Resident Appreciation Week: celebrating our residents

I started my residency in July 2020 and it’s pretty much been COVID everywhere ever since. I have been on clinical care since the beginning of my residency and continue to be on clinical services to date. The constantly evolving pandemic has brought with it daily challenges including changing clinical practices, providing care for the sickest, and often difficult clinical decision making. I think the ability to adjust, adapt, survive, and thrive during this pandemic has been the highlight of my residency.

Residency involves rotating through different sites, different teams, and often different processes. The most challenging part is staying focussed on what matters the most, our training, while things around us change. While challenging at times, residency provides immense exposure to different clinical and laboratory cases and scientists.

The role of a resident is important because they can often bring a fresh or different perspective. As residents, we get to rotate between different sites and are often in a position to know the best practices at various sites. Also, since we study the most recent literature, residents can be true teaching assets to any department.

I am passionate about Microbiology especially Blood Cultures, Mycology, Anti-Microbial resistance, and Infection Control. I hope to be able to do research and work in these areas and improve lab processes and patient outcomes.

I have really enjoyed getting to know my Toronto co-residents, both in pathology and beyond. There have been many stresses (COVID and others), but it has been my greatest privilege and a highlight of my residency to be there for my co-residents, and to advocate for their best interests through my role on PARO (Professional Association of Residents of Ontario). 

I spent time at Sunnybrook's internal medicine department during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in the emergency department. It was a great privilege to serve patients using my clinical skills. 

Residents are able to lend support to staff physicians and provide quality patient care while improving their clinical skills, becoming medical experts, and teaching medical students. Although most of my time as a pathology resident is spent learning from talented staff pathologists, my time on redeployment was a reminder of the other roles we play on the patient care team. 

I hope to incorporate my love of teaching and medical education into my future career plans. I am currently the education director for MEDSKL, an open-access online resource for medical students across Canada. I also deliver lectures to U of T's medical school class in qualitative research methodology, and U of T's undergraduate students in endocrine pathology.