FAQs

• Find a winter activity you enjoy (e.g. cross country skiing, hiking, etc.)

• Get a heating block, plug in extension cord, snow brush, and winter tires by mid-to-late October. Heated steering wheels and seats are a bonus!

  • If possible a garage or underground parking comes in clutch for the long winters

  • Yes! Winter tires are a MUST if you are driving in Edmonton

• Edmonton has amazing restaurants and hidden gems. Especially loved are restaurants on Whyte Ave and in the downtown area. Places to check out include:

  • Sugarbowl

  • MEAT

  • Under the High Wheel

  • OEB (especially for brunch)

  • Made by Marcus (ice cream)

  • Yelo’d (ice cream)

  • Kind (ice cream)

  • MishMash (ice cream)

  • Duchess Bakery

  • Tres Carnales (mexican)

  • Sepp’s Pizza

  • Sunbake Pita

  • Turquaz Kebab House

  • Paramount Fine Foods

  • Seoul Fried Chicken (Korean fried chicken)

  • La Petite Iza (French cuisine)

  • Guru (Indian)

  • Syphay (Thai - best pad thai!)

  • Savoy’s South Indian Kitchen (best dosa)

  • Leopard Pizza

  • Biera

  • Vish

  • Corso 32

  • Rge Rd

• City Hall recreational centers around the city with economical gym and swimming pool memberships

• Bring or buy a bicycle if you enjoy cycling at all - the network of pathways in the river is really impressive! 

• Weekend trips to the mountain - Jasper and Banff are fairly equal distance ~4 hour drive one way

• Go for a walk/jog in the River Valley

• Muttart Conservatory

• Devonian Botanical Gardens

• Music festivals in the summer

• Heritage festival in the summer

• Walks around the government house park

• West Edmonton Mall

• The Rec Room

• Beercade

• Greta Bar

• Bouldering, rock climbing (indoor facilities)

• Lounge at UofA is 2G, across from endoscopy/bronchoscopy suite

• Lounge at RAH is on the second floor as well

• The computers in the UofA lounge -> username and password is “cimres” 

• Connect with your academic advisor early and ask for advice regarding electives, people to meet etc.

• Use the first year to figure out what you’re interested in and explore areas you are less familiar with

• Ask your staff, academic advisors, senior residents for opportunities 

• Find a non-medicine hobby to stay sane

• Savor your days off, do stuff you enjoy, you’ll learn lots already on call,

• USE YOUR FLEX DAYS

• Stay active, find an activity that keeps you moving and healthy

• MDCalc, UpToDate, Bugs&Drugs, Spectrum, MD on Call, NEJM IM Review (we get a subscription, so do questions on your downtime), GOLD/HTN/iCCS guidelines can be useful. This is not an exhaustive list.

• Pack lots to eat

• “If you are not getting yelled at in the middle of the night by staff, you are not calling staff enough” - sad but best advice I’ve received from staff as a new R1

• Bring a heated blanket (or leave one in your locker) on call - the hospital blankets are awful

• Save switchboard number (UAH 780-407-8822, RAH: 780-735-4111) to your phone, saves you having to find a phone

• Save radiology number to your phone (switchboard is just going to route you to this number anyways before you can page anyone from radiology - 780-407-2722

• Do “tuck in” rounds with charge nurse around 11 pm if possible to address non-urgent issues (and any urgent) to minimize extra pages

• Focus on vitals, labs and patient encounter. Do admission orders and pend them and then add orders based on your review of the case with fellow/staff. After that you can finalize your note after admission (don’t waste time making an ideal note before admission - it can be edited later). This helps you be more efficient. You can fill in the physical exam finding and some HPI to avoid forgetting them and then list the issues in your problem list. The problem list can be modified later but at least enumerate issues to avoid getting lost

• Whenever there is time, go to the call room and rest! 

• Consider bringing a laptop in your call room to look up patients before going to see them and write orders from the call room if you’re paged for small things.

• Speak with nursing staff at the start of the shift to introduce yourself and about how you like to be paged/contacted. I found that asking for non-urgent contact through connect care messages (up to a certain time you know you’ll be awake) really speeds things up because I can lump them together and knock them off in succession 

• Keep a water bottle and stay hydrated!

• Know when the cafeterias close so you don’t miss out on dinner and can grab hot food at night 

• Can eat in the IM lounge while on call to see who else is around if you’re lonely

• Have a good, funny, short show to watch on your down time (e.g. the office, friends, modern family)

• Do not ever skip meals

• Bring enough food, lunch, dinner and midnight snacks along with breakfast for the next day. There is nothing worse than being hungry on call

• Bring a change of clothes for the morning, toothbrush etc. You can take 5 minutes to freshen up and make yourself feel a little more human in the morning after a long night

• Remember you are never alone. Fellow/staff can always be contacted if you are concerned or need help, and you shouldn’t feel bad for calling overnight

I am having problems accessing Connect Care

• Contact Georgina Reid georgina.reid@albertahealthservices.ca / Ph: 780-735-1264 

• Since Connect Care is still relatively new, not everything is complete or up to date (even if it’s filled out in various sections of the chart like past medical history, medications). As such, for every patient you should go through their history to ensure everything is up to date and correct instead of relying on the pre-filled sections

• Use templates/smart phrases to save time. You can update the “autocorrect” in “user dictionaries” (for example every time you write “SOB” it converts to “shortness of breath”

• You can save your version of order sets to speed things up

• Make sure to download the app on your phone. It makes calls easier when you’re getting paged about simple things that can be taken care of wherever you are

• Spend some time making templates and smart phrases to make your life easier and more efficient as early as possible. 

• Do NOT rely on the pre-populated medical history/medication list. This is more often than not incorrect and needs to be verified every time

• Favorite dot phrases:

  • .resufast pulls up a table where you can search for specific labs and specify how many results you’d like to show up (e.g. I can add TSH, FT4, FT3, anti-TPO antibodies and TRAB antibodies and it will pull up the last time each was done, if i specify I can request to see the last 3 TSH’s completed etc.)

  • .vsr - pulls up vitals in a range format

• Attend AHS orientation before residency for details

• Dial 0 on ANY hospital phone to get to switchboard to page someone (ask for specific person or ask for whoever is on the pager for XZY specialty)

• In order to page infectious disease, you will have to ask for purple (ID for medicine patients) or green (ID on surgical patients)

• If you’re going to be at the same phone for <5 minutes, page to your cell phone, return pages on your cell if possible for flexibility

• RAH incoming pages will be to 780-735-XXXX. Pages usually show up as 5XXXX, you need to dial that 5 digit number on a hospital phone or add “78073” to the beginning of the 5 digit number on your cell.

• UAH incoming pages will be to 780-407-XXXX. Pages usually show up as 7XXXX, you need to dial that 5 digit number on a hospital phone or add “78040” to the beginning of the 5 digit number on your cell. 

• You can easily get away without paying for parking at the Grey Nun’s Hospital and paid parking is outside anyways. 

• When you’re on call at the Nun’s see if the medical students on call are interested in getting calls about their unit overnight; it’s helpful for their learning and takes a little extra load off your pager

• Always come early on the first day at a new site to figure out parking and where to meet

• Make sure your pager is with you and has a working battery (you can get them for free at admitting on the main floor or I like to carry an extra in my bag at all times in case of emergency)

• Lounge at UofA is 2G2.01, across from endoscopy/bronchoscopy suite

• Lounge at RAH is on the second floor as well

• The computers in the UofA lounge -> username and password is “cimres” 

• Read this book about staying human in residency if the program still gives it to you for free. It helps you take care of your wellness. 

• Start to be familiar with guidelines early on to be ready for RC exam and it makes it easier to prepare for it in R3

• Find some time for fun - this can be simply asking a resident colleague to go out for a short road trip to Tim Hortons or McDonalds or any quick hangout anywhere at least once every 2 weeks

• Don’t worry about efficiency (within reason), that will come with time. Focus on filling your gaps in knowledge and connecting patients/presentations to what you’ve learned

• You may feel nervous starting your R1 year; worries that you’ll have to make all of these decisions on your own now (I know I sure was), but remember that you have a LOT of support here. There are co-residents, seniors and fellows all available and happy to help you. We know you’re fresh out of medical school (most of you) and we definitely don’t expect you to know what to do or how things are run at the hospital. Do not hesitate to ask. And plus, it’s better to ask as many questions as you can in R1 so you’ll have the answers as a senior in following years.

• The computer on the far left in the resident lounge has a lot of good studying stuff you can download, bring a USB!

• Coffee shop at UAH is only open until 4 pm

• Be kind to everyone! It goes a long way with your co-workers, seniors, staff and allied health care

Life support training is mandatory as a component of their AHS employment. It is the responsibility of the trainee to ensure they have taken all the proper life support courses. AHS will reimburse trainees for the cost of training provided that it was taken within a reasonable timeframe (certification can not be older than 4 months as of July 1).  Further to this, Heart & Stroke Foundation (HSF) is where you can complete this course. 

Anyone who has taken a course through CHF will still be able to be reimbursed (as long as their certificate is not older than 4 months). 

AHS has now confirmed they will accept certification from Canadian Heart Association and that residents who obtain certification through this organization WILL be able to get reimbursed. 

All ACLS/BLS courses must be completed here in Alberta before you start your training. Certificates from other resources will not be considered.

To get reimbursed, please visit the Claims tab.

Most patient information is available through our electronic health record ConnectCare. Alberta NetCare and PACS (for Radiology) are available through ConnectCare (almost all information is available on ConnectCare without the need for NetCare or PACS).  NetCare and PACS access is arranged through the PGME Office. Please note, NetCare access will be lost if not used every three months via ConnectCare.

• Having troubles with e-People, please contact Academic Medicine Email:   EDM.AcademicMedicine@ahs.ca  

Q: I am having problems accessing Connect Care

A: Contact Georgina Reid for help with Connect Care edm.academicmedicine@ahs.ca / Phone: 780-735-1264

Q. How do I get a NetCare fob?

A: Remote Access to Alberta Netcare Portal (ANP).

ConnectCare is the main EMR, however NetCare can still be used for patient information.  Residents should login to NetCare (via ConnectCare) at least every 2 to 3 months to avoid losing access to NetCare.

Should you lose access, you can email or call Academic Medicine, and they will be able to reinstall NetCare for you at edm.academicmedicine@ahs.ca/Phone 780-735-1264.

Q. My access card no longer works! What shall I do?

A: Please contact Kim Schacher, ID Clerk, Enterprise Security Systems Protective Services-Centre University of Alberta Hospital, Room 0H1.15, 8440 112 St 

UAH Badging Office Hours: Monday - Friday 7:30-11:30, 12:30-15:30

Phone: 780-407-4900 / Email: Kim.Schacher@albertahealthservices.ca

Q: When are call stipend submissions due / paid out?

A: Download the PARA Schedule for the Submission and Payment of Call Stipends.

Q: How do I get reimbursement for the BLS / ACLS course?

A: Visit the AHS iExpense information on the Claims tab.

Q: Where can I notarize my documents?

Paul Shelby (fee for services) 

Phone: 780-407-6647 

Location: 4A9.020 MAZ

Patricia Neil (fee for services)

Phone: 780-492-7305

Location: 153 Law Centre (on campus)

Armstrong Law (fee for services)

Phone: 780-439-9360

Location: HUB Mall (on campus) 

Edmonton Community Legal Centre (fee amount depends on service provided)

Phone: 780-702-1725

Location: Telus House, South Tower: Second floor, 10020 – 100 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 0N3

If you have an Alberta Student Aid “Form B” you need filled out by the institution, the Office of the Registrar can help. The PGME is not able to fill these out. Residents should refer to the Office of the Registrar’s Repaying Your Student Loans page for more information.

If they scroll down the page, they'll see there is a section specifically for PGME learners.

Q: Personal Pager Issues?

A: Contact PGME (2-76 Zeidler Ledcor) for pager information, returns, issues etc. 

Q: AHS Team Pager Issues?

A: If there are issues with an AHS Team/Night Pool Pager, replacements are available at Admitting UAH Room 1H1.18 (780.407.8422 for directions).

Q: Are there extra call rooms available?

A: Yes, read the following memo

Q: How can I obtain a letter of employment?

A: Go to ePeople, Employee Self Service -> Documents -> Employment Verification .

Q: When do I need to isolate or quarantine?

A: Visit the Isolation & quarantine information link.

Q: When may I return to work after isolation/quarantine?

A: Refer to the AHS Return-to-work document for healthcare workers. 

Q: I contracted COVID-19 while on rotation at the hospital. What now?

A: You must notify Workplace Health and Safety (WHS).

Q: I am post-call on the first day of a rotation, what next?

A: Be sure to let services know as soon as possible if you will be post-call on the first day of a new rotation.

Q: Who may I contact in regards to expense claims?

A: Please contact medcim@ualberta.ca or see the Claims Page.

Q: How do I submit for an absence?

A: Please visit this link for the step by step process and leave rules.

 If you need help accessing AMBOSS, contact knowledgeplus@amboss.com.