Learner Assistance

The Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine is committed to enabling a positive learning and working environment for everyone in our community. We support an integrated approach to addressing learner concerns that champions the principles articulated in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine guidelines on managing disclosures of learner mistreatment for medical students and Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) trainees (residents and clinical fellows).

Temerty Medicine has adopted the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) definition for learner mistreatment which refers to intentional or unintentional behaviours that show disrespect for the dignity of others. This may manifest as unprofessional behaviours, discrimination and discriminatory harassment, or sexual violence and sexual harassment. Review and management of disclosures will be informed by the Standards of Professional Values for Clinical (MD) Faculty and the CPSO Professional Responsibilities in Medical Education.

Temerty Medicine has established a centralized hub of supports and resources for learners who have witnessed or experienced mistreatment. To learn more about how to discuss, disclose, or report learner mistreatment, you can access resources here: https://meded.temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/learner-mistreatment

These webpages include an online disclosure form through which you can submit disclosures to Learner Experience in an identified or anonymous way.

Within our own Department, our education leadership team are also available to support learners in accessing and understanding the supports and resources available. Our leadership team includes:

• Vice Chair of Education: Dr. Ahtsham Niazi
• Fellowship Program Director: Dr. Doreen Yee
• Residency Program Director: Dr. Eric You-Ten
• Pain Medicine Residency Program Director: Dr. John Hanlon
• Family Practice Anesthesia Residency Program Director: Dr. Vaibhav Kamble
• Undergraduate Education Program Director: Dr. Anita Sarmah

We recognize that learners may disclose an incident of alleged mistreatment to departmental / program or hospital leadership including (but not limited to) Site Education Leaders, Chief Residents, or other trusted faculty or peers beyond those listed. When a learner contacts an individual other than staff working in Temerty’s Office of Learner Affairs: Learner Experience, the individual receiving the disclosure should make the learner aware of the Temerty Learner Mistreatment Guidelines and:

• Inform the learner that they may contact Learner Experience (as per above), or
• If proceeding to manage the situation locally, contact the Director of Learner Experience if there are any questions related to how the Mistreatment Guidelines apply in the local management of learner concerns.
• Within our own Department, our education leadership team are also available to support learners in accessing and understanding the supports and resources available.

We want learners to know that raising concerns has impact. To ensure transparency and accountability, the Learner Experience portfolio publishes an annual report that summarizes the actions that have been taken in response to submissions in an aggregated and de-identified way.

In collaboration with Temerty Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine monitors trends from learner concerns to identify systems-level interventions in partnership with the clinical departments and hospitals that can be implemented to improve the learning and working climate for us all.

The bottom line is that we are here for you, please reach out anytime!