug Martin.
Emergency medicine research in pre-hospital care has led to the implementation of novel protocols helping Manitobans beat national benchmarks in access to definitive care for heart attacks as well as deliver life-saving interventions to patients sooner in their course of illness, whether they are accessing emergency services in cities or remote resource-limited settings.
Trauma
Our department is home to emergency medicine specialists with expertise in trauma care who work at the provincial trauma referral centre, the Health Sciences Centre, as trauma team leaders and in referring locations across Manitoba.
Emergency medicine researchers collaborate with other interdisciplinary members of the trauma team to investigate important questions relevant to trauma care.
Many emergency medicine specialists also contribute to the implementation of best practices in trauma care and ongoing critical appraisal and knowledge mobilization through committee work and an interdisciplinary Trauma Journal Club.
Toxicology
Dr. Wesley Palatnick is one of the forebearers of emergency medicine in Manitoba and is internationally recognized for his work in the field of toxicology. He has contributed numerous articles, book chapters, lectures and significant publications that have changed the way we all practice today.
Dr. Palatnick serves as one of two clinical toxicologists providing on-call consultations for the entire province of Manitoba. Thousands of patients have benefitted from his remarkable clinical expertise, compassionate care and tireless efforts.
Ultrasound
Our department is home to an innovative emergency medicine ultrasound program with national leaders in ultrasound education.
Subspecialty-trained experts in emergency medicine ultrasound lead research, which encompasses both the clinical use of ultrasound as well as novel educational methods to ensure expertise and access to cutting-edge diagnostics, exist in emergency medicine settings across Manitoba.
Manitoba Emergency Medicine Research, Educational Scholarship & Quality Improvement Symposium
The annual Manitoba Emergency Medicine Research, Educational Scholarship & Quality Improvement Symposium (MB EM RESQI Symposium) is an opportunity to share and celebrate the scholarly work produced by staff, trainees and collaborators in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
Check back for information on the 2024 MB EM RESQI Symposium.
Community and partners
Manitoba Emergency Medicine Research Advancement Fund
In the emergency department, every second counts.
That’s why we’re working hard to stay at the leading edge of research that can help save lives and keep Manitobans healthy and active.
You can help.
In 2021, the Manitoba Emergency Medicine Research Advancement Fund was created to support the development of novel research in emergency medicine conceived of, designed by and conducted with Manitoban emergency medicine investigators.
Your generosity will directly support University of Manitoba Emergency Medicine students, educators and researchers to develop new work to better care for Manitobans in need of emergency medical care.
Events
Faculty and staff
Contact us
Emergency Medicine
S203 Medical Services Building
750 Bannatyne Avenue
University of Manitoba (Bannatyne campus)
Winnipeg, MB R3E 0W2 Canada