Clinical Activities
Out-patient Clinics
Minimum ten clinics (1/2 day) per month will be attended which will include General Sleep clinics (Drs. Fraser, Tsai, Hanly, Pendharkar, Loewen, Flemons) and subspecialty clinics in:
- Neurology- Dr. W. Murphy, Sleep Centre
- Psychology - Dr. T. Moroz, Sleep Centre
- Psychiatry – Dr. C. Chang
- CPAP clinic, Sleep Centre
- Pediatrics- Dr. Val Kirk , Albert Children's Hospital
- Dental- Dr. Leslie Dort , Respiratory Wellness Centre
- Neuromuscular / ALS: Dr. K. Rimmer & Dr. A. Loewen, PLC/South Health Campus
Polysomnography Set-up
The Respirology trainee will participate in the set up and monitoring of overnight PSG (minimum 1 night) in order to acquire the necessary skills to interpret the results. This includes but is not limited to:
- PSG set-up
- Recognition of common technical problems that confound interpretation of PSG
- Application of nasal and oro-nasal mask during PSG
- Titration of O2, CPAP, BiPAP-S, ST, AVAPS, ASV
Interpretation of Level 1 (PSG +/- MSLT) & Level 3 (Snoresat) Sleep Studies
The Respirology trainee will interpret these studies under supervision of the attending sleep physicians to acquire adequate skill and comfort as outlined in attached objectives. On the first day of rotation, the resident will be assigned to 3 specific sleep physicians with whom they will coordinate their teaching sessions during the rotation. The resident is responsible for emailing the individual physicians to arrange teaching. Resident ITER scores will reflect the objectives covered during these sessions.
Academic Rounds
Attendance is required at the following rounds which are held once per month through the academic year:
- Sleep and Respiration rounds: noon-1pm, 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month
- Journal club: 8am, 3rd Wednesday of the month
- Sleep Boards (Multidisciplinary clinical rounds) 8:00 am 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month
Research
The Sleep Centre has an active research program with original research performed by sleep medicine physicians alone or in collaboration with other clinical researchers and/or basic scientists at the University of Calgary. The Respirology trainee is welcome to approach any of the principle investigators identified below to discuss participation in these or other projects that are of interest. Current research projects that are underway in the Sleep Centre include the following:
Biomedical
- Automated polysomnographic scoring: Principle Investigator: Dr Patrick Hanly
Clinical
- Effect of sleep apnea and nocturnal hypoxia on the kidney: Principle Investigator: Dr Patrick Hanly
- Regulation of brain blood flow in obstructive sleep apnea: Principle Investigator: Dr Patrick Hanly
- Sleep apnea in patients with TIA and minor stroke: Principle Investigator: Dr Patrick Hanly
- Optimizing clinical effectiveness of BiLevel Ventilation in Neuromuscular Patients: Principle Investigator: Dr. Kris Fraser and Dr. Andrea Loewen
Health Services
- Healthcare utilization by patients with sleep disordered breathing: Principle Investigator: Dr Willis Tsai
- The Clinical Response of Adults with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Who are Treated with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure and Followed by Alternate Care Providers
- Optimizing Patient Flow: Using Computer Simulation to Improve Operational Efficiency of an Academic Sleep Centre
- Evaluation of a "Fast Track" Respiratory Therapy Clinic for Patients with Suspected Severe Sleep- Disordered Breathing
- Access to Zzz's: A quality improvement project to improve access to diagnosis and treatment for patients with severe sleep disorders
