Changes to the education program in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology continued through the 1980s.
There was increasing pressure on all five hospitals in Edmonton to provide clinical experience for all levels of trainees. The residency program, which had grown to four residents per year over a four-year training program, became more structured and formalized.
The residents spent increasing blocks of time “off-service” in other departments. It became impossible to provide resident coverage at all five sites. So in 1987 the residency program was consolidated on two sites – the University Hospital and the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Resident elective rotations were strongly encouraged at the other city hospitals.
By the early 1990s, there were sufficient GFT (geographic full time) and clinical faculty that we returned to the small-group tutorial teaching style for the undergraduate program. There was continued reliance on other city hospitals to provide the clinical experience for the undergraduate students and the rotating internship.
The health-care restructuring fiasco of the mid-1990s had significant downstream effects on the teaching programs. Two training sites were eliminated from our system – the University of Alberta Hospital and the Charles Camsell hospital, which was closed entirely. This increased the burden on the three remaining hospitals to provide the ever-growing demand for clinical experience for all levels of trainees.
The residents again were assigned to the Misericordia and the Grey Nuns hospitals. But 24-hour resident coverage was provided only at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, which was now the home of the University of Alberta Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Gratefully, the demoralization of the faculty – both GFT and clinical – resulting from the restructuring process was only transient. As has been the strong tradition at the University of Alberta, the faculty remained committed to providing outstanding educational programs.