Grand Rounds are of a national conference level and given by faculty and senior residents. These rounds are self accredited by the College of Family Physicians and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeon. They are held on Thursday mornings from 09:00 – 10:00 hrs at the Civic Campus at the Ottawa Hospital. Grand Rounds are given by senior emergency medicine residents, fellows, and faculty. Every year the Department of Emergency Medicine invite a number of internationally renowned guest speakers to present Grand Rounds. Past guests included Dr. Amal Mattu, Dr. Kenji Inaba, Dr. Sara Grey, Dr. Scott Weingart and Dr. Jeff Klein. Grand rounds are video-conferenced for those who cannot make it to the Amphitheatre. They are also recorded for access via the web at a later date

M&M Rounds Guidelines

Last updated - August 2025

Journal Club is an opportunity for the Emergency Medicine residents and staff to come together and discuss recent articles.They take place once a month (every 3rd Wednesday of the month) at the Civic Campus.

If you are looking to keep up with new Journal Club articles or review our previously appraised articles please go to EMOttawa Blog.

The Department of Emergency Medicine offers an exciting simulation program at the undergraduate, postgraduate, and continuing medical educational level. We have a new state-of-the-art University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Center. This center is the largest in Canada and one of the largest in North America.

The objectives of the simulation program are to:

• Increase patient safety by allowing trainees to practice procedural skills and critical care patient management in a safe learning environment

• Allow trainees to enhance their medical expertise, leadership and communication skills by learning and applying the fundamentals of Crisis Resource Management

• Enhance trainee learning by providing formative feedback using video review

The curriculum of the simulation program includes weekly sessions in high-fidelity simulation. The goal of the sessions is to allow trainees to become proficient in common resuscitative skills, and to practice clinically infrequent but important procedural skills. Trainees will also develop their leadership skills through the use of debriefing, video review, and learn to apply the principles of Crisis Resource Management.

The simulation program offers an innovative interdisciplinary simulation program that will enhance trainee leadership skills.

The simulation program also provides opportunities for postgraduate trainees to become instructors in simulation-based education.

Welcome to the POCUS program with the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital. Point of care ultrasonography – Emergency Medicine (EM POCUS) has been practiced at our centre since 1998 under the leadership and vision of Dr. Guy Hebert.  As one of the first centers in Canada to employ clinical sonography in practice, we strive for excellence in this innovative field of medicine.

We have a dynamic, integrated program that includes undergraduate, postgraduate, fellowship, and continuing professional development. We are actively involved in local and multi-centre POCUS research projects.

Dr. Brandon Ritcey, FRCPC, DRCPSC (Acute Care POCUS)

Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography Program Director
Assistant Professor
Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario Canada

History

1998    

Dr. Guy Hebert initiates the Emergency Medicine Ultrasonography (EMUS) program at The Ottawa Hospital. As one of the founders in Canada for clinical sonography Dr Hebert’s vision and dedication has enabled the clinical sonography program to become one of the largest programs in Canada.

2003    

Dr. Lisa Calder, a resident at the time, obtains funding from Postgraduate Medical Education at the University of Ottawa to develop the first EMUS course for emergency medicine residents.

2005    

The Department of Emergency Medicine appoints Dr. Michael Woo as the Director of EMUS.

2008    

POCUS is a core competency for the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Canada – Emergency Medicine Specialty. A mandatory, formal EMUS training program for all emergency medicine residents at the University of Ottawa is established in both the RCPSC-EM and the CCFP(EM) programs.  Dr. James Worrall is appointed as the EMUS Assistant Director.

2009    

A highly competitive EMUS Fellowship is established, which continues to produce leaders in Clinical Sonography who practice around the world.

2014    

The Ottawa Hospital, department of EM in collaboration with the division of Critical Care implement an image archiving system. This helps to establish the EMUS program as leaders in Quality improvement.

2015    

The Department of Emergency Medicine appoints Dr. Paul Pageau as the Director of EMUS.  A vision and strategic plan is created for the next 5yrs.  EMUS continues to demonstrate clinical and academic excellence as one of the largest programs in the country training over 15 emergency medicine residents in POCUS each year.  

2021

The previous term of EMUS is replaced by “EM POCUS” to reflect the fact that many specialties other than emergency medicine are starting to adopt the use POCUS. The Area of Focused Competence Acute Care EM POCUS Diploma program is accredited by the Royal College, and Ottawa is one of the first sites to be accredited.  The first ever combined EM Research and AFC Acute Care EM POCUS fellowship is created.  The DEM resuscitative transesophageal echo program continues to expand, incorporating TEE into cardiac arrest care.  A comprehensive POCUS Curriculum is approved and rolled out to the undergraduate medical program.  

2022
The first annual Ottawa POCUS Symposium is held under the leadership of Dr. Rory Connelly which attracts physicians from all over the region to improve their POCUS skills in diagnostics, resuscitation, and regional analgesia. This has become an annual conference held in February each year.
 

2026
Dr. Brandon Ritcey is appointed as Director of EM POCUS.  
 

Vision Statement

To be international leaders in the advancement of patient care through point of care ultrasound education and research

Last updated - September 2026

The Digital Scholarship and Knowledge Dissemination Program (DSKD) is an academic initiative within the Department of Emergency Medicine focused on translating research and educational content into accessible digital formats.

The program leverages platforms such as blogs, podcasts, video content, and social media to disseminate emergency medicine scholarship to clinicians and learners worldwide.

A central pillar of the program is the EMOttawa Blog, a leading digital scholarship platform in emergency medicine that has generated over one million page views annually. The blog publishes clinical summaries, grand rounds reviews, journal clubs, and educational resources authored by faculty and residents.

The program also supports the development of digital clinician-educators by mentoring residents and faculty in scholarly writing, knowledge translation, and digital publishing.

Goals

• Disseminate high-quality Emergency Medicine knowledge to clinicians, trainees, and learners through accessible digital platforms. 
• Highlight and amplify the academic work, scholarship, and achievements of Department of Emergency Medicine (DEM) members. 
• Translate emerging evidence and evolving clinical practice into practical, high-yield educational content for front-line care. 
• Curate and critically appraise digital educational resources to support lifelong learning in Emergency Medicine. 
• Advance innovation in digital scholarship and knowledge translation, integrating modern technologies into Emergency Medicine education and practice. 

Platforms

• Blog
• EMOttawa Podcast
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube

Program Director: Dr. Shahbaz Syed ([email protected])

Administrative Support: Holly Clarke ([email protected])

The regional Sexual Assault and Partner Abuse Care Program (SAPACP) of The Ottawa Hospital, Civic Campus was established in 1994 and is a partner of the Ontario Provincial Network of SA/DV treatment centres.

The SAPACP is a team of specialized health professionals who are available on site, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  As a team we provide private and confidential trauma sensitive medical care to any person 16 years of age and older who has experienced sexual or intimate partner violence in our greater Ottawa region.

In addition to our acute 24/7 service we provide a comprehensive outpatient clinic - both in person and by secure video telemedicine. Outpatient services are accessible by self referral, referral by health professional and/or our community partners. Please fax a referral to 613- 761-4985 or call 613-798-5555 x 13770 to book an appointment.

Together with our community partners, we work to meet the medical, emotional, social, forensic and legal needs of individuals who have suffered the consequences of sexual and/or intimate partner violence.

All services provided are confidential. We do not disclose your visit to the police unless you request this support

We are a collaborative multidisciplinary trauma-informed medical team prepared to care for you one-on-one in a private, confidential space. We provide a compassionate, non-judgmental and self empowering approach to care for all people using our services. Upon your request your care will be initiated within one hour of arrival to the emergency department at the Civic Campus.

Goals

Patients may choose any of the following services as part of their care.

Health Care Services

• Injury Assessment, documentation and treatment of injuries
• Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) testing
• Emergency contraception (Plan B)
• Pregnancy testing
• Post exposure prophylaxis for HIV (HIV PEP)
• Immunization for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis A
• Photo documentation of injuries
• Crisis counselling
• Safety planning
• Risk/Threat Assessment
• Referral for trauma counselling (with our community partner Ottawa Victim Services)

Forensic Services

• Collection and storage of the Sexual Assault Evidence Kit (with or without police involvement)
• Anonymous reporting to police (Third Party Reporting).

SAPACP Outpatient Clinic

There are many short term and long-term consequences for a survivor of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. Our outpatient clinic provides ongoing trauma sensitive medical care for up to 3 months from initial visit.

In addition to our 24/7 list of services above, follow up care in our outpatient specialty clinic provides an opportunity to screen and manage potential short term and longer-term consequences. Examples include:

• Management and further prescriptions of HIV PEP
• Serial assessment of injuries (e.g. strangulation)
• Photo documentation of injuries
• Mental health assessments with screening for depression and post traumatic stress disorder.
• Follow up assessment, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (HSV, HPV, Chlamydia, Gonorrhoea.
• Referral/collaborative care with specialists – head injury clinic, Ortho, ENT, Neuro, Psychiatry etc
• Crisis intervention

Program Director: Kari Sampsel

We provide guidance and support for both staff and resident physicians on undertaking quality improvement (QI) projects, as well as working closely with hospital partners in continuously improving processes of care.We endeavor to advance QIPS in the ED through academic dissemination and innovative medical education programming.

Vision:

Continue to be an academic leader in providing world-class patient-centered care through explicit and continuous quality improvement.

Mission:

To implement targeted quality improvement in Emergency Medicine that:

• focuses on impactful initiatives in alignment with corporate strategy
• utilizes formal & rigorous QI methodologies
• involves inter-professional collaboration
• promotes shared learning through academic dissemination

History:

The DEM QIPS was co-founded by Dr. Edmund Kwok and Dr. Lisa Calder in 2015, an innovative endeavor at the time, being one of the first departments to explicitly target quality improvement through robust QI methodologies. 

Education: 

• Administration modules for residency education 
• QI Curriculum for post-graduate fellows 

Quality and Patient Safety Activities: 

• QPS committee 
• ED return visit annual audits
• Regular review of SLS incidents 
• M&M 

Examples of Current projects:

• Optimizing sepsis care
• Improving door-to-ECG time for patients with chest pain 
• Care of patients with CT contrast allergies
• Enhancing patient experience
• Structured review of nursing medical directives
• Quality Drip Newsletter
  • In November 2025 we released our first newsletter, which summarizes ongoing projects and department-wide improvements while fostering connection and shared purpose across the emergency department team

Team members:

Program Director: Dr. Edmund Kwok

Assistant Program Director: Dr. Simeon Mitchell

QI Specialist: Maja Bugarski, RN MScN ([email protected] / Tel: 613-798-5555 ext.18569)